NTFS vs. FAT32

[Escapee]

I've heard horror stories about NTFS formatted drives in WinXP and the
inability to do any DOS-based correction to problems that come up. All
the save-your-ass utilities forewarn "Not Applicable Under NTFS."
When I installed XP pro I wasn't given the option of FAT32, NTFS was
the only choice.

My question is, should I cover my butt by getting, say, Powerquest
Partition Magic and reformatting to FAT32? 95% of my drives are
unused space so I'm not worried about any storage area loss.

What are the real, practical benefits to NTFS for the
semi-computer-literate? Thanks

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The reason your drive is being formatted NTFS is because
its larger than 32GB. When Windows XP recognizes a drive
larger than 32GB, NTFS is the only file system it will use.
Converting a NTFS drive back to FAT32 is not recommended
and will actually be detrimental to hard drive performance and
security.

Some interesting articles to read:

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

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


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

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


| I've heard horror stories about NTFS formatted drives in WinXP and the
| inability to do any DOS-based correction to problems that come up. All
| the save-your-ass utilities forewarn "Not Applicable Under NTFS."
| When I installed XP pro I wasn't given the option of FAT32, NTFS was
| the only choice.
|
| My question is, should I cover my butt by getting, say, Powerquest
| Partition Magic and reformatting to FAT32? 95% of my drives are
| unused space so I'm not worried about any storage area loss.
|
| What are the real, practical benefits to NTFS for the
| semi-computer-literate? Thanks

 

[Ron Martell]

I've heard horror stories about NTFS formatted drives in WinXP and the
inability to do any DOS-based correction to problems that come up. All
the save-your-ass utilities forewarn "Not Applicable Under NTFS."
When I installed XP pro I wasn't given the option of FAT32, NTFS was
the only choice.

My question is, should I cover my butt by getting, say, Powerquest
Partition Magic and reformatting to FAT32? 95% of my drives are
unused space so I'm not worried about any storage area loss.

What are the real, practical benefits to NTFS for the
semi-computer-literate? Thanks

The major benefit of NTFS is that at least 99 and 44/100% of the
reasons you need to do "DOS-based corrections to problems" on FAT32
drives never happen on NTFS drives.

This is because of the advanced design and more robust self-recovery
features of NTFS.

If there really was a need for such repair and recovery tools for NTFS
drives then they would be available, at least from third-party
vendors.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Escapee]

Thanks. Maybe I'll just take what I would've spent on Powerquest and
buy a good back-up to second harddrive program.

 

[noone]

Thanks. Maybe I'll just take what I would've spent on Powerquest and
buy a good back-up to second harddrive program.

always a good idea.

Also, open help and support and search for "Recovery Console", and go
ahead and install it on your harddrive as a boot-time option. [You can
also run it from the CD if your pc will boot from CD, but having it
installed as a boot-up option is even nicer].

Recovery Console [a command-line tool] can access NTFS just fine, and is
good insurance if you machine won't boot into XP. It is a technical tool,
but you sound like you can handle it. Read about it first in H+S, and
don't forget your admin password, you'll need it to login to the R.C.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

The "horror stories" are just that: stories.

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


Bruce Chambers

--
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