Recovery Files Lost during Conversion between FAT and NTFS

A filesystem is used to control how data is stored and accessed. Without a filesystem, the operating system will be lost in the sea of meaningless data.
NTFS (New Technology File System) and FAT32 (File Allocation Table) are the two most common file systems used by Windows.

As the default file system used by Windows NT family, NTFS is relatively new and considered to be more advanced than FAT32. NTFS makes use of advanced data structure to improve reliability, maximum capacity, and overall performance.

The advantages of NTFS over FAT does not mean that FAT is obsolete. Having been around for a really long time, FAT is universally supported on all operating systems, including your smart TV, game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, older computers, printers, etc. If it is portability you want, FAT32 remains your best choice.

Under different circumstances, we might need to convert between FAT and NTFS. Here is how we can do it.

Convert to NTFS 

There are different ways to switch to NTFS. If you don't need to keep your files on the FAT or FAT32 partitions, you can simply format the partitions with NTFS. Otherwise, Microsoft Windows provides a built-in utility to convert from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS while keeping your files intact.

1. Click on Start and type cmd in the search bar if you use Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. If you use Windows XP, click on Run and then execute cmd.

2. Execute Convert x: /FS:NTFS (x is the target drive letter)

3. The command prompt will start the conversion process. CMD will notify you when the process ends.

Although this built-in utility aims to convert without data loss, we still highly recommend you to backup your important files beforehand in case the conversion goes wrong.

Revert to FAT32

Reverting filesystem from NTFS to FAT32 stands a greater risk of data loss. It requires formatting the partition. You can lose all your stored data so a proper backup is in order. You can use the disk management features to format the partition.

1. Open disk management.

2. Right-click the partition to be changed.

3. Select format partition.

4. Follow the remaining instructions to complete the task.

Due to the limitation of FAT32 filesystem, the partition volume should be lesser that 32 GB and files over 4 GB in size will not be supported.

Recover Data Lost in Conversion

Converting between filesystems can be risky. Unsuccessful conversion or accidental formatting of disks without proper backups can lead to serious data loss. We recommend H Data Recovery Software to help you retrieve as much as missing files as possible. H Data Recovery is an advanced data recovery software to recover lost partitions, inaccessible data or inadvertent deletions. You can follow the below-mentioned steps to recover lost or deleted partitions with H Data Recovery software.

1. Download and install H Data Recovery. Launch the software.

2. On the main menu, you can see different modules designed to handle different data-loss situations. Select the partition recovery module by clicking on the icon.

3. Select the partition from the displayed volume list and click Next to proceed with the scanning.

4. When scanning is done, you will be able to see all the files that can be recovered. Check the files you wish to recover and click next to select a destination you wish to store your recovered files. Remember to save these files to another drive or partition to avoid overwriting.