Upgrading from Windows98 to XP Pro

[Guest]

Is there a big advantage in changing the file system to NTFS?
Can I load all my old FAT files and have them work after I change to NTFS,
which includes files required for other programs such as label printing
software?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Is there a big advantage in changing the file system to NTFS?
Can I load all my old FAT files and have them work after I change to NTFS,
which includes files required for other programs such as label printing
software?

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

NTFS file system
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/ntfs/


--

Bruce Chambers

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[WM]

NTFS has better performance, better capabilities (file, directory, disk
limitations), and built in security, encryption (Pro) and compression...
Depending on what your system consists of, that may or may not matter...

The conversion process is relatively seamless, and the entire filesystem
will be converted to NTFS. The files themselves aren't converted, just the
filesystem itself (think of putting a different index in the phone book -
even though you could look numbers up in a different way, the same listings
are there). There aren't a ton, but there are some, applications which have
issues with NTFS but worked happily on FAT - you may want to check with the
vendor of the application(s) to be sure.

HTH.