Convert ext4 partition to NTFS

Question

Is there a tool or command to achieve it? I did some search around here I didn’t find the answer. Is that possible?

I must mention that my ext4 drive that I want to convert have data so it must just convert it and not format it

Answer 1

As with most filesystems, you can't convert in-place, but you can certainly copy your files from an ext4 filesystem over to an NTFS one.

Answer 2

The only in-place conversions I know of are FAT32 -> NTFS and possibly between ext filesystems. If simply having space to store a copy of the data while you format the drive is an issue (say you only have one drive) then there is a solution.

Say your ext4 is using 750GB/1000GB of space. You could shrink your ext4 to 750GB, then create an NTFS partition with the remaining 250GB, then copy 250GB worth of data. This'll free up 250GB on the ext4, shrink it again, expand the NTFS, copy more, repeat until you have all your data on NTFS.

If you have very little free space this could take a LONG time, or be unrealistic.

If there is something else you're looking to preserve (metadata) then I think you're likely out of luck. I'm not sure how rsync/tar and similar programs preserve metadata between filesystems, but that is worth looking into. rsync from ext4 to NTFS could preserve creation dates, etc. Even if tar/rsync do preserve this data in a way you want, they wouldn't be in place. It is something to get the wheels turning in your head though.