Hey Guys..
Is there any advantages of FAT over NTFS? What are the advantages?? Any drawbacks of FAT over NTFS? Please let me know...
as i read somewhere on net the NTFS are more secure than FAT
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i dont now is it right or wrong
Hey Guys..Eager to know the reason...I googled and found some important info regarding NTFS and FAT32. Now I will think twice before converting NTFS to FAT32!
FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.
The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.
The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.
When to Use FAT or FAT32
If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer (see my earlier column Multibooting Made Easy), you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.
NTFS is better than FAT formats.
NTFS is definitely better than FAT32 .. use FAT32 only if u use Win98 or ME
Use NTFS if you wanna install Windows Vista and for better performance of system.
i think when i use NTFS volumes in Windows XP Sp2 my system speed gets low and some times hand
NTFS is definitely better than FAT32.its secire more than fat 32.Windows vista does not support fat32.
Ntfs Defragments much faster than FAT.
Does Vista need NTFS or FAT???
If your drive have lots of files (say more than 50 thousand) then NTFS's MFT itself can take considerable space (in gigabytes).
obviously , NATFS is way better than FAT
you won't be able to format your C: drive, when you want to reinstall windows for some reasons., if you have NTFS.
With NTFS fragmentation is less. But I've never used NTFS because it imposes unnecessary restrictions on system folders.
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
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