Full Guide: Convert/Change File System to NTFS, FAT32, EXT2, or EXT3 Without Losing Data
How to Convert the File System to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3
Storage devices become RAW so you cannot access important data. You Need a way to convert the file system to NTFS, FAT32, EXT2, or EXT3 with a file system converter.
Are you looking for a way to convert the file system of your hard drive, partition, USB flash drive, memory SD card? How to access a storage device since the file system becomes RAW? Do you need to convert the file system of a hard drive to a unique format to install new games on your PC but don't want to lose any data? Relax! All your problems can be solved now.
Easy and effective methods are available here to help you convert and change file systems for storage devices. You can now follow the five methods below to change or convert the file system.
- 1. Convert to NTFS/FAT32 Without Losing Data
- 2. Use a Format Tool
- 3. Use Disk Management Tool
- 4. Try Windows Explorer
- 5. Run CMD (Command Prompt)
Method 1. Convert to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3 Without Losing Data
- Applies to: Windows 10/8/7
- Supported File System: NTFS/FAT32
- Easiness: Very easy to all users
- Highlight: No data loss
The most effective way to convert the file system to FAT32/NTFS/EXT2/EXT3 is using Qiling Partition Master Free. It is a free disk partitioning tool running on the Windows platform. It can change an NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition or convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing any data. Here is an example of converting FAT32 to NTFS:
Step 1. Click target device partition and select "More..." > "Convert to FAT".
Step 2. When the check process completes, click "OK" to start NTFS to FAT32 conversion.
Method 2. Format the File System to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3
If you are not afraid of data loss on your partition or hard drive, you can format the drive to wanted file system like NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3. Qiling free partition manager software fully supports all Windows systems. You can convert RAW to NTFS, NTFS to FAT32, FAT32 to EXT2, EXT3 to NTFS, exFAT to NTFS, etc by using its "Format" feature.
- Applies to: Windows 10/8/7
- Supported File System: NTFS/EXT4/EXT3/EXT2/FAT32/FAT16/FAT12/ReFS
- Easiness: Very simple
- Highlight: Support almost all of the file system
Step 1. Run Qiling Partition Master Free, click the hard drive partition you intend to format, and choose "Format".
Step 2. In the new window, set the Partition label, File system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and Cluster size for the partition to be formatted, then click "Proceed".
Step 3. Then you will see a warning window, click "OK" in it to start formatting the partition on your hard drive.
Method 3. Use Disk Management Tool to Change the File System to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3
- Applies to: Windows 10 (Different Windows version has different operating steps, the steps is available for Windows 10 only)
- Supported File System: NTFS/FAT32/exFAT
- Easiness: Easy
- Highlight: It is a built-in tool
The Disk Management tool supports users to format storage devices into NTFS/FAT32 by formatting. If you are using an external drive, connect it to your computer. And you can follow to change the file system to NTFS/FAT32 now:
Step 1. Right-click This PC or My Computer, select "Manage".
Step 2. Enter Device Manager and click "Disk Management"
Step 3. Open Disk Management and right-click the target device, select "Format".
Step 4. Set "NTFS/FAT32/exFAT" for the selected device, tick "Quick Format" and click "OK" to confirm.
Method 4. Convert File System with Windows Explorer
- Applies to: Windows 10/8/7
- Supported File System: NTFS/FAT32/exFAT
- Easiness: Easy
- Highlight: It is very easy and convenient
Follow the steps below to format your partition to NTFS/FAT32/exFAT:
Step 1. Connect your external storage device to PC and open Windows File Explorer.
Step 2. Locate and right-click the target device, select "Format".
Step 3. Tick "Quick Format", set the file system as "NTFS" and click "Start" to begin the formatting.
Method 5. Run CMD (Command Prompt) to Convert the File System
- Applies to: Windows 10/8/7
- Supported File System: NTFS/FAT32/exFAT
- Easiness: A little bit hard
- Highlight: Very convenient to specific users
If you are using a USB flash drive or SD card, connect it to your PC and follow the steps below:
Step 1. Right-click on the Windows icon, select "Search" and type cmd.
Step 2. Right-click it to run Command Prompt as an administrator, type diskpart, and hit Enter.
Step 3. Type below command lines and hit "Enter" each time:
list disk
select disk 2 (Replace 2 with your USB disk number)
list volume
select volume 10 (Replace 10 with the volume number of the USB drive that you want to format)
format fs=fat32 quick
Then, you can type exit and hit Enter to close DiskPart when it reports to successfully format the volume.
Additional Tips: Export or Back Up Data in Storage Device First
To avoid unnecessary data loss issues in your storage devices such as SD card or USB drive due to file system converting, we highly recommended all users extract or back up important to a secure device or partition in advance.
You may choose to copy files one by one to a new disk or drive. Or if you have quite a big number of data to be transferred, professional backup software shall be your best choice. Here we recommend you try Qiling Backup which allows you to directly back up target data into compressed image formats within only four steps.
Step 1. Click "File backup" button in the Backup and recovery page to initiate a backup.
Step 2. Local and network files will be displayed on the left side. You may extend the directory to choose which files to back up.
Step 3. Select the location where you want to store the backup by following the on-screen instructions.
Step 4. Click "Options" to encrypt the backup with a password in "Backup Options". There are a variety of other customization options available for the backup process.
Setup a backup schedule and choose to initiate a backup at a certain event in "Backup Scheme".
Step 5. You may save the backup to a local disk, Qiling' online service, or a NAS.
Step 6. To begin backup, click "Proceed" Once the backup process has been finished, it will be shown as a card on the panel's left side. To further manage a backup job, right-click it.
Conclusion
After you have learned the 5 solutions above, you can find changing the file system by using a free third-party disk partitioning tool is the best choice. If you are bothered by the same problems, you can turn to Qiling Partition Master Free. It can not only convert the file system to NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3 but also convert MBR to GPT, GPT to MBR, dynamic to basic, basic to a dynamic disk. You can install this software to explore more fantastic features.
Related Articles
- 5 Methods to Improve and Speed up Dell Laptop/PC on Windows 10/8/7
- Repair Error with NTFS File System Repair Freeware
- How to Reformat Windows 11/10 PC/Laptop | In-depth tutorial
- NTFS or exFAT for External Hard Drive: Which Format is Better for External Hard Drive