Spatial Analyst without using a raster

[BryceGardner1]

Hello,

I am trying to run a spatial analyst tool on my data, but it is in a feature class.  I think that I need to convert into a raster so that I can use the spatial analyst tool, but is there an easier/faster way?  I am currently on hour 18 of converting to a raster and the process is still running (I have a very large dataset).  Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Thanks,

Bryce

[SheldonBaker]

What is it that you are actually trying to do?  You can use spatial analyst to derive raster data from vector data, but without an explicit explanation of what type of analysis you are trying to do, nobody can really help you.