Re: Use NTFS or FAT32 on external hard drive?
- From: "Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 11:27:32 -0500
"JCIrish" <JCIrish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A867D007-99D4-4450-BB20-A04B416A320A@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I just purchased a Seagate 300 gig HD. It comes formatted with FAT32. My
OS
is XP Home Edition with internal HD C:\ formatted as NTFS. Should (must)
I
reformat the new Seagate to NTFS to be consistent? Advantages to doing
so?
Disadvantages(the Seagate Quick Start Guide says that if I reformat to
NTFS I
must always log in as Administrator to their BounceBack Express software
to
ensure access to my backed up files).
And, any recommendations about partitioning the new HD? Should I do this?
Any help will be appreciated.
"Anna" <myname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23s8lxNCAHHA.3604@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JCIrish:
Your subject-line indicates that your Seagate HDD is being used as a USB
external hard drive, i.e., it's contained within a USB enclosure. That's
right, isn't it?
If that is indeed the case, in my opinion there is really no need to
convert its present FAT32 file system to NTFS even if you're working
solely in an XP environment and your internal boot HDD is NTFS-formatted.
Presumably your USB external hard drive will be used for storage & backup
purposes. Under those conditions the FAT32 file system will work just
fine. There will be no significant performance issues as compared with
working with a NTFS file system on that external drive. And there will be
no pressing security issues you need be concerned with either.
As to partitioning, it's really what you feel comfortable with. Assuming
you'll be working with only a single PC to which is attached your USB EHD,
and you don't plan to use the device with other PCs, then my own feeling
is to leave well enough alone with a single partition as you (presumably)
now have and to simply create folders to organize your data.
On the other hand, your backup software may make other recommendations
which might be more suitable since I'm not familiar with the backup
program that was included with your USB EHD. Generally, I'm not thrilled
with any of the so-called backup software included with these USB external
devices.
While we're on the subject of backups, consider investigating the merits
of using a disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image for your backup
needs. The great advantage of these types of programs is that they allow
the user to back up their *entire* system, including the operating system,
programs, created data - everything that's on one's day-to-day working
HDD. Other backup programs (I'm assuming similar to the one included with
your USB EHD) simply are generally designed to back up only data that the
user has created. Important, to be sure, but not as comprehensive as what
a disk imaging program can provide.
Anna
JCIrish:
There is one limitation of the FAT32 file system that I neglected to mention
in my above comments...
FAT32 will not accommodate files greater than 4 GB in size. For most users
that's usually not an important consideration since they're generally not
dealing with files of that enormous size. But if you *do* work with those
kinds of large files (generally audio-video) in terms of backing them up to
your USB external hard drive, then the NTFS file system, and not FAT32,
would be appropriate for your external hard drive.
Anna
.
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