The best free software helps you to convert USB external hard drive or flash drive to FAT32 or NTFS without data loss in Windows 10/8/7.
FAT32 and NTFS are two most commonly used file system when formatting partition. They are created for keeping track of files in the hard disk. But what are the differences between them? Here’s a brief introduction.
FAT stands for File Allocation Table and the number "32" denotes the number of bits needed to keep track of the files. FAT32 is an improvement of the original FAT system. Because it uses more bits to identify each cluster. This enhances the efficiency of a computer. Besides, FAT32 supports drives that have more than 2GB storage and the largest file could be 4GB. Some devices can only read partitions formatted as FAT32, including Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, etc.
NTFS is the abbreviation of New Technology File System. It appeared initially for Windows NT platform then developed in Windows versions like Vista, XP. NTFS file system is more complex and flexible than FAT32. It offers multiple enhancements that increase security as well as performance. The largest file can be over 4GB. In addition, it does file-level encryption, file compression, disk usage quotas, etc.
However, FAT32 is still the one which recognized by the majority of the system. Usually, you’ll find that the default format of USB drive is FAT32. Anyway, according to different demands, Here’s a method to convert USB to FAT32 or NTFS withAOMEI Partition Assistant Pro. On the other hand, “FAT32 can be converted to NTFS but it’s not so easy to convert NTFS back to FAT32.”, this problem is solved by AOMEI Partition Assistant perfectly.
The following example is to convert FAT32 to NTFS. If you intend to convert NTFS to FAT32, just choose the different option in every step. First of all, you need to install AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro. It works under Windows 7/8/8.1/10/Vista/XP.
Step 1: Launch Partition Assistant. Your USB will be detected automatically. Click “Convert” in the top toolbar, and choose “Convert to NTFS/FAT32”.
Step 2: In the pop-up window, choose the option you need.
Step 3: The program will search required partitions. Select your USB partition and click “Next”.
Step 4: You can view the pending operations here. Click “Proceed” to confirm.
Then, you just need wait for a while. When it finished, a window will prompt you. Quite easy, right? This function also applies to other partitions on the computer. What’s more, there won’t be any data loss during the whole process. If you still worry about it, free AOMEI Backupper could help you do backups no matter disk backup, partition backup, or just file backup, etc. By the way, please pay attention that if you have devices such as Xbox, PS3 and Android, make sure whether they need FAT/FAT32 file system or not.