whats the difference...can anyone tell me

Fat32 doesn't support partitions over 32gb.
NTFS is 2Tera I think.

Fat32 doesn't support filesizes past 4GB.
NTFS supports far more than that.

FAT32 has no security.
NTFS Has ALOT of security.

FAT32 is more prone to data error.
NTFS is less prone.

NTFS supposedly has more overhead than FAT32 but it's very very very very slight if there is one.

oh so i might as well choose NTFS for my next installation when i format soon...

hows compatability? all applications and games work conveniently?

Your appz and gamez don't care what file system you use.

Speaking of formatting and NTFS, does anyone know a way of converting a FAT32 partition to NTFS using something larger (like 4k) sectors instead of 512-byte sectors? Possibly using the CONVERT command instead of destructively formatting my drives? (This specific operation even PM 6.0 doesn't appear able to do, either.)

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"Being married to a programmer is like owning a cat. You talk to it but you're never really sure it hears you, much less comprehends what you say." -DeadCats, 1999
"Talking to DeadCats is like talking to a dead cat." -MrsDeadCats, 2001

[This message has been edited by DeadCats (edited 04 February 2001).]

up

Nope. Lemme know if you find a way tho.

anyone have any benchmarks that show how much better NTFS is compared to FAT32?

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Celeron II 566@952 on a Abit BH6 Rev 1.01, 192 Pc100, Matrox G450 32 DH,
SBlive Value, Supra Express 56i ISA, Win98SE

Also I just formated and reinstalled using FAT32. is there a way for me to convert it to NTFS? without formating again

No there isn't. DO NOT convert.

looks like this would do the trick.... did you not think of this DosFreak? or is there some reason you think this utility should not be used?

CUViper, the problem with the CONVERT utility - at least from what I've found - is that it converts FAT32 partitions to the default NTFS 512-byte sectors. Which means a whole LOT of them for the file system to keep track of. I'd much rather have them a bit larger, say 2K, on my 8-gig partitions. But I haven't found a way to do that using CONVERT.

Partition Magic 6.0 has the same problem with it. It appears that it uses Win2K's CONVERT utility for that function, anyway.

I can do a destructive format, but it sure is a pain in the butt.

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"Being married to a programmer is like owning a cat. You talk to it but you're never really sure it hears you, much less comprehends what you say." -DeadCats, 1999
"Talking to DeadCats is like talking to a dead cat." -MrsDeadCats, 2001

[This message has been edited by DeadCats (edited 06 February 2001).]

In addition, the MFT is never one contiguous block like it is when you format in NTFS. Formatted NTFS installs are faster than converted ones.

I was trying to find some old links that I posted here, but they have been pruned from the board database. Here are the ones that I can find:


http://www.winntmag.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=4875&SearchString=ntfs&pg=1


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/deploy/fat.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/winresource/dnwinnt/S8394.HTM

There is one in particular that I am looking for, if I find it I will post that one as well.

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Regards,

clutch

Good deal. Thanks, clutch.

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"Being married to a programmer is like owning a cat. You talk to it but you're never really sure it hears you, much less comprehends what you say." -DeadCats, 1999
"Talking to DeadCats is like talking to a dead cat." -MrsDeadCats, 2001