FAT 32 to NTFS Conversion without software

FAT 32 to NTFS Conversion without software

FAT 32 to NTFS Conversion using command prompt (cmd.exe)

It is generally recommended to use the NTFS File System because of its stability, security and lesser defragmentation time. Most of us end up using FAT32 because this is what most disks are preformatted with. Unless we notice the "Not enough disk space error" despite disk space being available, we don't bother to change the file system. Moreover, most of us don't change it because of the risk of losing important data and lack of time or less knowledge about the file system provided by the system itself. Microsoft was aware of this problem, they added a capability in the command prompt (cmd.exe) to overcome this by executing a simple command. There is much software that supports this too but the convert command is one of the easiest ways to do so. Those steps are as follow:

Note: While this method works perfectly, I would still advise you to backup your data in case anything goes wrong.

FAT 32 to NTFS Conversion Steps

• Go to Computer, and note the name of the drive whose file system you wish to convert.
• Click on Start or press Windows + R key for Run command execution.
• Type cmd in the search bar if you use Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. If you use Windows XP, click on Run and then execute cmd. 
• Execute "chkdsk h: /f " (without quotes) H is the letter of the drive to undergo conversion. This checks the drive for errors and fixes them automatically.
• Execute "Convert H: /FS:NTFS" (without quotes). H is again the letter of the drive to be converted.
• The command prompt will start the conversion process and after a few minutes, CMD will say that conversion was successful.
• You can check it in the properties of the drive through right click <Properties.

Note: If you are using windows 7 or later then run cmd as administrator.