If you’re searching for an alternative to partition magic to convert FAT32 to NTFS without data damage on your Windows computer, this post will give you a perfect answer.
▶ About Partition Magic
Partition Magic is a hard disk partitioning tool. It is compatible with pre-Vista Microsoft Windows operating systems such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP, however, it is incompatible with Windows Vista and continuous versions. This software can resize NTFS, FAT16, or FAT32 partitions, and also can convert between FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS without formatting.
Several years ago, the business said that there were no plans to release a new version. After that, many users who can’t find a proper alternative of Partition Magic to convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing data.
But, don’t worry, you can find the best alternative to this software in this article, and we’ll show you how to convert the file system later.
▶ About FAT32 & NTFS
In case some users might not know FAT32 and NTFS, here, we do a brief introduction (detailed info: What is File System in Windows Operating Systems?). If you don’t need it, you can skip to the next part.
The file system is a mechanism and data structure used by the operating system to regulate how data is saved and retrieved. In all file systems, FAT32 and NTFS are two frequently used types.
The FAT32 file system is an older file system created for the Windows operating system. It only supports partition sizes of up to 32GB and the file size can’t be over 4GB, whereas the NTFS file system enables partition sizes of up to 16TB.
Besides the size, the most significant benefit of NTFS is its security performance, since it offers security insurance for many workstations. And NTFS is a recoverable file system with self-repairing capabilities. In the case of a system failure, it employs log files and checkpoint information to regain file system consistency.
Furthermore, NTFS allows you to establish access rights for sharing resources and data, and it uses a smaller cluster to manage disk space. Therefore, for modern Windows systems, the performance of NTFS is better, and many people would like to convert FAT32 to NTFS if their devices allow it.
After you have some basic information about FAT32 and NTFS, now, we can start the conversion.
In this section, we’ll show you how to convert FAT32 to NTFS with CMD without damaging your data, and a third-party tool to convert the file system with an easier operation that is also data-safe.
In Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7, CMD also allows users to convert FAT32 to NTFS without formatting.
Step 1. Press “Windows” + “R” to start Run. Type “cmd” and hit “Enter”.
Step 2. Type: “convert X: /fs:ntfs”. “X” is the target partition you wish to convert.
In the example, we use E drive. Once it gets completed, you will get a message saying “Conversion complete”.
However, once you’ve converted FAT32 to NTFS, you cannot convert it back. And you will receive an error message saying “Convert is not available for NTFS drive”. You will need to reformat the drive or partition to FAT32.
Third-party software is the best option for all Windows users to avoid incorrect command typing and task errors. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional is a fantastic option. It offers a professional function for converting between file systems. Users of Windows 11, 10, 8, 8.1, 7, XP, and Vista can use it to perform a data-safe conversion between FAT32 to NTFS.
Step 1. Install and launch the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.
Step 2. Click the partition you want to convert and choose “Convert”, then click “Convert to NTFS/FAT32”.
Step 3. Click "OK" in the window.
Step 4. Click “Apply” to start performing the conversion.
Then the conversion is over.
Which one is the best alternative of Partition Magic to help you convert FAT32 to NTFS? You can select CMD or AOMEI Partition Assistant based on your situation. As a powerful Windows disk and partition manager, AOMEI Partition Assistant has helped lots of users with various functions. In the pictures we showed, you can see not only file system converter, but “Migrate OS to SSD”, “Merge Partition”, “Convert to logical/primary”… User can easily fix their disk/partition problems with this tool.
If you need to manage a Server device, it also has Server Edition for you.