Help me decide on NTFS

[Mike89]

I have Windows XP. It is currently FAT32.

I am still trying to decide if I want to go to NTFS. Here are some remaining questions I have to help me decide.

1. How would you flash a motherboard BIOS with NTFS?
2. I frequently transfer files/folders/zips etc, (for example I may download something on one computer and then put it on a zip and take it to the other computer or export something from one program to take to the other computer which has the same programs, etc) between my home and work computers (both Windows XP) by way of either zip disk or CD. If my home computer is NTFS and my work computer is FAT32, will I still be able to do this?
3. I have heard some programs may not run in NTFS. How would I find out which ones will not?
4. In the Windows Help it says that a floppy cannot be formatted in NTFS. Does this mean I can longer put files on it from NTFS?

 

[MiseryQ]

NTFS is transparent in use...
You can still make zips, floppies whatever...
I've never had a program not work with NTFS,,, I've been using it since Win2k FIRST was released...

Flashing the bios is the same as FAT32... With a DOS boot disk...

NTFS does have a overhead FAT32 does'nt... ANd some things I've read says FAT32 performs better than NTFS...
If your not using a server and need extra security than FAT32 is fine...

 

[Kahuna]

FAT32 is slightly faster. And if you ever want to clone your drives FAT32 is easier with older clone programs. If you run dual boot you will need to run FAT32, WIN98 does not see it.

Also if you have say a 100 gig drive FAT32 does not see it all you have to break it up into partitions. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I just slapped in a 60 gig drive and only NTFS would see it all in one partition. FAT32 made me split it up in 29 gig chunks.

 

[Twink]

you may not have known this but floppy's aren't formatted as fat32 either and cd's use CDFS, windows(?) automatically converts all files when putting them on a different drive.

Since you can't read the HDD in dos (without a 3rd party program,NTFSDOS, but not sure if it works with NTFS 5.1) you have to put the bios update and updating program on the boot disc or another floppy.

As for programs that don't work with NTFS, any program that needs direct access to the harddrive ie disk defragmenters, scandisk etc although any Microsoft ones will still work, and any designed for XP will too. Older programs may have some difficulty.

I would disagree with FAT32 being faster.
QUOTE FROM Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/ntfs-preinstall.asp) :
NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT. However, with a correctly created NTFS volume, NTFS performance optimizations, and improved disk defragmentation, NTFS performance (including the extra "journaling") is equivalent to FAT on small disks and is faster than FAT on large disks.

 

[project3]

hmmm, somethink i've always wondered as well, wats better?? but i say technology is there for a reason - so use it...tho there is sum case's where technology isnt all that good.....i'm dual booted, wink server on fat32, and xp pro on ntfs - both work sweet, but only using 2k server to lean