Sign in
Microsoft.com
 
Microsoft
 
 
 

locked
New My Book FAT32 -- One Care advises to convert to NTFS -- can I do that on this Ex HD, and if I don't, what are my risks for later upgrade to a Vista system? RRS feed

 > 

  • Question

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Current -- XP Home and need to back up 101 GB hard drive

    Option 1 -- External NTFS drive --  it's full -- need to offload at least 20 GB -- currently I have 121 GB in "One Care back up" already on the system
    .....Erase and Overwrite current onecare backup?  seems risky...

    Option 2 -- External FAT32 drive -- My Book -- 1 TB new --
    ...warning to not use FAT32 -- do I convert this to an NTFS?  If so, I have no idea how to do that
    ...or -- do I keep as FAT32 and worry later when I upgrade to a Vista OS?
    Friday, April 17, 2009 11:43 AM

Answers

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    You can safely ignore the warning about conversion if you are backing up a single PC. However, NTFS is a more secure file system and should really be the file system of choice for a large drive such as the new 1 TB drive. If there is nothing on that drive right now, don't bother converting - format the drive and select NTFS as the file system.

    There is no impact to you for a future OS upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 as NTFS is the file system of choice for those operating systems.

    -steve
    Microsoft MVP Windows Live / Windows Live OneCare & Live Mesh Forum Moderator
    Friday, April 17, 2009 1:38 PM
    Moderator