Re: FAT32 or NTFS on an external USB disk drive???

Converting to NTFS is definitely better - but for those who don't play around
with computers that much, it may be better to leave it as FAT32.

This is because, should something happen to your PC or to the drive, the
recovery of the data will be simpler to do on a FAT32 drive. Also, you won't
get the "Access Denied" errors that NTFS frequently generates when you try
and access your recovered data.

But, remember that this is a security risk for your data - so the choice is
yours.

- John


"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

Bo Berglund wrote:
I have just bought an external 250Gb IOMEGA USB disk drive for backup
and data storage purposes. It turns out that it is preformatted with
FAT32.

My question is if I should reformat it to NTFS or if I should start
using it like it is?
Are there any performance or storage capacity issues between FAT32 and
NTFS on external USB disks?


Bo Berglund
bo.berglund(at)nospam.telia.com


Personally, I wouldn't even consider using FAT32 when NTFS is an
option. FAT32 has no security capabilities, no compression
capabilities, no fault tolerance, so support for files larger than 4 Gb
(videos, anyone?), and a lot of wasted hard drive space on volumes
larger than 8 Gb in size. (Just try finding a hard drive that small,
nowadays.) The only reason I can think of to remain with FAT32 would be
if you anticipated a high likelihood of having to connect that external
drive to a Win9x machine. 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/

You can safely convert your current hard drive to NTFS whenever
desired, without having to format the partition and reinstall
everything. As always when performing any serious changes, back up any
important data before proceeding, just in case. A little advance
preparation is also strongly recommended, so you can avoid any
performance hits caused by the default cluster size:

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows
http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: FAT32 v.s NTFS
    ... Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems ... Table 13.4 Default Cluster Sizes for Volumes with Windows XP Professional ... Volume Size FAT16 Cluster Size FAT32 Cluster Size NTFS Cluster Size ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.file_system)
  • Re: Fat32 and NTFS Advantage and disadvantages?
    ... I wouldn't even consider using FAT32 when NTFS is an option. ... FAT & NTFS File Systems in Windows XP ... Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: NTFS or FAT?
    ... I was almost about to finalise on FAT32 with feedback from you. ... EWF or FBWF should be used to protect the CF card. ... if you don't need security features of NTFS, FAT is the choice: ... Looking at the details available on the file systems i have decided to go ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded)
  • Re: FAT32 or NTFS on an external USB disk drive???
    ... and data storage purposes. ... Are there any performance or storage capacity issues between FAT32 and ... NTFS on external USB disks? ... FAT & NTFS File Systems in Windows XP ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: NTFS and Dos
    ... You know much more about fixing FAT32 than I do. ... write to an NTFS file system. ... >Several utilities and tools can see Long File Names from DOS or DOS ... Three types of LFN support: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)