Do you happen to have the page file disabled, by chance? I think the conversion process uses it as temporary storage, so you need it enabled. If it is already enabled, try manually setting it to something like 3GB in size and see if that’s good enough.
Rimbo means for you to try the NTFS conversion after you find and delete the broken Mass Effect files and folders.
All those files and folder names that cropped up seem to be related to STardock and Impulse, so you have to delete them. It appearsthe failed Mass Effects file downloads have left broken files on your computer that you have to manually find and delete before the NTFS converter will work for you.
If you follow what the convert program tried to do in reverse, it tells me that you probably have a folder and file called:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Applications\Stardock\Impulse\Temporary Files\Downloads\Mass Effect\masseffect.imp
Delete everything from Temporary Files down to the file itself, including the ‘Temporary Files’ folder.
Error converting file MASSEF~1.IMP.
The file may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory MASSEF~1.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory DOWNLO~1.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory TEMPOR~1.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory IMPULSE.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory STARDOCK.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory APPLIC~1.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory ALLUSE~1.
The directory may be damaged or there may be insufficient disk space.
Error converting directory DOCUME~2.
Rimbo
63
99% correct —^
The NTFS conversion is expecting this to be a valid file, but since the download wasn’t able to complete (due to exceeding the valid FAT32 file size), it’s barfing on it. I suspect that all of the later errors are just “cascading errors” from that one single file. If you delete that file alone, I suspect that everything will work.
(Hey, maybe I remember enough from Windows to have actually been useful?)
Thanks guys, that did it, the conversion worked. Now to see if the download does.
And if you are ever in the area, I do owe you dinner, or some free legal advice…
Pogo
65
Looks like it’s still in a temporary folder, probably in Documents & Settings\Users\Applications\
edit: D’oh, there’s a 3rd page. Cool that it worked.
Ok, download worked and this also solved my 3 month+ old problem with Dragonage DLC that their tech support was never able to solve.
Thanks again guys.
I am glad you have both Mass Effect and the Dragon Age DLC to welcome you into the 21st century. In addition to that: 
(and yes, we realize none of this was actually your fault. Converting a drive to NTFS is something most non-specialists would never have to do themselves. You were both unlucky and a good sport for not giving up.)
Epic dogpile, at the least.
Games do still seem to try to avoid having data files larger than 4GB, but some download services are delivering games in just one big file now (Impulse and D2D in particular, in my experience). They don’t specifically note that you need an NTFS file system, but it is a pretty common assumption nowadays.
It does still seem bizarre that when I upgraded to XP I never got a “Your file system is FAT 32, we have a much better one for XP, do you want to convert”? Message, but what do I know??
I assume quite a few non experts did that upgrade.
bago
75
Exactly. See how much trouble you had more than a decade after NTFS came out? Imagine trying to sell an OS like that.
Juste
76
The FAT32/NTFS situation is still a monumental fuckup. My external drives still arrive as FAT32 and need to be converted. And as noted, a non-nerd would never think of this. Glad it all worked out Llloyd.
Rimbo
78
Awesome. I have it my queue, behind Brütal Legend.
hong
79
I’m kind of curious how the failed Stardock downloads could screw up the conversion process. Could it have left the file system in an inconsistent state? If so, shouldn’t the initial disk check at the start of the conversion have picked that up?
The file was probably still ‘valid’ (as far as the filesystem is concerned) but truncated at the size limit, and it did pass a CHKDSK that it does before the conversion, so I’m guessing that there’s just a bug in the conversion program when it encounters files of exactly the maximum size.
