how to convert a fat 32 file to ntsf to enable larger than 4 gig

oldnooob · 30 Aug 2013

how can I convert a fat 32 file (exe) to ntsf so that it will be able to use more than 4 gig of ram?

Northernsoul55 · 30 Aug 2013

Hi,

I assume your talking about converting a drive from FAT32 to NTFS?

Please see these tutorials:

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11106-convert-fat-fat32-volume-ntfs.html

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/convert-a-hard-disk-or-partition-to-ntfs-format

Hope it helps

cheers

Dave

oldnooob · 30 Aug 2013

First, Thank you for responding.
Unfortunatly your assumption is incorrect. Here's the deal, I play several older pc games that are so heavily modded that they require more ram than the 3gigs that FAt32 allows. I am looking for a legal workaround that will allow more than 3gigs of ram. (4gigs with w7 and some tweaks). The modders of these games seem to feel that it is not possible to convert a FAT32 file(exe) to ntsf but I have read some forums where programmers claim that this is possible and done regularly. I would ask your opinion, what do you think?

Northernsoul55 · 30 Aug 2013

Hi,

Yeah... I though you had typed the question wrong

Honestly, I've never heard of that being done, usually it's easier to convert the disk!

Can I ask, why don't you back up the contents of your disk and convert from FAT32 to NTFS, that
sounds like a workaround?
(Converting shouldn't harm your data anyway, risk is minimal, see my links)

That's as far as my knowledge goes I'm afraid.

Hopefully another member may have an answer, sorry

Cheers

Dave

**Pauly** · 30 Aug 2013

RAM limits are determined by the OS not the file system on a HDD

32 bit windows limit is 4GB (usually leaves around 3.8GB usable) and 64 bit windows will let you use over 4GB max 32GB i think

Fat32 also has a 4GB file size limit for any individual file, anything larger than 4GB would need to be ntfs

Britton30 · 30 Aug 2013

FAT32 and NTFS are file systems, not files and is the format of a drive or USB stick. NTFS files systems allow files bigger than 4GB to be used, but has nothing to do with RAM usage, that is determined by whether the OS is 32 or 64 bit. If a game is written for FAT32 it is way behind time, I think Windows 9x was the last to use it.

What they may mean is it is a 32 bit program which should work fine in w7, but 16 bit ones will not.

oldnooob · 30 Aug 2013

@ Northernsoul55, Please, What disk are you referring to?

@ Pauly, Thank you but these are the reasons for my questions.

@ Britton30, Thank you, I am aware of your statements.

I am looking for a way to play a game program modified so large that it requires more than 4gigs of ram to run without crashing. ie; civ4 C2C Mod, Fallout3 with 200 mods.

Northernsoul55 · 30 Aug 2013

As in Brittons answer, FAT32 and NTFS are file systems, so I was reffering to converting the FAT32
OS on the disk to NTFS, sorry I was not clear. Now I see you are not meaning that...just ignore.

Britton and Pauly have explained it better than I :)

LMiller7 · 30 Aug 2013

Are you using a 32 bit OS? Is the application 32 or 64 bit? It is hopelessly impractical (except for the developer with source code) to convert a 32 bit application to 64 bit.
A 32 bit OS is limited to 4 GB of RAM, not all of which will be accessible. There is no legal way around this and we cannot discuss any other.

I hope this answers your question.

MilesAhead · 30 Aug 2013

The whole question seems muddled. To start the OP should fill in system specs.
As far as "converting" the file, the file cannot be over 4 GB on a FAT32 file system.
I think he must be talking about modding the exe by setting the bit that says it's aware of > 4 GB of memory space.

But it's all conjecture until we know what's running on what hardware

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