Converting your volume to NTFS can have many benefits in terms of security, speed and reliability. However there are many Windows XP computers that ship with FAT32 as the volume filesystem.  The volume can be easily converted to NTFS, here is how.

If you want to convert your drive to NTFS, it is actually a very simple thing to do and will involve a couple of reboots.

WARNING:  Converting your volumes to NTFS could potentually end in tears, so I would recommend that you backup your computer before doing anything that will change the filesystem at a low level.  It may also be worth defragmenting your drive before undertaking this proceedure.

1.  Logon to the computer as an Administrator User

2.  Access the Command Prompt and type

CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS

3.  Windows will try an convert the volume right away and will ask about disconnected all open files.  At this point choose N for No.

4.  Windows will then ask if you want to schedule the conversion to take place when the computer is rebooted.  Answer Y for Yes at this point, as this is what we want to do.

5.  Reboot Windows and leave the computer to do its stuff.  It doesn't take very long to do, so you will soon be using your Windows XP with NTFS.

If you have more than one volume that you want to convert, then just change the C: part of the command to reflect the drive that you want to convert.