Can I mix NTSF and FAT32 DRIVES?

[Ray]

I have one computer of six (which are peer to peer
networked) which I use for video. I stay with FAT32 as I
have two computers with Win98-one with Win 2k and this
one with Win XP. I need them all to talk with each
other.
I also have a 120 GIG firewire 1394 drive to which I
capture video with Adobe Premiere. Since there is no
need to network this drive, can I format this one drive
in NTFS while leaving the others in the computer in
FAT32? I can overcome the 2GIG Max File problem of
FAT32.

 

[Jason Tsang]

Yes you can.
Windows XP will read from both file systems.

You could even share the hard drive when it is hooked up to the Windows XP
machine if you wanted to

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Both Win2K and WinXP can read FAT12 (the file system used on 3.5"
diskettes), FAT16, FAT32, CDFS (the file system used on most CDs), and
NTFS with equal facility. Further, the file system on any one
disk/partition or diskette has absolutely no affect upon the operating
system's ability to read other compatible file systems on other
disks/partitions.

Also, the file systems on the various computers communicating over
a network are completely irrelevant, as none of the individual
computers' operating systems ever directly access the other computers'
hard drives. Instead, a computer sends a "request," if you will, for
the desired data, and the operating system of the host ("receiving")
computer accesses its own hard drive (whose file system it obviously
can read) and then sends that data back to the requesting computer as
neutral packets of information that are completely independent of the
file systems on the respective computers. After all, don't you use a
Windows-based PC (whether it's FAT32 or NTFS) to access data stored on
the Internet's mostly Unix servers, which use a completely different
file system?


Bruce Chambers

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[Bob Willard]

I have one computer of six (which are peer to peer
networked) which I use for video. I stay with FAT32 as I
have two computers with Win98-one with Win 2k and this
one with Win XP. I need them all to talk with each
other.

That old myth just won't die. Your local Windows PC does not
care a speck what filesystem remote PCs use, since your local
PC does not directly access any remote PC's filesystems; your
local PC merely asks those remote PCs to access their files
and convey the contents between the filee and the local PC.

For example, my home net has PCs with XP HE, W2K PRO, W98SE,
and W95b; and I share NTFS, FAT32, and FAT16 files every which
way on my LAN.