Re: NTFS or FAT32 on 100GB partition (Win2000Pro)

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On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 15:02:00 +0200, Bun wrote:

> Hi to all,
>
> Is it safe to format HardDisc larger then 100GB with FAT32 filesystem???
> I'm going to install new 160GB drive and i dont know what kind of file
> system i have to choice.
> I will make there three partitons. First (about 40GB) for system, second
> (about 2GB) for Win's virtual memory and thrird (about 110GB) for data. But
> I dont know in what kind of file system, i have to format them. I want to
> format all partitions with FAT32, because i still dont know if i will
> install there W98SE or Win2000.
>
> THX
> Bun

It's possible to format a large drive using FAT32 but there would be an
enormous amount of waste with the resulting cluster size. One of the
reasons that XP will not *create* a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB is due
to this efficiency factor.

NOTE: XP can work with FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB but it will not
create them.

Description of Default Cluster Size for FAT32 File System:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192322

Also, there is no good reason or performance gain dedicating a partition on
the same hard drive for the system's pagefile. An informative article about
virtual memory in XP: http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm


If you have a program such as PhotoShop, that likes having its own scratch
file, a small partition could be used for that purpose. Photoshop will work
without a dedicated scratch file area. Just be sure to leave plenty of
empty and contiguous space for the program to use.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
.

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