NTFS vs FAT32

[Nicholas Brown]

What are the main advantages of NTFS over Fat32 apart from the security aspect? Ive formatted a drive with NTFS and noticed the cluster size is 4kb instead of the usual 16/32kb of Fat32.

I know smaller cluster sizes means less wasted disk space, but am I right in thinking that the smaller the cluster size, the faster the data transfer will be?

Any info appreciated as I am hoping to change all my systems over to ntfs

[pedro_gb]

NTFS defragments a lot faster, so I use that.

I think that the larger cluster, the better the performance... correct me if I'm wrong.

[Chen]

I was always under the impression that NTFS is better, and considering I don't use any other operating systems on my laptop other than Windows XP I use it.

However this proved to be very annoying when Windows crashed and I couldn't access my data from DOS... luckily I was able to take out the HD and plug it into my other PC, but it was a lot of trouble. But I guess that as long as you take good care of your OS you shouldn't face this kind of problems...

[jmd]

NTFS

more stable, or so I hear

and faster

[Vile]

Definitely NTFS. More stable, secure and faster.

[Joe Gronlund]

NTFS definately..


File security
Access rights can be assigned to files and directories, allowing users full access, partial access or no access at all to data on the hard disk.
Encryption
NTFS can automatically encrypt and decrypt file data as it is read and written to the disk
Disk compression
File and directory compression can be performed without using any third party software, which saves space, while still allowing for transparent access and operation to the user.
Support for large hard disks
We're talking very large. Try a theoretical limit of 16 Exabytes, and up to 2 Terabytes.
File names
Native support of long file names and a 16-bit character standard called Unicode (likely the next generation ASCII)
Storage quotas
Disk quotas can be assigned that limit the amount of disk space users can access on a partition.
Sparse files
Let the user assign and reserve hard disk space to specific files.
File streams
Support for multiple data streams.
Fault tolerance
An enhanced ability to seamlessly respond to unexpected hardware and software errors.



also more info here

[Nicholas Brown]

wow thanks for all the info and help

I think I'll convert to NTFS

[Wayne Luke]

wow thanks for all the info and help

I think I'll convert to NTFS

Just don't do it if you have a dual boot system with Linux...

Linux support for NTFS is iffy and requires recompiling some components. I had a Red Hat 8.0 installation crash and take out a mounted NTFS partition. It was toasted quite nicely. Unfortunately, that partition just happened to be my XP boot partition as well.

[filburt1]

I believe NTFS (or maybe NTFS5) can have a variable cluster size, meaning it can be at least as efficient as FAT32 or even more so. However, similar to what Wayne said, make constant backups because if you ever need to recover data off the drive that has tighter security, just give up.

[Nicholas Brown]

I have Linux on another machine so I should be ok

[Zachery]

well, the only time u need to worry about recovering data is if you have encryption on,which isnt on by default

but imo ntfs = good
fat32 is ok

[Grandmaster]

I use NTFS and i find it to work very fast and efficient..

Now if i could get a t100 ethernet

[fury]

I use NTFS right now. It seems to be pretty good about sudden shutdowns, i.e. no file corruption or loss or anything like that. With FAT32, every other time I rebooted I'd lose at least one important file.