NTFS and FAT32 compatibilities

[Andrew]

I would prefer to use NTFS as I have just upgraded to
XPpro from 98se.
1)Will converting to NTFS create incompatibilities with my
Word Perfect 8 and other applications and the respective
user files to these apps? In other words will all my
existing 98se and before software still work if I convert?

2)I have another 40GB drive that I'm not currently using.
Can I format that for NTFS and use FAT32 for my boot and
current drive? and therfore have an NTFS and FAT32 working
at the same time under XPpro?

Thanks
Andrew

 

[Matt Coy]

Hi Andrew,

Converting will not create any incompatibilities with any programs you
probably have installed. The file system controls the way the operating
system stores files on the hard drive, not the way the programs interpret
the data from the drive.

You should note that once you convert, you would need to format your hard
drive if you ever decided to downgrade back to 98, otherwise I would suggest
having a backup of your important information just in case.

Regarding your second question, yes that would work just fine, but
personally I would not trust my data to FAT32. If something ever went wrong
I would feel multiples of 100 better knowing my data was on an NTFS
partition.