Hard Drive Recovery with FAT and NTFS

A file system controls how data is stored and accessed. Without a file system,  the hard drive becomes RAW and we will not be able to access files like we do. 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 The advantages of NTFS over FAT does not mean that FAT is obsolete.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.

There are different ways to switch from FAT32 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. Converting between file systems 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 lost files. H Data Recovery is an advanced data recovery software that aims 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 Software to your computer.

2. Launch the software. On the main menu, you can see different modules designed to handle different data-loss situations. If you formatted your hard drive without properly backing up its contents, choose the Format Recovery Module to retrieve lost data. If a partition is lost or crashed during the conversion, choose the Hard Drive Partition Recovery module to scan for files inaccessible to you due to the absence of a correct file system.

3. 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.