Usb backup drive file system [solved]

[xboxboy]

My latest little problem is a relatively simple one.

 

I have an external hard drive that I use to do complete back ups of my data from time to time. The trouble is that I didn't consider the file system at first. It came formatted and I just used it.

 

The drama is that I can not back up my large files eg *.iso's and others. This is a file system restriction I believe.

 

I think the usb drive is a fat32 file system from memory.

 

I guess I'll probably stick with changing it to a NTFS if possible, as I probably need to access it from windows from time to time.

 

Can I change file system easily? Is it possible to do it without copying everything off, change filesystem, then back on?

 

Dolphin lists the usb drive as VFAT, I'm unsure how to confirm that it is fat32.

 

Any help most appreciated.

[ianw1974]

Yes, fat32 has a limit of 4GB per file size.

 

Under Windows you can convert a FAT32 filesystem to NTFS, so if you have a Windows XP system or anything Windows NT/2000 or higher, then you can use the convert command from the command prompt in Windows to change the filesystem. For example, if the USB disk when connected is E:, then:

 

convert e: /fs:ntfs

 

will convert it. Of course, replace e: with whatever drive letter is assigned to your disk when you connect it to the Windows system.

[xboxboy]

Yes, fat32 has a limit of 4GB per file size.

 

Under Windows you can convert a FAT32 filesystem to NTFS, so if you have a Windows XP system or anything Windows NT/2000 or higher, then you can use the convert command from the command prompt in Windows to change the filesystem. For example, if the USB disk when connected is E:, then:

 

convert e: /fs:ntfs

 

will convert it. Of course, replace e: with whatever drive letter is assigned to your disk when you connect it to the Windows system.

 

Thanks Ian. Wow, is it really that simple? Thats amazing.

 

Yes, I have a Xp os installed, up and running...Man, that thing is sooooo slow.

[ianw1974]

Yup :)

 

I've done this a few times before myself. Of course, the conversion is one-way, you can't go back again - at least from what I remember convert won't do it, but there might be other professional partitioning apps that can.

[xboxboy]

used the convert command and all is fixed! Thanks Ian