Correct Procedure?

I will be using TI ver. 9.0 build 3677, but before I do that, please answer some questions of mine.
I'm running a Sony VAIO Windows XP Media Center Edition.
Internal HD is Maxtor 7Y250M0 (250GB,7200RPM, SATA, (C:NTFS)
Used space: 16.8GB

External HD is Maxtor 6Y080L0 USB Device (80GB, 7200RPM, Ultra-Ata (133)
J: (FAT) Used space: 4.09 GB

Should I convert the external drive to NTFS? If so, what will happen to my
4.09 GB of files that are on there ? (How do I do that ?)

Also, is there any other points to watch out for ?

Thank you for your answers.

 

If you leave it at FAT32 then the maximum filesize is 4GB and TI will automatically split the archive tib files to be that size. This should not be any problem. Some people have reported better performance with NTFS but I don't think that is seen by everybody. If the drive is converted to NTFS then it has no maximum filesize restraint that you have to be concerned about. On the other side of the coin, I always split my archives at 1492MB so 3 of them fit nicely on a DVD should I want to copy them to DVD. If you have an archive file greater than a DVD size then you lose that option if you need to copy to DVD for some reason.

There is no argument, IMO, that NTFS is a much better file system than FAT32 and this is probably enough reason to convert it if you wish to.

You can run the Microsoft Convert utility to convert FAT32 to NTFS without destroying the data (IIRC) but it converts to 512 byte clusters which is not efficient. Then normal default size is 4096. Since you only have 4GB of data on the drive, you can copy it to your internal drive, do the conversion by formatting in XP, and then copying the data back again.

 

Acronis Disk Director Suite can convert the partition on the fly and keep the data safe, also allowing choice of cluster size. I've done this many times with live data and never had a problem.

Ed

 

Windows can convert your FAT16 or FAT32 drive to NTFS on the fly without losing any data:


Consider
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

NO need to buy special spoftware.

 

I thank you all for your answers. They are exactly what I was looking for.
Happy New Year everybody.