What is the difference between FAT 32 and NTFS?

Question

Give me advantages and disadvantages of each

Answer 1

FAT = File Allocation Table

NTFS = NT File System



The major differences (performance vise) are



Security:

FAT32 provides very little security. A user with access to a drive using FAT32 has access to the files on that drive.



NTFS allows the use of NTFS Permissions. It's much more difficult to implement, but folder and file access can be controlled individually, down to an an extreme degree if necessary. The down side of using NTFS Permissions is the chance for error and screwing up the system is greatly magnified.



Windows XP Professional supports file encryption.





Compatibility:

NTFS volumes are not recognized by Windows 95/98/Me. This is only a concern when the system is set up for dual or multi-booting. FAT32 must be be used for any drives that must be accessed when the computer is booted from Windows 95/98 or Windows Me.



An additional note to the previous statement. Users on the network have access to shared folders no matter what disk format is being used or what version of Windows is installed.



FAT and FAT32 volumes can be converted to NTFS volumes. NTFS cannot be converted to FAT32 without reformatting.





Space Efficiency:

NTFS supports disk quotas, allowing you to control the amount of disk usage on a per user basis.



NTFS supports file compression. FAT32 does not.



Once you pass the 8GB partition size, NTFS handles space management much more efficiently than FAT32. Cluster sizes play an important part in how much disk space is wasted storing files. NTFS provides smaller cluster sizes and less disk space waste than FAT32.



In Windows XP, the maximum partition size that can be created using FAT32 is 32GB. This increases to 16TB (terabytes) using NTFS. There is a workaround for the 32GB limitation under FAT32, but it is a nuisance especially considering the size of drives currently being manufactured.



Reliability:

FAT32 drives are much more susceptible to disk errors.



NTFS volumes have the ability to recover from errors more readily than similar FAT32 volumes.



Log files are created under NTFS which can be used for automatic file system repairs.



NTFS supports dynamic cluster remapping for bad sectors and prevent them from being used in the future.

Answer 2

A major difference between the two systems is that unlike NTFS, FAT has limited security capabilities and NTFS has C2-compatible extensive security and auditing options. NTFS uses transaction logging to recover data lost while being update where FAT uses file caching, which is slower and not quite as accurate. The NTFS is not compatible with floppy disks, unlike FAT.



NTFS also contains multiple disk drives in one volume, FAT does not support this feature. The major difference between the two systems is that NTFS does not support backward compatibility like the FAT 16 & 32 do.

Answer 3

FAT 16 is an old file system used in DOS and 3.x. A FAT 16 partition can be a maximum of 4GB. FAT 32 is a revised version of FAT 16 and can be used in larger partitions. FAT 32 was used in Windows 98. Both FAT 16 and FAT 32 has weak error recovery and file security. NTFS is more secure and is used by Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, and Windows Vista. You'd be better off with NTFS unless you need backwards compatibility with older OSes like Windows 95 or 98.

Answer 4

FAT32 provides very little security. A user with access to a drive using FAT32 has access to the files on that drive.



NTFS allows the use of NTFS Permissions. It's much more difficult to implement, but folder and file access can be controlled individually, down to an an extreme degree if necessary. The down side of using NTFS Permissions is the chance for error and screwing up the system is greatly magnified.



Windows XP Professional supports file encryption.

Answer 5

A major difference between the two systems is that unlike NTFS, FAT has limited security capabilities and NTFS has C2-compatible extensive security and auditing options. NTFS uses transaction logging to recover data lost while being update where FAT uses file caching, which is slower and not quite as accurate. The NTFS is not compatible with floppy disks, unlike FAT.

Answer 6

(m)



NTFS has much more built-in features than FAT, so generally it is a bit slower.



However it depends on many factors such as cluster size, average file size, etc.



For example, NTFS can keep small files inside MFT entry, so if the file size is less than cluster size, most likely it will be accessed much faster on NTFS than on FAT.



Generally speaking the performance of NTFS on large volumes is higher than performance of FAT32. NTFS performance on small volumes is lower than performance of FAT/FAT32.



The biggest difference comes when you network and share files over a LAN,



FAT: you can specify only down to which folder to share, and you can add a password to it, but anyone on the LAN who has the password can get into it.



NTFS: You can share files down to a specific file and not a whole directory and you can type in which computers can access it. So if you want no one else but a certain computer to read the file over the LAN, you can set it to do so, but not in FAT

Answer 7

Fat 32 was the way disks (Hard and Floppy) were formatted before windows NT. Like on winsows 98, ME ect. Then when windows NT came along they decided they needed more file security at the file level (kinda like Linux) on thier servers so that people that shouldnt have access to a file don't. Fat 32 works on all current windows operating systems. NTFS works on NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP.

Answer 8

FAT is an old file system having history back to dos, ntfs is made for nt(NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista) machins, u can only access an ntfs disk from nt machine only. It is supposed to a secure file system...

Answer 9

its a long way to tell, but in ntfs the sysytem will divide the hard disk in a more sophistcated way , but by the end u got a more stable system

Answer 10

check the links