NTFS vs. fat32
February 12, 2008 - 16:23 — jspencel@uoguelph.ca
Hey kats,
I currently have my laptop running on Fat32, since I never looked in the first place and that's apparently what it came with as a standard.
A few tweak sites online suggest switching to NTFS because it's faster for windows to use, but I'm curious as to the risks and benefits of making the change.
Keep in mind my laptop doesn't serve as a linux anything (desktop handles that) so the risk of not being able to access it is not a huge issue.
Thanks for the input,
- jon
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If you're willing to nuke
If you're willing to nuke everything on your computer in order to switch, then that's up to you. I can give you a few reasons to switch:
First and foremost, Read/Write speeds on NTFS file systems are a lot faster than on FAT32. The only time it's ever close is when you have a FAT32-type partition of size less than 32GB (Which I doubt you have).
Also, the largest permitted file size on FAT32 is 4GB. And you may be saying now, "Oh, I'll never have a file that big", but then when it happens you will be saying, "Oh crap, why didn't I listen to Josh?", and then it will clue into your mind that I was finally right about something, followed by your head exploding in a manner of magnificent effluence.
And FAT32 fragments faster than NTFS.
As far as downsides go, I can't think of any. The only negative I could have thought of is portability on other systems, but if that's not an issue, then I say you should switch.
___________
Josh Gaber
Put 1000 monkeys in front of 1000 terminals, and they'll eventually code Windows Vista
"If you're willing to nuke
"If you're willing to nuke everything on your computer in order to switch, then that's up to you. I can give you a few reasons to switch:"
Not true. You can one-way convert from FAT32 to NTFS without nerfing the contents of your HD.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx
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Jordan Kapp
Second Year - BAH/CIS
Canadian Forces Regular Officer - Aerospace Control Officer
support
the one-way convert works well. NTFS is also less prone to fragmentation and (suppose to be) more tolerant improper shutdowns.
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Matt Englert
SOCIS System Admin
So using the 'convert.exe'
So using the 'convert.exe' method, i'm not going to drop all my data?
that's what i took from the knowledge base article.
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Jon "slyfox" Spenceley
4th year Big Jerk
Treasonous Teeter-Tottering Traitor
BUTTS LOL
backup backup backup
i have used it quite a few times & it has never goofed, but you *should* have backup...
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Matt Englert
SOCIS System Admin
NTFS ftw! It can handle
NTFS ftw! It can handle single files above 4 gigs, unlike FAT32.
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Andrew
Good to hear! If my windows
Good to hear!
If my windows partition gets nerfed, that's upsetting but not the end of the world. I'm more concerned over my data drive, but I'm going to back that up out the wazoo before I run my program.
Thanks for all the info.
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Jon "slyfox" Spenceley
4th year Big Jerk
Treasonous Teeter-Tottering Traitor
BUTTS LOL
im not really saying
im not really saying anything new here but really, but i recently had to decide how to partition some drive to support mac and windows effectively
the only downside to NTFS is limited interoperability with non-windows (i think everything can read, but nothing else can write without tweaks/3rd party software or other hax)
NTFS *can* be indexed for faster searching, but i always disable this right away because i only search a windows FS once or twice a month
NTFS can handle >4gb file sizes and in my experience is more robust when it comes to preventing and correcting disk errors and does get less fragmented
I have converted fat to fat32 and fat32 to ntfs on a few rare occasions (using the built-in windows tools) and had no problems, but whenever you go and deliberately diddle your filesystem, backups are your friend