NTFS (New Technology File System) is recommended for Windows XP because of the additional functionality.. If your Computer came with Windows XP pre-installed, there’s a chance that you’re already using NTFS. But if you’ve upgraded from Windows 98 or other Windows you may still be using FAT or FAT 32. Option to change over to NTFS would have been available during the upgrade process, but it still possible to convert at any time from within Windows XP without losing any data.

Why change from Fat to NTFS?. NTFS is more reliable than FAT or FAT32 when it comes from recovering from disk errors. A log of all disk activity is kept so when a crash occur, Windows XP can use the information to repair the file system when your Computer boots up again.

How to find out what file system you’re using, open My Computer, right-click your hard drive and choose Properties. Click the General tab and you’ll what file system that’s in use.

So here’s how to convert FAT to NTFS.

You can use the convert tool in Windows XP to change the file system from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. This process is safe and your existing data won’t be destroyed.

Here’s how; Click Start -> Run, type cmd and press Enter.
At the command prompt type convert c: /fs:ntfs and press Enter. the ‘c’ is the letter of the drive you’re converting. You’ll see a brief message on screen saying that the conversion will take place the next time Windows starts up.
After restarting, the Check Disk utility will run, the conversion will be performed automatically and your PC will reboot twice more.