Which FILE system is best?

[craze]

I'm about to install XP-PRO..
which file system do people think is best and why?
NFTS or FAT 32?
I'm also going to have a partition and dual boot wiht Win98SE....

any thoughts are much appreciated peoples!

 

[bheagle]

Personally I like NTFS, but if you are going to dual boot and want to see the other partitions, you'll have to go Fat32.

I still don't understand the 98/xp dual boot choice tho, every single program that I run, works just as well if not faster in xp than it did in 98... I guess I just don't have all those old games I like so much as to degrade my system by running 98.

🙂

 

[Dragon Eye]

NTFS is faster but if you are running a network then people on FAT32 wont be able to view NTFS partitions unless they are in XP.
Even then i'm not entirley sure whether they can.
As far as i know (positivly) only NTFS can read NTFS and also Fat32 but Fat and Fat32 are unable to read NTFS. I may be wrong but im pretty certain.

I have 6 partitions at home

• Windows Only
• Programs
• Games
• Data
• Backup
• Network

I have NTFS on Windows Only and Programs so people on our network are unable to access it as they are on Windows 98/ME and so are unable to copy anything across on purpose or by accident that could damage the system.
Security you see 🙂

Anyway, in my opinion NTFS but if you'r on a network make sure other PC's are on NTFS or are running XP.

 

[NetRyder]

Dragon Eye ... an NTFS partition IS accessible on a network even if other computers are running Win98/ME.

The only time you will have a problem, craze, is when you try to access an NTFS partition thru Win98 installed on your own computer.

So, in short, Win98 is unable to read an NTFS partition, if it is installed on your computer. But other users on your network WILL be able to read NTFS partitions even if they have 98 installed.

 

[Iceman]

Originally posted by XPMagic
Dragon Eye ... an NTFS partition IS accessible on a network even if other computers are running Win98/ME.

The only time you will have a problem, craze, is when you try to access an NTFS partition thru Win98 installed on your own computer.

So, in short, Win98 is unable to read an NTFS partition, if it is installed on your computer. But other users on your network WILL be able to read NTFS partitions even if they have 98 installed.

Correct😀 😀 😀 😀

 

[Qumahlin]

There is no answer as to which file system is best. it's an opinion thing, each has thier ups and downs, and there already like 20 other threads about it 😛

 

[Gouk]

Windows 98 can read NTFS partitions with this:

ÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛ
°±²ÛßÛ RELEASE INFO ÛßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßÛ²±°
°±²Û ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ Û²±°
°±²Û Û²±°
°±²Û NTFS for Win98 is a utility that allows Windows Û²±°
°±²Û 95/98/Me systems to use the NTFS file system. Û²±°
°±²Û Normally, users of dual-boot environments who Û²±°
°±²Û want to share data between the Windows Û²±°
°±²Û operating systems must configure their systems Û²±°
°±²Û using regular FAT drives, which suffer from a 2GB Û²±°
°±²Û maximum size. Û²±°
°±²Û Û²±°
°±²Û NTFS for Win98 provides dual-boot users with Û²±°
°±²Û full read-write access to their Windows NT drives Û²±°
°±²Û so they can easily share data. With NTFS for Û²±°
°±²Û Win98 your Windows 95/98/Me system is able to Û²±°
°±²Û access any Windows volume, regardless of its Û²±°
°±²Û file system. Û²±°
°±²Û Û²±°
°±²Û Û²±°
°±²Û Û²±°
°±²ÛÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÛ²±°

Sorry for the messed up text. I took this out of a NFO 😀

 

[Hipster Doofus]

I'm looking forward to changing over to NTFS on all my patitions except one & see how it goes. So far I'm impressed. 😀

 

[Friend of Bill]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought FAT32 was faster than NTFS.

 

[Geffy]

FAT32 is a 32-bit file system which creates a FIle Allocation Table by taking the size of your drive in KB and dividing it by the number of addresses it can interpret. This is fine for small drives. But as you get bigger the minimum cluster size expands as well. ie an 80GB drive might have huge cluster sizes like 8 KB as the smallest storage area. If a file is smaller than 8 KB or the file is not a direct multiple of 8 then one of the clusters that it uses will not be completely used. This is quite inefficient for larger drives.
NTFS uses a standard allocation size (it is either 512bytes or 4 KB) This allows it to be more efficent at storing data as the allocation areas will be more completely used.
MS recomends NTFS for drives bigger than 36GB, if the size is less than that then the choice is yours.

 

[Nismo83]

I would go for a NTFS surely... reliable..

 

[Revelation]

A short answer is that if you need security (on a network) then use NTFS because it has more security and encryption but you if you are just using XP Pro for home then use Fat32 because it is faster.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

So it looks like it comes down to two things, NTFS reliability or FAT32 speed. Is that the right way to look at it? 😕

 

[Friend of Bill]

Currently, I'm running in NTFS. Could I change this to FAT32 without losing my install. If so, how?

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Nope. Can only go one way. Looks like a format. 🙁

 

[Outlaw21]

You CAN go from NTFS to Fat32 without losing data by using Partition Magic 7.0

 

[Hipster Doofus]

That's another one blown outa the water. I though I was sure on that one. Have to try & file that now. 😀

Is PM 7 the only way to go or is there another way?

 

[Outlaw21]

Not sure if there are others, I only know about PM 7.0 because I have done it.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Thanks for that Outlaw21. Good to know that you have done it & that it worked. 😀

 

[Geffy]

Yep you can go both ways, though in my mind a format will result in fewer long term headaches than converting. If you are going to move from NTFS to FAT32 then you need to make sure that you dont have permissions of password protected or encrypted or compressed folders or files.

NTFS also has better recovery and data rescue algorithms than FAT32 does.