Convert FAT32 to ext3?

[Francois Ouellette]

Nice idea, but FAT32 does not indicate file placement information!

After deleting files it may well be that a file still occupies space at the
physical end of the partition...
Only a defrag job would move files to the beginning, adding to the time of
the whole process.

  François Ouellette
<fouellet-cpI+UMyWUv9BDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lennart Sorensen" <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org>
To: <tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org>
Sent: Tuesday, 16 August, 2005 16:59
Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Convert FAT32 to ext3?


> On Mon, Aug 15, 2005 at 10:34:16AM -0400, Steve wrote:
> > I have a large FAT32 partition with still a bunch of stuff on it, that I
> > want to convert to ext3. Is this possible, keeping the data on it? I'm
> > trying to avoid burning onto a bunch of DVDs!
>
> Assuming the filesystem is not full but has some space left, you could
> try something like:
>
> 1: Shrink FAT32 filesystem with a partition resizing tool as much as
>    you can, then create a new partition in the free space and make an ext3
>    filesystem there,  Move as many files as you can from fat32 to ext3.
>
> 2: Shrink fat32 filesystem as much as you can after moving files.
>    Enlarge ext3 as much as you can.  Move as many more files as you can.
>
> 3: Repeat step 2 until FAT32 is empty.
>
> 4: Remove fat32 partition and resize ext3 to full size.
>
> Buying another HD or even borrowing one from a friend to use as
> temporary storage would be much faster and simpler of course.
>
> There is a filesystem convertion tool for linux that does this for you
> without using multiple partitions, but it has the requirement that the
> source filesystem supports sparse files, and fat32 doesn't, so it won't
> work for your case.
>
> Lennart Sorensen
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