Re: Sorry to have to ask this.

Asher_N wrote:
John Corliss wrote:
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/pro
dtechnol/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?

Similar and works very well. Although you're likely never to have to use it.

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?

Journaling. I've never seen a NTFS system not recover from a lockup, power failure etc. 

Well, that certainly seems like a strong point in NTFS's favor.

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

Recovered from what? in what form? 

LOL Sorry, I wouldn't have a clue.

* File system structure can be manually checked and repaired 

    	chkdsk in Safe Mode or command line Safe Mode.

* Malware can be scanned for and cleaned

Run those utils in Safe Mode. I've yet to see a malware scanner that did not require GUI. 

...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.

Go with NTFS. If for nothing else, for the support of large HDD and files.

Now this is the part that confuses me. Right now I'm running a 120 gb hard drive partitioned into equal halves. Are you saying that XP is going to make that impossible if I stay with FAT32? Why would that be the case? Why would Microsoft impose this kind of apparently artificial limitation?

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!

If the other computer is networked to yours, XP will take care of the translation. Writing them to CD will work.

I wouldnt' dream of networking a computer to mine. Most of the computers I work on are riddled with virii and other types of malware. No, what I mean is that I often need to transfer files like anti-malware program installation files to such computers. But since you say that writing them to CD will work, then I guess this isn't an issue.

Thanks again!

--
Regards from John Corliss
.

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