Changing 8204 to ntfs?

Hey guys. I have been happily using my Acer 8204 for a few weeks now and it works flawlessly. Although the hard drive is partitioned into 2 FAT32 partitions, I havent noticed any drawbacks from it.
The only gripe I have is that it takes a long time to start up. Would converting the drives to NTFS make it load faster?

What about compatibility? Will all the Acer software and other programs work if converted to NTFS or does it even matter?

Side note: I am supposed to have a 120GB hd, but its showing 111.9GB. Is that an 8.1GB recovery partition hidden in there?

 

Try this:
http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm
And there's a bit more information here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/convertfat.mspx

I don't believe the Acer recovery program will work if you convert it to NTFS; FAT32 is the default filing system because NTFS doesn't work in DOS.

NTFS is faster and more efficent than FAT32, also more secure.

Chaz

 

I say go to NTFS. it wont affect your laptop at all apart from the recovery.

 

NTFS is not faster, but certainly more efficient and secure than FAT32. Your HD is going to be less fragmented because of NTFS variable claster size and you don't have to run disk check after each BSOD - which is important if you have 8204 ...
All the software works for sure, why do you think it shouldn't? And I didn't have any problems with recovery system so far, but your original recovery DVD will reformat C to FAT32. You can always burn recovery DVD after convertion. Lost 8GB is used by useless recovery partition of course .