klseesea
Jan 7,2009
In: Software & Tools

NTFS versus Fat32

Disk Format Considerations:

The two prevalent file system formats for PCs are FAT32 and NTFS. Performance is very similar between the two systems.

NTFS is a newer file system that is compatible only with Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. It has fewer limitations than FAT32 and will enable a partition to be created that is larger the 32GB.

FAT32 is a file system that is compatible with Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, you will not be able to create a partition greater than 32GB (using FAT32).

Use FAT32 if:
1: You will be dual booting/accessing data with an Operating System other than Windows NT/2000/XP.
2: You may need the ability to dual boot down the line. Once you have converted a volume from NTFS to FAT32 there is no going back. You can convert from FAT32 to NTFS, but not from NTFS to FAT32.
3: You want to connect to a Mac and have access to the data.
Please note that MacOS cannot support FAT32 partitions greater than 128GB.

Use NTFS if:
1: You want to encrypt files, assigning permissions to files, or want to audit files for access.
2: You will be formatting partitions larger than 32GB.
3: You need to store individual files that are larger than 4GB, or you use a backup program that writes large files.
4: You need a filing system that can be mirrored or structured like a RAID 5 configuration.

Some sites offering formatting procedures/instructions/other:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre…ocs/format.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/default…;EN-US;q314463

http://support.microsoft.com/default…;en-us;Q326673

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/inst…ent_XPfull.htm

http://www.auldfart.co.uk/howto/xpformat.html

http://www.buildeasypc.com/sw/windows_xp.htm