Forum Discussion
Callumow
Sep 13, 2024Copper Contributor
How to convert NTFS to FAT32 without losing data on Windows 11/10?
Hi all, I have an external hard drive formatted by NTFS. I bought a new Mac recently but writing to NTFS is not supported by Mac. FAT32 is supported by both Windows 11 PC and Mac. Is it possible ...
- Sep 13, 2024
If your 4TB hard drive is in NTFS format and Mac cannot directly write to NTFS format, you can indeed consider converting it to FAT32, so that both Windows and Mac can support it. However, direct formatting is definitely not an option because you cannot lose so much data. I have encountered a similar situation before, and later used Partition Manager to directly convert NTFS to FAT32, and the data was not lost at all. Moreover, this tool is easy to use and can be done in a few steps. I recommend you to try it.
I followed this tutorial: (worked for me)
https://www.gicmodo.com/how-to-convert-ntfs-to-fat32
Alyssany
Sep 13, 2024Copper Contributor
Before doing that, please check File Size, FAT32 has a maximum file size limit of 4GB, so make sure none of your files exceed that. If you have files larger than 4GB, you'll need to split them using a file splitter tool or consider a different file system that can handle larger files, like exFAT or just stick with NTFS.
Next, you can use Built-in Tools to convert NTFS to FAT32. Windows doesn't allow direct conversion via its built-in Disk Management tool, but you can delete the NTFS partition and create a FAT32 partition. Just remember this will wipe everything, so that's why the backup is essential!
Next, you can use Built-in Tools to convert NTFS to FAT32. Windows doesn't allow direct conversion via its built-in Disk Management tool, but you can delete the NTFS partition and create a FAT32 partition. Just remember this will wipe everything, so that's why the backup is essential!