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

[oldnooob]

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]

Hi,

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

Please see these tutorials:

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11106-convert-fat-fat32-volume-ntfs.html
:ar: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-vista/convert-a-hard-disk-or-partition-to-ntfs-format

Hope it helps

cheers

Dave

 

[oldnooob]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@ 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]

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]

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]

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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[oldnooob]

@Lmiller7 The applications are 32 bit. the source codes are only partially available. usually just enough to modify the dlls etc. the exe source code is what would be needed to convert the file to allow more than 3 gig ram usage, at least this is what I believe. Out of 8 billion people on this planet I find it impossible to believe that I am the only person that has wondered about this issue.:sarc:. But thank you for your input.

@MilesAhead, Actually the issue is generic to all modern computer systems. People are writing code that requires more than 4 gigs of ram to function properly in a fat32 program. the only way to utilize this coding is to allow the program to access more ram which requires ntsf as far as I understand. the question that I am asking is "does anyone know of a legal workaround to allow a fat 32 program to utilize MORE than 4 gigs of ram!"

 

[LMiller7]

Please provide the system specs as requested by MilesAhead. In particular is this a 32 bit or 64 bit OS and how much RAM you have. This is of critical importance.

 

[Pauly]

Seeing as you wont believe the answers we are giving you i thought i wold look up some references for you to educate yourself a little bit before you come back rejecting correct answers again

File Allocation Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NTFS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Random-access memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

64-bit computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Britton30]

@Lmiller7 The applications are 32 bit. the source codes are only partially available. usually just enough to modify the dlls etc. the exe source code is what would be needed to convert the file to allow more than 3 gig ram usage, at least this is what I believe. Out of 8 billion people on this planet I find it impossible to believe that I am the only person that has wondered about this issue.:sarc:. But thank you for your input.

@MilesAhead, Actually the issue is generic to all modern computer systems. People are writing code that requires more than 4 gigs of ram to function properly in a fat32 program. the only way to utilize this coding is to allow the program to access more ram which requires ntsf as far as I understand. the question that I am asking is "does anyone know of a legal workaround to allow a fat 32 program to utilize MORE than 4 gigs of ram!"

Get a 64 bit operating system. :huh:

 

[MilesAhead]

Hmmm, making FAT32 programs access more than 4 GB ram reminds me of Archie Bunker's solution to airplane hijackings. Just have a security guard passin' out pistols to the passengers befor take off and another collect 'em at the destination.

 

[pallesenw]

Get a 64 bit operating system. :huh:

I don't think even that will help

 

[d00p98uy]

I think you mean a 32bit application, but those can only use up to 2gb of space, there are applications that can patch this as i have done this with skyrim so it could use up to 4gb of RAM, if this is what you mean, ask and i'll look for the instructions i used to accomplish it

 

[LMiller7]

By default a 32 bit process has a private virtual address space of 2 GB. In a 32 bit OS there is an option to increase this to 3 GB, but only if the application indicates to the OS that it is compatible and most are not. The option has some serious implications such that it is not suitable for general use. In a 64 bit OS compatible applications that are compatible will receive a 4 GB address space, but no more.

Note that this is a virtual address space and has no direct relationship to how much RAM the process will receive. That is always up to the OS memory manager.

As redfang337 mentioned there is a method of modifying an application for compatibility with an address space over 2 GB. But this doesn't actually make the application compatible, it merely causes it to indicate to the OS that it is. You may be forcing the application to lie, in which case it will probably crash.

Aside from the above mentioned option there is no reasonable way a user can modify an application to use more memory. Making a 32 bit OS compatible with a larger than 2 GB address space or converting it to 64 bit is a major task for a skilled application developer with access to the full source code. For anyone else it is so close to impossible as to not matter.

 

[oldnooob]

@Redfang, If you play Skyrim on a pc then I am sure that you are aware of the thousands of mods available. the more mods you add to the main game require more ram, right?. you said that you have used the 4 gig patch as has every other gamer, BUT, wouldn't you love to be able to have the game be able to take better advantage of your computers capabilities? ergo my inquiry on this forum. I simply want to be able to take advantage of the many fantastic mods made for games that I play. the people that write the code for mods are only concerned with the few lines of code that they write not the end result of many mods added to a players game. does anyone understand where I am coming from ???

@Lmiller7, THANK YOU for finally understanding my question. your answer provides the information I am looking for.

 

[MilesAhead]

@Redfang, If you play Skyrim on a pc then I am sure that you are aware of the thousands of mods available. the more mods you add to the main game require more ram, right?. you said that you have used the 4 gig patch as has every other gamer, BUT, wouldn't you love to be able to have the game be able to take better advantage of your computers capabilities? ergo my inquiry on this forum. I simply want to be able to take advantage of the many fantastic mods made for games that I play. the people that write the code for mods are only concerned with the few lines of code that they write not the end result of many mods added to a players game. does anyone understand where I am coming from ???

@Lmiller7, THANK YOU for finally understanding my question. your answer provides the information I am looking for.

i think I referred to that here but since no info was forthcoming I lost interest.