Книга: Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage, Security, & Networking Pocket Consultant

Converting a volume to NTFS

Converting a volume to NTFS

Windows Server 2012 R2 provides a utility for converting FAT volumes to NTFS. This utility, Convert (Convert.exe), is located in the %SystemRoot% folder. When you convert a volume by using this tool, the file and directory structure is preserved and no data is lost. Keep in mind, however, that Windows Server 2012 R2 doesn’t provide a utility for converting NTFS to FAT. The only way to go from NTFS to FAT is to delete the partition by following the steps listed in the previous section, and then re-create the partition as a FAT volume.

Convert is run at the command prompt. If you want to convert a drive, use the following syntax:

convert volume /FS: NTFS

Here volume is the drive letter followed by a colon, drive path, or volume name. For example, if you want to convert the D drive to NTFS, use the following command:

convert D: /FS: NTFS

If the volume has a label, you are prompted to enter the volume label for the drive, but you are not prompted if the disk doesn’t have a label.

The complete syntax for Convert is shown here:

convert volume /FS: NTFS [/V] [/X] [/CvtArea: filename] [/NoSecurity]

The options and switches for Convert are used as follows:

volume — Sets the volume with which to work

/FS: NTFS — Converts to NTFS

/V — Sets verbose mode

/X — Forces the volume to dismount before the conversion (if necessary)

/CvtArea: filename — Sets the name of a contiguous file in the root directory to be a placeholder for NTFS system files

/NoSecurity — Removes all security attributes, and makes all files and directories accessible to the group Everyone

The following sample statement uses Convert:

convert C: /FS: NTFS /V

Before you use the Convert utility, determine whether the partition is being used as the active boot partition or a system partition containing the operating system. You can convert the active boot partition to NTFS. Doing so requires that the system gain exclusive access to this partition, which can be obtained only during startup. Thus, if you try to convert the active boot partition to NTFS, Windows Server 2012 R2 displays a prompt asking if you want to schedule the drive to be converted the next time the system starts. If you tap or click Yes, you can restart the system to begin the conversion process.

TIP Often, you will need to restart a system several times to completely convert the active boot partition. Don’t panic. Let the system proceed with the conversion.

Before the Convert utility actually converts a drive to NTFS, the utility checks whether the drive has enough free space to perform the conversion. Generally, Convert needs a block of free space that’s roughly equal to 25 percent of the total space used on the drive. For example, if the drive stores 200 GB of data, Convert needs about 50 GB of free space. If the drive doesn’t have enough free space, Convert aborts and tells you that you need to free up some space. On the other hand, if the drive has enough free space, Convert initiates the conversion. Be patient. The conversion process takes several minutes (longer for large drives). Don’t access files or applications on the drive while the conversion is in progress.

You can use the /CvtArea option to improve performance on the volume so that space for the master file table (MFT) is reserved. This option helps to prevent fragmentation of the MFT. How? Over time, the MFT might grow larger than the space allocated to it. The operating system must then expand the MFT into other areas of the disk. Although the Optimize Drives utility can defragment the MFT, it cannot move the first section of the MFT, and it is very unlikely that there will be space after the MFT because this will be filled by file data.

To help prevent fragmentation in some cases, you might want to reserve more space than the default (12.5 percent of the partition or volume size). For example, you might want to increase the MFT size if the volume will have many small or average-size files rather than a few large files. To specify the amount of space to reserve, you can use FSUtil to create a placeholder file equal in size to that of the MFT you want to create. You can then convert the volume to NTFS and specify the name of the placeholder file to use with the /CvtArea option.

In the following example, you use FSUtil to create a 1.5-GB (1,500,000,000 bytes) placeholder file named Temp.txt:

fsutil file createnew c: temp.txt 1500000000

To use this placeholder file for the MFT when converting drive C to NTFS, you would then type the following command:

convert c: /fs: ntfs /cvtarea: temp.txt

Notice that the placeholder file is created on the partition or volume that is being converted. During the conversion process, the file is overwritten with NTFS metadata and any unused space in the file is reserved for future use by the MFT.

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