NTFS or FAT32

[Ace]

Stupid question. Which is better to run, NTFS or FAT32?
Also, if I convert my HDD to NTFS, what are some problems
I might encounter?

 

[Nicholas]

Ace --

Take a moment to read the information in this article:

CONVERTING FAT32 to NTFS
in Windows XP
(by Alex Nichol, MS-MVP)
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm


--
Nicholas

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


| Stupid question. Which is better to run, NTFS or FAT32?
| Also, if I convert my HDD to NTFS, what are some problems
| I might encounter?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Personally, I wouldn't even consider using FAT32 when NTFS is an
option. FAT32 has no security capabilities, no compression
capabilities, no fault tolerance, and a lot of wasted hard drive space
on volumes larger than 8 Gb in size. But your computing needs may
vary, and there is no hard and fast answer.

To answer your questions without getting too technical is
difficult, but has been handled quite well by Alex Nichol in the
article here:

FAT & NTFS File Systems in Windows XP
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfs.htm

Somewhat more technical information is here:

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q314463

Choosing Between File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...prodtechnol/winntas/tips/techrep/filesyst.asp

You can safely convert your hard drive to NTFS whenever desired,
without having to format the partition and reinstall everything. As
always when performing any serious changes, back up any important data
before proceeding, just in case. A little advance preparation is also
strongly recommended, so you can avoid any performance hits caused by
the default cluster size:

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm


Bruce Chambers

--
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[Stephen]

Generally NTFS, but there are a variety of reasons you might want to use
FAT32.

E.g. Let's say you use Norton Ghost for backup. If the version you have is
2002, say, you might want to have a FAT32 partition somewhere on your
system. Or let's say you dualboot with Windows 98SE and want both operating
systems to be able to read and write all the partitions ..you'd use FAT32
everywhere and so on.

NTFS is the better file system, but there are reasons you might make one or
all your partition(s) FAT32. Check the other responses to your post for
links on comparisons of the two file systems.

Stephen

--

Drop 123 to email me.


| Stupid question. Which is better to run, NTFS or FAT32?
| Also, if I convert my HDD to NTFS, what are some problems
| I might encounter?

 

[Alex Nichol]

Stupid question. Which is better to run, NTFS or FAT32?
Also, if I convert my HDD to NTFS, what are some problems
I might encounter?

Read up at www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfs.htm