Ntfs Good Vs. Bad

[TCH-Thomas]

Not sure this is O/S or software question...

 

Ive read that there is a filesystem in XP named ntfs (i think).

What are the good sides and bad sides with converting to this file system?

[TCH-Bruce]

Here are some links that compare the file systems.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/october01.asp

 

http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

 

http://www.thundercloud.net/information-avenue/ntfs-vs-fat32/

 

And for more links just do a search at Google on "ntfs vs fat" and you will receive plenty of information.

[TCH-Thomas]

Thanks Bruce.

I was though thinking that maybe my family members had some opinions on which file system to choose.

[TCH-Bruce]

Personally on NT/XP OS I use NTFS. It is a faster more secure OS in my opinion.

[DarqFlare]

I've been using NTFS for as long as possible. It is more stable.

[Hockeypuck]

I've never seen much of a reason to stick with FAT.

[kaseytraeger]

Thomas,

 

Not sure if you're interested in this, but as an interesting side note, here's what NTFS and FAT stand for --

NTFS = NT File System (of Windows NT fame)

FAT = File Access Table

FAT32 = 32-bit File Access Table (only used on operating systems from Win98 through the present, but not in NT file systems ... e.g., WinNT or Win2K)

 

[Amoraq314]

I've stuck with FAT32 because linux doesn't have as much support for NTFS which is probematic soemtimes as a dual boot

[Kavinay]

NTFS is a more secure and sophisticated file system than FAT32. Chances are though that if you don't already know which NTFS features you need (meta-data, indexing etc.), then it's not something you need to worry about converting your file system too. FAT32, according to some techies, is a bit faster than NTFS because it is less complex.

 

In my experience, I've found that greatest stability gain with your file system doesn't matter so much on which type of partition you use, but rather on the stability of the operating system itself. NTFS partitions are more stable than many FAT32 installations out there because NTFS is always used in conjunction with Win 2000 or WinXP. Using FAT32 with these modern OS's (instead of with the erratic likes of Win ME and Win 98) should be just as stable for the average user.

 

Remember though, that if you do convert to NTFS, there's no going back to FAT32 without having to buy a third-party partition program like Partition Magic.

 

Plus, like Amoraq314 said, try to avoid NTFS if you're going to be using Linux. Reading NTFS partitions from Linux is easy, but seamlessly writing to an NTFS partition is still not well supported.