Re: Sorry to have to ask this.

Bruce Chambers wrote: 
John Corliss wrote:

After four years of holding out, I have finally caved in and purchased the XP Home Edition with SP2. I could have gotten XP with this system, but I got ME instead and it's served me well. However, lately too much software is being written so that it won't work in ME.
I've backed up all of my data and will be going for a fresh install of the OS (formatting and installing).
And now I'm faced with the old (I suppose to you folks in this group) dilemma of whether or not to go with NTFS or stick with FAT32.

Personally, I wouldn't even consider using FAT32 when NTFS is an
option. FAT32 has no security capabilities, no compression
capabilities, no fault tolerance, and a lot of wasted hard drive space
on volumes larger than 8 Gb in size. But your computing needs may
vary, and there is no hard and fast answer.
To answer your questions without getting too technical is difficult, but has been handled quite well by the late Alex Nichol in the article here:

FAT & NTFS File Systems in Windows XP http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfs.htm

Somewhat more technical information is here: Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=kb;en-us;Q314463

Choosing Between File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/TechNet/prodtechnol/winntas/tips/techrep/filesyst.asp > NTFS file system http://www.digit-life.com/articles/ntfs/ 

Well, there is also this one:

  http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm

I've heard that Scandisk won't work with NTFS ....

A moot point. WinXP does not have a program called "Scandisk," as this was a Win9x/Me program. Instead, because WinXP is descended from the WinNT/2K OS family, it has a command line utility called "Chkdsk," which performs much better.

Command line? Really. Sorry, but that certainly doesn't seem like a step forward to me. Also, is this the same as the old "Chkdsk" from DOS days?

Start > Run > Cmd > Chkdsk.exe /? for the correct syntax and available options.
Alternatively, double-click My Computer > right-click the desired hard drive > Properties > Tools > Error-checking/Check Now. This will run Chkdsk, normally on the next reboot.
However, unless you are actually experiencing a specific problem related to your hard drive's file system, there's no real need to run Chkdsk. The utility is not designed to be used as part of any period maintenance plan.

My main concern is that if the system locks up and has to be restarted ("Windows has detected that the last shutdown wasn't normal" or whatever), what takes care of the problem? Or does journaling usually make such things unnecessary?

and that NTFS is slower than FAT32.

Not usually. Someone's been feeding you a line. In most cases, it's just the opposite.

I'm afraid that this seems to be a serious point of contention from what I've read on the internet. For instance:

  http://elexorr.com/ntfs_vs_fat32.htm

Not only that, but you can't use an emergency startup disk or disc with NTFS. Anybody care to elaborate or clarify?

Well, with NTFS, there's almost never a need for an emergency startup disk, beyond the WinXP installation CD, which is bootable and provides access to the Repair Console. 

From this link:

  http://cquirke.mvps.org/ntfs.htm

the following:
____________________________________
But while NTFS has no maintenance OS from which...
    * Data can easily be recovered
    * File system structure can be manually checked and repaired
    * Malware can be scanned for and cleaned

....I would avoid the use of NTFS in consumer PCs.
____________________________________

Care to comment? Please? Hey, I'm new to this NTFS vs. FAT32 s argument.

Since I'm going to be using the Home edition of XP, how would NTFS be more secure than FAT32?

Well, since FAT32 has *NO* security capabilities at all.....

Not sure why I should be worried about such things on a single user computer. Besides, it's my understanding that XP Home and NTFS doesn't allow built in file encryption like XP Pro and NTFS5. File encryption is pretty fundamental to file security one would think.

One last question: what if I want to access the files from another OS on another computer? Can I simply burn them to a CD or DVD and put that disc in the other computer? Seems to me that I tried this with some files from a computer that was running Windows 2000. I was unable to read some of the files. Of course, the computer's file structure was in pretty bad shape.

Thanks for your input!

--
Regards from John Corliss
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: NTFS vs FAT32
    ... > Meaning my XP is running in NTFS, but my data is saved in FAT32 Disk D. ... to be less severe than on a FAT32 file system. ...
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  • Re: Sorry to have to ask this.
    ... And now I'm faced with the old dilemma of whether or not to go with NTFS or stick with FAT32. ... Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP ... Instead, because WinXP is descended from the WinNT/2K OS family, it has a command line utility called "Chkdsk," which performs much better. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: OT - Desktop Linux
    ... obvious presence in the file system). ... system services executables. ... If you have Linux or other OS, almost all of them can mount NTFS shares. ... or functionality and I don't think FAT32 is going to be unstable vs NTFS, ...
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  • Re: XP Pro (Fat32 vs. NTFS) Is it easier/harder/no difference to upgrade motherboard/video card with
    ... XP uses NTFS and FAT32. ... Now if I under stand what you said you have one of each file system? ... Because you are running XP SP2 you need a slipstremed CD containing SP2 ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: help
    ... NTFS simply refers to the type of file system being used on your setup. ... it's a little more stable than FAT32 setups and allows for the ... not available in Home Edition but by and large it is more secure than FAT32. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage)