Converting NTFS to EXT without losing data

By NEVER85
in Linux

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Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
Posted

Hey, Linux users. After a few months of dualbooting XP with Ubuntu, I'm ready to become a 100% Linux user. Unfortunately, my 120 GB D drive is currently formatted to NTFS and is almost full. Is there a way to convert NTFS to EXT without losing everything I have? I want to be able to write to that drive under Ubuntu once I get some of the junk cleared off it.

Note: I know Linux can write to FAT but I've always been under the impression that Linux can write more effectively to its own native filesystem than a predominantly Windows-used filesystem.

Mentor

mitch00

Posted
Posted

since your drive isnt completely full, why dont you just resize your partition and make the unused space into ext3, then move soem files from ntfs to ext3 and then convert the newly freed up ntfs space into part of your ext3 partition, doing it chunk by chunk.. might take a while but you wouldnt lose anything...that would work right?

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted
You can't convert a live filesystem containing data from one type to another like that

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Dude yes you can.. MS allows you to convert fat to ntfs using the convert command..

C:\>convert /?

Converts FAT volumes to NTFS.

CONVERT volume /FS:NTFS [/V] [/CvtArea:filename] [/NoSecurity] [/X]

As for linux - Here is a howto for gentoo on how to convert these file systems;

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Convert_Filesystems

his will work for these filesystems:

* minix

* xfs

* jfs

* reiserfs

* ext2

* ext3

But off the top - I do not know of an easy, safe way to convert from ntfs to ext2 or 3, or to any other native linux FS... Hmm, I'll take a look around.

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
  • Author
Posted
since your drive isnt completely full, why dont you just resize your partition and make the unused space into ext3, then move soem files from ntfs to ext3 and then convert the newly freed up ntfs space into part of your ext3 partition, doing it chunk by chunk.. might take a while but  you wouldnt lose anything...that would work right?

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That was a great idea, but for some reason, PartitionMagic isn't letting me create a new partition on my D drive.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Hey, Linux users. After a few months of dualbooting XP with Ubuntu, I'm ready to become a 100% Linux user.

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First, congratulations on making the 100% switch. (Y)

It took me quite a while longer than two months to finally ditch Windows completely.

As for the drive issue, do you have a home network going on, and could offload files to another PC? But that is an awful lot of files to move! :blink:

EDIT: If you can remove your Windows system from there, it will free up some room to start using. Not a very efficient option, as you really need to find about a 120GB drive to transfer your data to.

Experienced

protoss_chaos

Posted
Posted

go buy a drive, use it for backup. Kill the partition and make a new one on your old HD, then drop the files back over... After that, return the New HD to where you bought it from... I kno its not the most ethical thing to do, but it does work...

I just cant see how anyone could use nothing but Linux :-( Lack of games just kills it for me...

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
  • Author
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First, congratulations on making the 100% switch. (Y)

It took me quite a while longer than two months to finally ditch Windows completely.

Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. :)

As for the drive issue, do you have a home network going on, and could offload files to another PC?  But that is an awful lot of files to move! :blink:

EDIT:  If you can remove your Windows system from there, it will free up some room to start using.  Not a very efficient option, as you really need to find about a 120GB drive to transfer your data to.

Unfortunately, my PC is the only one in the house, so my options are limited at the moment. :(

I just cant see how anyone could use nothing but Linux :-( Lack of games just kills it for me...

My GameCube and PS2 satisfy my gaming needs.

Grand Master

NEVER85

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  • Author
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The only thing I'm left with now, is the thought of a friend with a spare harddrive? Or a DVD-RW drive and a crap load of disks..

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I have a DVD burner, but not enough DVD-R's for the job, and I'm currently without the 13 bucks needed for a stack of 25 until my next paycheck.

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hmmmm, I wonder. Since I can't get DVD-R's just yet, while at the same time I don't really want to wait that long to get rid of Windows, can I convert the NTFS drive to FAT32, clean install Ubuntu on my C drive, and use a Linux CD/DVD burning application to get the files off the D drive once I buy some more DVD-R's?

Grand Master

rezza Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Dude yes you can.. MS allows you to convert fat to ntfs using the convert command..

Converting from ms filesystem to another ms filesystem doesn't count :p

As for linux - Here is a howto for gentoo on how to convert these file systems;

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Convert_Filesystems

his will work for these filesystems:

    * minix

    * xfs

    * jfs

    * reiserfs

    * ext2

    * ext3

Well slap me silly and call me a pickled trout, I never did know about convertfs. Thanks for pointing it out, looks like a nifty tool.

But off the top - I do not know of an easy, safe way to convert from ntfs to ext2 or 3, or to any other native linux FS...  Hmm, I'll take a look around.

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Indeed, FS converters seem to only convert between filesystems of the same OS, unfortunately.

Veteran

xMorpheousx416

Posted
Posted

Maybe this tid bit of advice might help ya out....

Even though we had a 120 on this system, which has now been upgraded, I tend to do cleanup of files and saved programs by priority. Priority being, how hard was it to get those files/programs...how old are they, how many multiple versions have I kept...and how long does it take to re-download any given file, or program???

You may find that you can simply live without any of the backed up programs cuz you'll have plenty of time to redownload them after you've made your final switch. This in turn will free up how many DVDs you'll need to keep the stuff you cannot redownload such as game save files, or photos...pics you've created...songs, rare songs for that matter...or files you got from someone's FTP server that is no longer up. In my case of having only a mere 30gigs used, only about 7.5g's of it is irreplacable, and is backed up to DVD on a regular basis. All the other stuff is just programs used to do fresh installations over the network.

Hopefully, after doing that, you'll have saved some time and were able to burn what was left...giving you the opportunity to clear the entire drive...remove all the partitions..zero the drive, and start with a fresh installation of Ubuntu.

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Maybe this tid bit of advice might help ya out....

Even though we had a 120 on this system, which has now been upgraded, I tend to do cleanup of files and saved programs by priority.  Priority being, how hard was it to get those files/programs...how old are they, how many multiple versions have I kept...and how long does it take to re-download any given file, or program???

You may find that you can simply live without any of the backed up programs cuz you'll have plenty of time to redownload them after you've made your final switch.  This in turn will free up how many DVDs you'll need to keep the stuff you cannot redownload such as game save files, or photos...pics you've created...songs, rare songs for that matter...or files you got from someone's FTP server that is no longer up.  In my case of having only a mere 30gigs used, only about 7.5g's of it is irreplacable, and is backed up to DVD on a regular basis.  All the other stuff is just programs used to do fresh installations over the network.

Hopefully, after doing that, you'll have saved some time and were able to burn what was left...giving you the opportunity to clear the entire drive...remove all the partitions..zero the drive, and start with a fresh installation of Ubuntu.

586075128[/snapback]

Sadly, a lot of it is valuable, but I might have enough DVD-R's to burn off what I absolutely CANNOT replace. Thanks for the input.  :)

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted
Converting from ms filesystem to another ms filesystem doesn't count :p

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Dude it was in answer to your "blanket" statement of;

"You can't convert a live filesystem containing data from one type to another like that"

Which obviously was wrong - in both windows and linux ;)

On another note - how much space do you have available? Would surely be a drawn out process.. But you have some space to work with.. You could copy some files from the ntfs to linux ext2,3,xfs,reiser,whatever.. Then resize the ntfs partition with partition magic or other tools.. Create a linux friendly partition on the freed up space.. move more files from the ntfs partition to the linux parition, resize the ntfs smaller, make the linux one bigger...

Repeat until all files have been moved from the ntfs partition to linux partition - resizing as you go along ;)

Depending on how much space you have to work with - might only take a few iterations ;)

Grand Master

MrA

Posted
Posted
On another note - how much space do you have available?  Would surely be a drawn out process.. But you have some space to work with..  You could copy some files from the ntfs to linux ext2,3,xfs,reiser,whatever..  Then resize the ntfs partition with partition magic or other tools..  Create a linux friendly partition on the freed up space.. move more files from the ntfs partition to the linux parition, resize the ntfs smaller, make the linux one bigger...

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If you do this, do not use an ext2/3 partition as you linux one. Use reiserfs. Ext2/3 has a fixed number of indoes allocated when the filesystem is created whereas reiserfs creates inodes in it's b-tree as needed. If you use ext2/3, you won't be able to increase the available number of inodes as you increase the filesystem size and hence, you won't be able to make many files.

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