# Problem with FAT32 to NTFS conversion -- am I screwed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-fat32-to-ntfs-conversion-am-i-screwed/263801 "2004-09-09T17:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-fat32-to-ntfs-conversion-am-i-screwed/263801/1 "2004-09-09T17:38:24Z")
And my evil computer saga continues… About a month ago, I decided to convert the HD on my new computer to NTFS. I did a lot of research and noted [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=243321), which brought up one issue I was particularly concerned about: > [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > Yes there might be _one_ issue: cluster size. If you created the FAT32 partition with anything other than XP, you will need to either delete that partition and recreate it with NTFS _ **or** _ download a program called BootitNG and run the “Align for NTFS” utility. (BootitNG is shareware, but the boot disk you create will be fully-functional for 30 days). > > Essentially, the problem is that FAT32 partitions created by versions of WIndows earlier than XP have a strange offset of 2kb. When you run the NTFS conversion process, this offset makes CONVERT.EXE use 512b clusters instead of 4kb clusters. This leads to rampant fragmentation and related degraded performance. If you’d like to read more about it, see this link: > > [http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php](http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php) Well, since I didn’t set up the system myself, I asked the guy who DID set it up, and asked him if this was something I should do. His response (in nearly exact words): “No, don’t worry about it! Everything’s taken care of. Just click that shortcut that says ‘Convert to NTFS’, say ‘Y’ twice, and wait until it’s done!” Well…he lied. _[Hardly a surprise. He lied about the cost, how long it would take, how I needed to replace the power supply before using my computer for anything other than a doorstop…oh wait, this isn’t the Pit. Back on topic…]_ To make a long story short, I’ve got “rampant fragmentation” and it’s pissing me off. So my questions are: (1) Is there any EASY way to fix this? It’s simple enough to ghost this partition onto a brand new hard drive, but I have no idea if that will work (and it’s the only thing I can think of, aside from reinstalling from scratch.) (2) What will happen if I just “live with it”? I’m used to running defrag on a regular basis, and so far I haven’t noticed too many problems, except for burning CDs & DVDs which intermittently turn up bad (which can be anything, I’m still trying to narrow down what’s causing that.) I can live with “degraded performance”, as long as it’s limited to just the computer running slower, and there’s no big risk for major crashes / data loss / etc. BTW I’m not talking to Mr. Jackass Computer Man anymore…I finally told him to go fuck himself and it was pure salvation for my sanity… ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-fat32-to-ntfs-conversion-am-i-screwed/263801/2 "2004-09-09T19:08:56Z")
If you’re that worried about it, copy everything to another drive, re-create the partition, and reformat using the cluster size you want. If you don’t fix it, you will see lower disk performance and increased fragmentation, but nothing so big that you’d want to buy a new HDD just to avoid it.