NTFS (New Technology File System) is the Microsoft File System. NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
NTFS File system is very useful when we use this with volumes that have large then 400 MB data size because performance does not degrade under NTFS, as it does under FAT, with larger volume sizes.
The NTFS file system provides better performance and security for data on hard disks and partitions or volumes. If you have a partition that uses the earlier FAT16 or FAT32 file system, you can convert it to NTFS by using the convert command. This command is very useful because Converting to NTFS with the help of CONVERT command does not affect the data on the partition, or risk of corrupting data is very minimal.
The most important new feature of NTFS is the ability to encrypt files and folders to protect your sensitive data.
Following are the steps for converting volumes to NTFS:
1. Close all open programs running on the partition or logical drive to be converted.
2. Open Command Prompt. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
Or
Goto Run and type ‘cmd’ and press ENTER, command prompt will be dispaly
3. At the command prompt, type convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs, where drive_letter is the letter of the drive you want to convert, and then press Enter.
Read before convert partion to NTFS
1. If your volume or partition contains some system files such as if you are converting drive that the operating system was installed on then you need to restart your computer.
2. If you are using an earlier version of Windows to access a partition on the computer, partitions then do not convert it to NTFS because some earlier versions of Windows cannot read data on local NTFS partitionsdo not convert it to NTFS.
3. Back uip your all data on the partition or volume before converting it into NTFS Although the chance of corruption or data loss during a conversion is minimal,
4. After you convert a partition to NTFS, you cannot convert it back.
5. If your disk is almost full, the conversion process might not succeed. If you receive an error, try deleting unnecessary files, or back up files to another location, to free up disk space.
You can see File system type : right click on partition or drive, click on properties, properties window will be display like this (see in red circle)
