FAT vs. NTFS

[Guest]

What is the differencen between FAT and NTFS formatting, and how can I
determine which formatting is used on my PC. My T1440 Emachines is not
booting properly and I need to know what kind of format my HD is in.

Thank you.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Most PC mfrs formatted the hard drive FAT32.

 

[R. McCarty]

FAT or FAT32 is an older Format which evolved with the 9X/ME OS'es.
NTFS is the native format for NT/2000/XP/Vista. A simple comparison
can be found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/russel_october01.mspx

Specification for that model are at:
http://www.emachines.com/support/product_support.html?cat=desktop&subcat=T-Series&model=T1440

If it shipped with Windows XP, then it was likely formatted NTFS

 

[Tony]

What is the differencen between FAT and NTFS formatting, and how can I
determine which formatting is used on my PC. My T1440 Emachines is not
booting properly and I need to know what kind of format my HD is in.

Thank you.

To find out what you got, got to my computer, right click on the hard drive,
click on properties. If you are having trouble booting, try pressing F8
during the boot process and select safe mode.

 

[Guest]

If the drive uses FAT32, which many drives do from PC manufacturers because
they don't want people to have access to the security measures that NTFS
allows, because there is more room for problems and hence support costs,
don't convert it to NTFS with filoes on the drive because it will use a
cluster size of only 512 bytes instead of 4 kilobytes, which slows the
computer down considerably.

You can't get out of the 512 byte cluster size without reformatting the
drive, but
you can make use of the Files and Settings Transfer (FAST) Wizard to save
files and settings to CD/DVD, format the drive to NTFS, reinstall XP, and
then restore the files and settings.

If necessary, read this page on how to use the FAST wizard:
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/Windows2.htm

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Bob I]

R-click the drive icon and select properties.