ntfs or fat32

[dogfish227]

first i'll just ask knowing im probally wrong is one faster than the other if si just tell me that else:


which is better for the following harddrives and what im gana have on them

1 4GB harddrive with just windows XP home being installed on it
wait i interurpt this list for another question is it possible to have two different file systems on one harddrive that is partitioned
2 10GB with all programs
3 4GB with all documents from all programs
if the answer to the two different file systems on one harddrive that is partitioned is no then the last two must be the same type


also if thier any thing elese i sould know please tell thanks

[si_the_geek]

fat32 is faster, and compatible with previous operating systems (eg: Windows 95/98 etc), but it has no security - anyone can read any file.

ntfs has security - you can say who can read which files, but isn't compatible with old operating systems (Win NT or win2000 is fine). it also isn't slow (just not as fast as fat32).


i'm not sure about the formatting of different partitions bit.

if you don't need to read files later with another operating system then I would recommend ntfs all the way - you might not want security now, but if you do want it at some point then it is ready to go into action.

[plenderj]

Regarding NTFS, besides being able to set permissions on a file level, that file system also allows you to encrypt and compress files and folders.

[JoshT]

NTFS also features some journaling, so it should be more reliable than FAT32. It also doesn't need to be defragged under normal use, regardless of what defrag software vendors will tell you.

[siyan]

ntfs ain't bad for speed...i prefer it over fat32 for purposes of administration and security.

and its tenologically better.

[siyan]

ntfs ain't bad for speed...i prefer it over fat32 for purposes of administration and security.

and its tenologically better.

[dogfish227]

so you all say that i should use NTFS for all of my hardrives all the pc's on the network in my house are 2000 or XP ecept one wich is 98 but i rarely communicate with but i can always use a floppy or communicte through another computer on my network also im think no again (but i was right last time) is it possible to fromat every thing on a hard drive except the OS (i guess that wouldnt be consudered formating thought just deleting by the masses)

cause my computers a huge pile of junk files and folders and its getting to full and unorginized so i wanted to clean it out my way and just kill it all and start over though getting away with not reinsatlling windows would be nice

also if i must reinstall XP the kind that you had to have a previous versoin of windows will when i format have to install 98 and then XP or can i get around that i think i did some how last time but i cant remeber how alright its called the update version compared to whatever the other is

[siyan]

you can convert to NTFS with built in windows tools

going back to fat32 requires partition magic or reformatting

and networking is unaffected by filesystem type

[Sastraxi]

Josh: Yeah, I love the journalling in NTFS But you said it's not full.. oh well. I just wish we could use Windows2k on ext3

[siyan]

what is this journalizing?

[dogfish227]

ok thanks for all the info time for me to reformat it all now ill be back in a day or two if all goes well

[Yonatan]

Incredibly, nobody mentioned this: NTFS allows a smaller cluster size! But since your harddrives are relatively small (10GB max) this won't matter.

In WinNT/2K/XP, to convert drive X: from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS:

convert X: /fs:NTFS

Note: WinNT 4.0 may not recognize FAT32 partitions.

[blackeyed]

Well you can have different file formats for different partitions secondly NTFS is more suited for LANs where security is needed (not for common home pc) as for each file there will be more overhead and even it will be slow to access. So for common usage fat32 is faster and better.

[dogfish227]

yeah it work every thing formated and harddrives all changed to NTFS missed the last message from backeyed but i think i would have chosen NTFS ne way i have at least 3 hacking atempts a day according to my firewall. But something kinda screwy happend after the formt a few files and folders lived (mabey i acedently told windows to save the some suff that was on thier )?? but i cant delet the few because of windows saftey crap about it being used by another person or programs well gues what microsoft the only stuff runing is whats being used to run wiondow so just delet the crap already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! does ne one know any ways of passing this and makeing it delet the stuff

[dogfish227]

hmm never mind it let me delet them this time