NTFS and FAT32

[Jeff Bolton]

ok seeing the thread about converting FAT32 to NTFS and visa versa got me wondering...what does it mean, and what is the difference? i've been wondering for a while and if anyone could tell me i'll give you a cookie :)

jeff

[XprincoX]

i think this lil article will shine some light on your ? :D
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/october01.asp

But basically it comes down to this, NTFS has:
1. Better file security
2. Better disk compression
3. Support for large hd, up to 2 TB

[Jeff Bolton]

thanks for the link dogg. i have seen the light.

jeff

[Yodums]

I agree with Xprincox.

It might be a little slower but it is way more optimized, has more secruity and can be compress and doesn't use major space like FAT32 does.

[Dissolved]

as the screensavers said ntfs is suppose to be alot faster..
and i believe you can convert a xp pro fat32 hdd to ntfs by a simple cmd promt command.. it takes like 2hrs or so..

[Jeff Bolton]

it took like 3 minutes to convert my 10 gig fat32 partition (about 2 gigs full) to NTFS in win2k command prompt.

jeff

[=Hades=_DFE]

convert c:/fs:ntfs
type this at the command prompt and once you go to ntfs there is no going back.

[=Hades=_DFE]

opppsss sorry didnt see that in the link already

[pacino]

Just a quick note here, you can go from FAT32 to NTFS, but you cannot go back once you're in NTFS .. thought I'd mention it to Spike since no one mentioned that :)

[Oni]

Thats not entirely accurate . . . You can go back to FAT32, w/o formatting even . . . but in the end, you do end up losing all of your data. I think you get to keep the OS however.

[Yodums]

I hope you mean "convert" back from NTFS to FAT32 because then that is true.

The first time I heard this when I knew nothing and I had installed a beta copy of Win2K where my video card didn't support it so I was thinking "Am I screwed?"

You can just delete the NTFS and create a FAT32 again if you have to or want to switch back.

Just that you end up to reformat.

Yodums