I just wanted to know , why is it possible to change the main hdd from a FAT32 to a NTFS on C: while all the xp files reside in there ? but on a USB key it will only do the change if u re-format the entire USB key deleting all the files on it ?

A likely reason is that hard drives and USB Keys are 'very' different physically and the same code cannot be used for both. For what it's worth to XP users: When you click on the 'Command Prompt' you are just causing the 'Command prompt' to be displayed. This prompt gives you access to the 'NT Virtual DOS Manager'.

why would you want NTFS on a thumbdrive?

Flash drives are tagged as removeable media by a single bit in the device's device descriptor. This RMB tag is read by windows and seen as removeable media even if it really isn't... Because it is read as removeable the "convert" line is removed and replaced with "format". This same issue is the reason behind single partitioning support and multiple partitioning support for flash drives. As long as the RMB is present then windows will always report the device as removeable in "My Computer". There are some that have been filtered....the RMB was hidden and the drives are read as fixed drives. Fixed drives can be converted and support multiple partitioning. In reference to 11/05/2008 "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." - George Lucas

Jam, The size of the drive will dictate what file system needs to be used...there are thumb drives much larger than 32G and should be converted to NTFS or a third party formatting program must be used to perform the format. In reference to 11/05/2008 "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." - George Lucas