Change partition file system without losing data

da_mic_1530 · 24 Mar 2009 at 14:17

Hi there, HD noob here, never posted in these parts before so excuse me

I have a seagate 250gb USB HD, which currently is partitioned as such

150gb odd as NTFS
The rest FAT32

Now is it possible to reformat the whole thing back to say 250GB of NTFS WITHOUT losing the data that is already held on there, as I have no way of backing up 250GB

I'd be prepared to lose the smaller partition's data if that helps..

I have partition Magic (IIRC) lying around somewhere...

katana6434 · 24 Mar 2009 at 14:29

You can convert FAT32 to NTFS without loosing data. I believe you could then use Partition Magic to merge the two partitions.

I think you can do that with Partition Magic....

Of course, whenever you are playing with Partitions a backup is always advisable.

da_mic_1530 · 24 Mar 2009 at 15:36

katana6434 said:
You can convert FAT32 to NTFS without loosing data. I believe you could then use Partition Magic to merge the two partitions.

I think you can do that with Partition Magic....

Of course, whenever you are playing with Partitions a backup is always advisable.

cheers, will maybe just take the plunge

LeJimster · 24 Mar 2009 at 15:42

totally possible to convert and merge with partition magic, but it will take hours to complete.

miniyazz · 24 Mar 2009 at 16:31

IIRC, Partition Magic doesn't work properly on Vista. At least, Vista told me it was incompatible and it gave warning messages about my partition alignments under Vista, which it didn't do under XP. It might be OK, of course, but if you're attempting it under Vista, don't have anything you couldn't afford to lose on that drive.

eXor · 24 Mar 2009 at 18:08

da_mic_1530 said:
Now is it possible to reformat the whole thing back to say 250GB of NTFS WITHOUT losing the data that is already held on there, as I have no way of backing up 250GB

It is possible, but do you want to take the risk? Do you have a UPS? How much do you value that data? I'd buy another drive.

Apparently, Windows can mount a partition anywhere. Never knew that.

If you can't source a backup drive, this looks like the safest option. Just convert to NTFS and mount it.