FAT 32 or NTFS?

[justinstyle]

Is there any reason why I should or should not convert a laptop running XP to NTFS instead of FAT32?

[kazuza]

Security!

[justinstyle]

I assume you mean that FAT 32 does not support alot of XP's security features right? So convert to NTFS

[kazuza]

Correct!

[justinstyle]

Thank You!

[Bigjakkstaffa]

I prefer fat 32, its much easier to reapir in the event of a disaaster, as it can be seen by DOS bootdisks, unlike NTFS. It can also be seen by win9x which is imprtant for dual booters, and runs marginally faster than NTFS.

However NTFS offers much more in the way of security and defragments less.

IMO the added security of features are only worth having if your runnign on a network or with multiple users etc. Fat32 is still very much alive

--Jakk

[stear221]

i agree very much bigjakkstaffa,i have XP and i have config. as FAT32..FAT32 is alot easier to work with,i had mine as NTFS,didnt like it,then tried to go back to FAT32,and had problems,everyone told me u couldnt go back,but i used partition magic 8.0 and it converted back in 5 minutes.
one other thing.....hows everyone using 98 bootdisks on XP with FAT32???? i tried it on 2 PC'c i was reformatting and it wouldnt work at all....the only solution i had was to create a boot floppy by right clicking A: drive and format floppy with the create ms-dos startup checked,then adding wipeout.exe to it.then reboot,use wipeout at the A: prompt,then reboot when done,THEN i could use my 98se bootdisk on the fresh drive.....but thats it......if i used the 98 disk first,it would never go to the A: prompt......i could get them to get an A: prompt one time,but i used a MEbootdisk,then i tried using fdisk from that floppy,and it said wrong version of dos.....lol....so just did it the way i said before.......any explainations on how u guys get them to work???.........by way...all my bootdisks were made from bootdisk.com except the one i put wipeout on,made that from my pc

[Bigjakkstaffa]

If its 98 SE boot from the CD, it does the same as the bootdisk and much faster

--Jakk

[BigBirdZ28]

FAT32 for 2 reasons :

* Performance increase over NTFS

* Can be converted to NTFS easily


FAT32 should be your default unless you have an explicit security need.

I prefer having the slight performance increase year round to having security 9-10 times a year (i personally dont use it much).

You might want to consider NTFS for your second (smaller?) partition, incase you need instant security.

[AllGamer]

BigBirdZ28