Re: fat32 converter for windows me

Drew <> wrote in news:gqgh21tool7ropodoun36n1sdiu92du3c5@
4ax.com:

>
> Hi All:
>
> I'm working on an older Pentium notebook (okay, very old) that has
> Windows ME on it. For some reason, under Accessories/System Tools,
> the normal FAT32 converter program isn't there.
>
> The machine is running low on disk space so I wanted to convert it to
> FAT32. Is there a place I can download it or is it possible that
> Windows excluded installing it for some reason.
>
> Its a pretty old computer and the tiny 2 gig or so hard drive was
> partitioned into a C drive (boot partition) of not much size...maybe
> 400 megs or something and then the rest was on D.
>
> Maybe during install Windows detected that C drive could never be
> converted to FAT32 because of space?
>
> Or should I not even try converting a drive this small to FAT32 due to
> performance concerns?
>
> Thanks!
> Drew
>
>

Personally - I would re-format the drive into one disk. The reason being
this old of a system perhaps does not have enough memory to perform the
conversion. Secondly, there would be little gain in disk space or in
performance. Last but not least, use of compression is not recommended
for FAT32 partions. So I would the FAT32 Conversion Information Utility.
This estimates the amount of disk space you'd free up if you were to
convert your hard disk to FAT32. WINDOWS\FATWIN32.EXE (available on
Microsoft's Web site)

To Convert to FAT32 on ME - MS Support lists the following:

Article ID : 273896
Last Review : September 28, 2004
Revision : 1.0


SUMMARY
This article describes how to convert a drive that uses the FAT16 file
system to the FAT32 file system in Windows Millennium Edition (Me).

WARNING: After you convert your drive to the FAT32 file system, you
cannot convert it back to the original FAT file system. Also, this
procedure does not work if your drive has bad sectors.
MORE INFORMATION
To convert your drive to the FAT32 file system, follow the steps in this
section. NOTE: Before you convert your drive to the FAT32 file system,
uninstall any utilities or tools that protect or encrypt the Master Boot
Record (MBR) or partition table (for example, uninstall the Bootlock
utility that is included with Symantec Norton Your Eyes Only).
1. Create a Windows Me Startup disk.For additional information about
how to create a Startup disk, click the article number below to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
267287 How to Create a Startup Disk in Windows Me
2. Restart your computer with the Windows Me Startup disk in the
floppy disk drive.
3. On the Startup menu, choose option 3 to start your computer without
CD-ROM support.

If your computer does not boot from the floppy disk and does not display
the four Startup disk menu options, the boot sequence on the computer may
not be configured properly. Refer to the documentation for your computer
or contact your hardware manufacturer to determine if the boot sequence
is set to boot from the floppy disk drive.
4. At a command prompt, type cvt drive:, where drive is the drive that
you want to convert to the FAT32 file system.

NOTE: The Cvt.exe file is not on the floppy disk, it is in the Windows
\Command folder. The Startup disk automatically sets the path for the
Cvt.exe file to the C:\Windows\Command folder. If Windows is not
installed in this folder and you receive a bad command or file name error
message, type drive:\windows_folder\command\cvt.exe drive2 at a command
prompt, where drive is the drive in which Windows is installed,
windows_folder is the Windows folder, and drive2 is the drive that you
want to convert.
5. Press ENTER so that ScanDisk can check the drive for errors before
the file system is converted.
6. After the drive is converted, the amount of free space that you
gained by converting to FAT32 is displayed.
7. Remove the Startup disk from your floppy disk drive, and then press
ENTER when you are prompted to restart your computer.
NOTE: If you attempt to run the Cvt.exe file in Windows Me, you may
receive the following error message:
The Converter was unable to get a lock on the drive.

The conversion was canceled.
You receive this error message if you first use the lock command to lock
the drive that you are trying to convert.

NOTE: The file system does not convert correctly if you have both the
FAT16 and FAT32 file systems on your drive. For example, if you have a
computer with the following configuration
C < 512 meg FAT 16
D FAT32
E FAT32
F FAT32
G FAT16
and you try to convert drive G to FAT32, the conversion process starts,
and then you receive the following error message:
The Converter was unable to find the drive partition.
The conversion was canceled.
Click OK to quit the converter tool.

For additional information about the FAT32 file system, click the article
numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
253774 Common Questions About the FAT32 File System
154997 Description of the FAT32 File System
192322 Description of Default Cluster Sizes for FAT32 File System
126855 Windows Support for Large IDE Hard Disks
255867 How to Use Fdisk and Format to Partition/Repartition a Hard Disk

Bum