FAT32 or NTFS......questions!!

E

EMDY

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i was wondering whats better to have installed?.....what are the differences between NTFS and FAT32, in matter of security, Perfomance, Reliability.....you know......are there any advantages from having one of them installed???
 
You may want to read this information page.

NTFS is more secure but slower that FAT32 as I understand it. I use NTFS on my systems...........
 
On the contrary, NTFS is faster than FAT32, but you really don't notice the performance degradation until you have a large hard drive that starts filling up. In addition, NTFS is far more cluster efficient. My 40 GB partition has a 4k cluster size (like all NTFS partitions), which would be something like 32k / 64k if I had FAT32.

In short, I hate FAT32, and I'm glad I formatted to NTFS. However, once you switch to NTFS, you won't be able to use that hard drive on any Windows 9x/ME computer, because they don't read NTFS. Barring that, which isn't an issue with most people, I suggest NTFS all the way.

Melon
 
Got to agree with melon, I'm NTFS all the way. The only issue I have is when I consolidated some partitions, I made a 30 gig mp3 drive. Since I converted it to NTFS, WMP seems to have trouble opening mp3s. It will open them, but it is extremely slow in doing so. I never had any problems before the conversion. But its a small proce to pay considering the overall performance and stability of my system has improved.
 
FAT is a holdover from the days of Windows 3.1 and DOS. NTFS is the way to go. It is more stable and recovers from errors much more efficiently.
 
Yes, it works over networks, but you can't read NTFS drives if you dual-boot with Windows 9x/ME.

I would recommend going for NTFS, unless you dual-boot with 9x/ME.
 
its all down to personal preference

NTFS is slow my lowly p4 so I use mainly FAT32

HDD1
Boot drive FAT32 7gig = 4k clusters
mp3s .......FAT32 31gig = 32k clusters
Temp .......NTFS 14gig = 4k clusters
DriveImage FAT32 3gig = 32k clusters

HDD2
Page file ..FAT32 1gig = 4k clusters
Games .....FAT32 31gig = 16k cluster
Downloads FAT32 5gig = 4k clusters
internet files NTFS 1gig = 4k clusters
 
i have all fat32, running windows xp, will doing this change anything else except for the fat32 ?
 
i heard, when you type that it, its just reformatting normally but into NTFS, so that i will lose all my information
 
so i type that crap in, and within a blink its done, changed !
 
Originally posted by b-man__
so i type that crap in, and within a blink its done, changed !

Well, I believe it does take a while to convert everything, depending on your HD size.
 
I'm also wondering about converting to NTFS. Is there a negative side to converting to NTFS from FAT32 on a windows xp pro maching? Also, is there a chance that my files or programs won't work properly after my system becomes NTFS?
 
there isnt much difference, there isnt a bad side to neither one!
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
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