Windows 10: Is it safe to convert USB Drive format from FAT32 to NTFS

Is it safe to convert USB Drive format from FAT32 to NTFS.
Hi tried to transfer a 4.33 GB File to USB Stick,14.5 GB Free Space,
message popped up . File To Large - ....... Is Too Large For This For The Destination File System.
will It still play ok on my built in Tv Media Player.
please advise
Thanks.

:)

 

In W10, how can a FAT32 disc be converted to NTFS?

I have an external IDE hard drive formatted with FAT32 with data that I want to keep. How can I convert that to a NTFS drive without losing data? My computer is using W10 and the files can be read properly but want to change the FAT32 drive to a NTFS
formatted drive.

 

Flash Drive format for creating a Recovery Drive?

After 4 attempts to format usb to ntfs for recovery, windows 10 changed the format to FAT32. I finished the recovery. I then attempted to boot from FAT32 formatted usb with frozen windows screen.

I have another windows 10 machine (32bit) with USB recovery drive formatted to NTFS that works.

Any Thoughts?

 

It is safe to convert the drive to NTFS but it will overwrite anything that's on there now. If you have any files on there that you do not want to loose you will have to save them somewhere else and then do the format.

Brink from TenForums wrote a tutorial on how change the format without loosing your data, But I would suggest saving it somewhere else just to be on the safe side.
Convert FAT32 to NTFS without Data Loss in Windows Windows 10 Hardware Drivers Tutorials

 

Yes it will, but you have to backup/remove the content you have on the USB drive, before opening the drive in Disk Manager!

Remember to run the Disk Manager as Administrator. All the desktop stand alone PVR's I know off play NTFS files without
any problem, it's actually the mediaplayers codec that playback your files. So if it support the media format (mpg, AVC a.s.o.)
you record in, it should be OK.

Try with an empty drive, format in NTFS, place some of your recordings on the drive and test it.

 

Thanks Gordon7 will try this out, just for now reduced size of file with Handbrake to 3.95GB a movie 1080p watched last night and looked good on my TV,will check specs of TV first
Thanks.

 

You need to check if TV Media Player can handle NTFS format. Probably will but many devices like TVs or routers that have a USB slot often only read FAT32.

 

I remember doing this from XP on a Trancend external USB drive that was FAT32.
I searched Google and found a small program that could do it. It done so without effecting the files on it, I could watch it from Player/mp4-HDMI connect to TV....but....
1- It caused that 3000ms timeout failure, in this case Avast.(Proved this later on)
2-The drive took long to load via USB.

The end result was that I emtied it after 6 months of somewhat frustration, and reformat it (long) properly.
>The drive then loaded fast from USB, and the 3000ms failure was missing from eventviewer referring to Avast.
>I always wondered where this 3000ms failure came from & why.

So formatting it properly for NTFS is the correct way, if your player/TV can handle it.

 

First, as stated, check you TV's documentation or web page about reading an NTFS drive. Most media devices only read FAT32.
You do not need to Delete or Format (erase) the contents of your FAT32 drive to convert it to NTFS nor, do you need to use a 3rd party app. You just need to type in a command in an Elevated Command Prompt:
convert d: /fs:ntfs
this is assuming the drive letter of the FAT32 volume is D:, change the drive letter accordingly for your drive. However, You cannot convert NTFS to FAT32 without loosing data, so be sure your TV accepts NTFS. Also, it's a good idea to backup your files on this drive in case something goes awry. I have converted 100's of times, and never had a problem, but it's always good to err on the side of caution and backup.

 

I have used convert 100 of times never lost any files or data