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Directly changing a partition letter might affect shortcuts to existing partitions. Chang-
ing a partition letter in Windows NT/2000/XP might result in problems running applica-
tions and opening files on the partition. If it is a system or swap file partition, it might
cause OS boot problems. The detailed discussion of partition letter assignment rules
for various operating systems are provided in 3.1 «Creating A New Partition».
4.2.2
Converting a file system
FAT16
The main disadvantages of FAT16 are:
•
Inability to support partitions larger than 2 GB,
•
Inability to work with files larger than 2 GB,
•
Inability to work with hard disks larger than 8 GB,
•
Limited root size — up to 512 elements,
•
Filenames containing up to 8 name symbols, a dot, and 3 extension
symbols (Windows 95OSR2 and Windows NT do not have this limitation
already).
FAT32
FAT32 file system appeared in Windows 95 OSR2 and is supported by Win-
dows 98/ME and Windows 2000/XP.
Its main purpose was to remove FAT16 limitation. FAT32 is the evolution of
FAT16.
The main difference between FAT32 and FAT16 is the support of higher-
capacity folders, files, and disks, more flexible root organization that features
unlimited size and long filenames support. (For more details see A.9 «File
System Main Specifications».)
Converting FAT16 to FAT32
You would convert a FAT16 partition to FAT32 in the following cases:
1.
If you need a partition larger than 2 GB;
2.
If you replace a small-capacity hard disk with a high-capacity hard disk.
If you need to convert a FAT16 partition to FAT32:
1.
Select the disk and FAT16 partition to convert to FAT32 from the list in
Acronis PartitionExpert main window,
2.
Execute operation of partition converting by selecting Disk
Convert or a similar item in the Advanced sidebar list, or by clicking
Convert the file system on the selected partition on the toolbar (or
selecting it from partition or the graphical representation context
menu),
58
Chapter 4 : Manual Partition Operations
Advanced
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