A simple computer Question

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Dustin_m

Member
Which one is better to run and for what reasons??? I have heard that NTFS runs faster but is not as stable, and that FAT32 is more stable. Is this true?? Also if i have my HD partitioned, do both partitions have to run the same file system??
 
Using both NTFS and Fat32 I cannot tell or notice a speed difference.
on the other hand NTFS is a much more secure system and if not more stable than Fat32 it's equaly to Fat32 as far as stability issues are of concern.

and yes I do believe if you partition the drive you can have NTFS on one partion and Fat32 on the other.

Keep in mind if you use a OS like NT/2000/XP and are using the NTFS file system as the primary partion NT/2000/XP will be able to read the FAT32 partition.

But if you are using Win9x/Me and you using FAt32 as the primary partion and NTFS as a second partition Win9x/Me will not be able to read the data in the NTFS partition without 3rd party software.
 
If you're doing things that require lots of space, coughrippingdvdscough, the largest file size fat32 supports is 4GB. NTFS's max filesize is in the TB range.
 
ntfs actually has more "space" too. the clusters are smaller, thus using MORE of them, but less waste.

say a file is 10kb. on ntfs a cluster is say, 2kb, where as on fat32, its 8kb.

now, inorder to fill 10kb on fat32, it requires 16kb of cluster space, where as ntfs has 0 waste.

Where possible it is almost always better to format your drives using NTFS. The main reason for prefering NTFS is its "self-healing" properties. Basically all you really need to know is that it's more reliable than FAT32.

Speed, FAT32 is usually a little quicker, especially for smaller disks. But I doubt you'll notice any real difference. If you want a faster hard drive, buy a 1500-RPM SCSI drive.

The only time you would might prefer FAT32 over NTFS is if you use dual or multi-boot Windows 98/Windows ME with either Windows 2000 or XP. If all your drives are formatted as FAT32, you would be able to read-from/write-to/access any drive from any operating system.

FAT32 is faster in cases where the partitions are less than 18GB. NTFS is faster with anything larger.

Fat32 only has share level permissions, whereas NTFS has file level permissions. The latter is more secure.

Both file systems fragment equally for the most part, although NTFS is more resistant. However, you'll still need to defrag regularly.

if you are fat32 now, and want to go to ntfs, its simple... (in xp/2k)

save and close everything.
make a backup of anything stupid important... like your paper thats due tomorrow..

start->run

type: convert c: /FS:NTFS

where C: is your main drive with windows on it.

but the big thing to know is that fat32 is gettign phased out. eventually, shit won't work on it. its a good idea to jump on it.

all my systems are ntfs and will be that way until i go to linux as my primary os.
 
Cool, well that helps a lot. This last time i had to reinstall XP, since it has crashed on me many times in the last few weeks, I used FAT32 on my C: drive. I will probably just change it over right now before i install more programs. Thanks
 
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