FAT vs NTFS partition(s) - best practice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phill
  • Start date Start date
P

Phill

I recently re-formatted a hard disk and restored XP home.

The experience made me wonder the best partition
configuration for a home user. In other words, is it
best to use NTFS only, FAT only or both FAT and NTFS?

I ask because I noticed my laptop has both, with FAT
using 40% capacity and NTFS using the rest. In addition,
I could not use all of the available capacity when
creating a new partition (after removing the previous
partitions).
 
Phil --

You'll need to perform a "clean install" to regain your
hard drive space or use a third-party partitioning program,
such as Partition Magic 8 (www.powerquest.com).

Windows XP runs best on a single partition formatted NTFS.

NTFS Preinstallation and Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.asp

Benchmarking on Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/benchmark.asp

Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]


--
Nicholas

---------------------------------------------------------------------


| I recently re-formatted a hard disk and restored XP home.
|
| The experience made me wonder the best partition
| configuration for a home user. In other words, is it
| best to use NTFS only, FAT only or both FAT and NTFS?
|
| I ask because I noticed my laptop has both, with FAT
| using 40% capacity and NTFS using the rest. In addition,
| I could not use all of the available capacity when
| creating a new partition (after removing the previous
| partitions).
 
Back
Top