What happens when changing column type DATETIME to TIMESTAMP in MySQL?
Here is a test script:

use test
drop table if exists felipe_table;
create table felipe_table
(
    id int not null auto_increment,
    dt datetime not null,
    name varchar(25),
    primary key (id)
);
insert into felipe_table (dt,name) values
(NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*10) DAY,'rolando'),
(NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*100) DAY,'pamela'),
(NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*1000) DAY,'dominique'),
(NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*10000) DAY,'diamond');
select * from felipe_table;
SHOW CREATE TABLE felipe_table\G
ALTER TABLE felipe_table MODIFY dt TIMESTAMP;
select * from felipe_table;
SHOW CREATE TABLE felipe_table\G


Here is its execution (using MySQL 5.5.12-log for Windows):

mysql&gt; use test
Database changed
mysql&gt; drop table if exists felipe_table;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.03 sec)

mysql&gt; create table felipe_table
    -&gt; (
    -&gt;     id int not null auto_increment,
    -&gt;     dt datetime not null,
    -&gt;     name varchar(25),
    -&gt;     primary key (id)
    -&gt; );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.11 sec)

mysql&gt; insert into felipe_table (dt,name) values
    -&gt; (NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*10) DAY,'rolando'),
    -&gt; (NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*100) DAY,'pamela'),
    -&gt; (NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*1000) DAY,'dominique'),
    -&gt; (NOW() + INTERVAL FLOOR(RAND()*10000) DAY,'diamond');
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.13 sec)
Records: 4  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql&gt; select * from felipe_table;
+----+---------------------+-----------+
| id | dt                  | name      |
+----+---------------------+-----------+
|  1 | 2013-02-16 09:01:21 | rolando   |
|  2 | 2013-02-09 09:01:21 | pamela    |
|  3 | 2014-09-07 09:01:21 | dominique |
|  4 | 2036-03-07 09:01:21 | diamond   |
+----+---------------------+-----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt; SHOW CREATE TABLE felipe_table\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: felipe_table
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `felipe_table` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `dt` datetime NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(25) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=5 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt; ALTER TABLE felipe_table MODIFY dt TIMESTAMP;
Query OK, 4 rows affected (0.31 sec)
Records: 4  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql&gt; select * from felipe_table;
+----+---------------------+-----------+
| id | dt                  | name      |
+----+---------------------+-----------+
|  1 | 2013-02-16 09:01:21 | rolando   |
|  2 | 2013-02-09 09:01:21 | pamela    |
|  3 | 2014-09-07 09:01:21 | dominique |
|  4 | 2036-03-07 09:01:21 | diamond   |
+----+---------------------+-----------+
4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt; SHOW CREATE TABLE felipe_table\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: felipe_table
Create Table: CREATE TABLE `felipe_table` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `dt` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
  `name` varchar(25) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=5 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql&gt;


Looks like it works. If you do not trust this small sample, then make a copy of the table and perform this with the copy.

Give it a Try !!!