Convert exFAT to NTFS?

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BevanChu

46 posts

Geek

#80847 5-Apr-2011 08:21

Hi guys,

I recently bought a 64GB USB flash drive which came in a exFAT format. Since everything I have is formatted in NTFS and tried converting it. No luck. I've tried the old command prompt trick and just form My Computer. I've looked on forums online but nothing. Is there anyway that you can help?

mattRSK

822 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#455391 5-Apr-2011 08:27

Hi, you may not have support for the exFAT file system. If you add support you may then be able to format the drive. Here is the link for XP http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=1cbe3906-ddd1-4ca2-b727-c2dff5e30f61&dis...

alexx

867 posts

Ultimate Geek

#455416 5-Apr-2011 09:31

One option if you have access to linux you can wipe the first few sectors of the USB drive.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz count=1000

This will zero out the first few sectors of your USB drive, which is where the partition/file system information is held, then put the flash drive back in windows and you should be able to format it.

Or if that isn't enough...

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz bs=1k count=16k

More info here: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key

Note: replace /dev/sdz with the linux device that represents your USB drive.
Extra Note: if you get that step wrong and use the wrong device you will end up wiping your hard drive.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

gzt

17157 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#455718 5-Apr-2011 23:09

Do you want to convert the filesystem and retain the data, or do you just want to wipe it out in favour of NTFS?

BevanChu

46 posts

Geek

#455766 6-Apr-2011 07:27

alexx: One option if you have access to linux you can wipe the first few sectors of the USB drive.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz count=1000

This will zero out the first few sectors of your USB drive, which is where the partition/file system information is held, then put the flash drive back in windows and you should be able to format it.

Or if that isn't enough...

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz bs=1k count=16k

More info here: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key

Note: replace /dev/sdz with the linux device that represents your USB drive.
Extra Note: if you get that step wrong and use the wrong device you will end up wiping your hard drive.

I'm relatively new to linux and only have it on a disk but what do you type in for the device directory?

BevanChu

46 posts

Geek

#455767 6-Apr-2011 07:28

gzt: Do you want to convert the filesystem and retain the data, or do you just want to wipe it out in favour of NTFS?

I just got the thing so really it doesn't matter

alexx

867 posts

Ultimate Geek

#456063 6-Apr-2011 18:59

BevanChu:
alexx: One option if you have access to linux you can wipe the first few sectors of the USB drive.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz count=1000

This will zero out the first few sectors of your USB drive, which is where the partition/file system information is held, then put the flash drive back in windows and you should be able to format it.

Or if that isn't enough...

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdz bs=1k count=16k

More info here: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key

Note: replace /dev/sdz with the linux device that represents your USB drive.
Extra Note: if you get that step wrong and use the wrong device you will end up wiping your hard drive.

I'm relatively new to linux and only have it on a disk but what do you type in for the device directory?

Getting somewhat offtopic for a windows question... depends what you mean by "have it on a disk"... if you have root access in linux then the 'fdisk' or 'cfdisk' commands should show the existing devices. For example, fdisk might show the first hard drive as:

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
....
....

It might also show /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 - these are filesystems on that drive.

To determine the USB drive on Linux, start with the USB drive unpluged, then monitor the kernel messages.

# tail -f /var/log/messages

The following is for a 500 MB USB drive that I'm using to test with. Plug in your USB drive and might see some messages like this:

kernel: usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 12
kernel: usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=13fe, idProduct=1a00
....
....
kernel: scsi10 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0
kernel: scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
....
kernel: sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] 977664 512-byte logical blocks: (500 MB/477 MiB)
kernel: sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
kernel: sd 10:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
....
kernel: sdb: sdb1
....

So it finds the new device /dev/sdb which has a single filesystem /dev/sdb1 and we can now confirm this using the fdisk command as before:

# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 500 MB, 500563968 bytes
16 heads, 60 sectors/track, 1018 cylinders
....
....

So to get back to your question, in this case I'd use device /dev/sdb
But be careful - in your case /dev/sdb might be a second disk drive or some other device that you don't want to wipe.

alexx

867 posts

Ultimate Geek

#456068 6-Apr-2011 19:19

Perhaps a simpler method if you haven't already tried:
http://www.ntfs.com/quest22.htm