[berndawg84]

Hi..I wanted to buy an external USB hard drive strictly for storage, so just for holding music and video files etc, no programs. Which is the better option for me then, FAT or NFTS? Also, should I have the company that I buy the hard drive from format it for me in FAT or NFTS (for $10) or save myself the money and do it myself, if it's not too complicated? thanks

 

[gotrootdude]

Video files makes it obvious you should use NTFS.. Fat32 has size restraints that sooner or later you'll run into with large video files.

Formating the drive is quite simple. Just plug it in, go into your control panel, administrative tools, computer management, disk management, click on the drive and choose format.. (This is with the win2000 pro OS, it may be easier with win XP)

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

No question about it, the NTFS is much better for most appllications. Also, the format process is the same as the previous responder quoted or you can just go to My computer, right click on the drive if it recognizes the drive and select format. Save your money and do it yourself.

 

[ashnan]

Formating the drive is quite simple. Just plug it in, go into your control panel, administrative tools, computer management, disk management, click on the drive and choose format..

When formatting using Win XP's Disk Management tool, what cluster size does it use when creating the partition? I read somewhere that Windows partitions drives using a cluster size larger than 4 KB thereby wasting space. It was recommended to use software like Partition Magic etc to do this.

 

[gotrootdude]

You might lose a little space by not optimizing the clusters. but it's minimal. I wouldn't be concerned about it. i mean, what's the difference between a 80gig drive and a 79.8gig drive.. Not too much.

Overall, your talking about saving a few kilobytes, maybe...

 

[obvious]

ntfs anyday baby. unlesss your not using windows nt, xp or 2000.

which version of windows are you using?

 

[rmay635703]

Personally I hate NTFS, if you plan on being able to transport the drive in between many different systems FAT32 can't be beat, it also normally has a better level on performance (transfer rate wise) as less overhead is devoted to the file system itself.

Also FAT32 is easier to recover if there is a disaster or a miswrite/problematic shutdown as compared to NTFS which seems to completely self destruct when there is a major issue with the fat portion of the drive.

I have heard of file size limitations on FAT32 but I've never hit them, what is it 12gb? I have a 12gb file sitting on my fat32 drive now.

Choose whatever you need.

My 2.5 cents

 

[rmay635703]

Hmm, some say that there is a 4gb limitation on Fat32 but that is only present if the software uses the global access. I guess Norton Ghost goes around this problem.

Cheers

 

[obvious]

no chance buttie, that's fat16 with the 4gb limitation. and that's a 16 bit filing system that only works with win 95 (both) win98 and *i think* win ME

 

[rmay635703]

no chance buttie, that's fat16 with the 4gb limitation. and that's a 16 bit filing system that only works with win 95 (both) win98 and *i think* win ME

Don't know what your talking about Windows 95b, 98, ME, 2k, XP all can use Fat 32.

The so called 4gb FILE SIZE limitation is a "connectivity" issue between the software and the file system (I'm not talking the FAT16 partition size limit which really is 2gb on DOS)

The only reason I brought up the 4gb File size limit (that gotroot mentioned earlier) is that video editing software may or may not bypass that imaginary limit and his video files may be limited in size.

Cheers

 

[obvious]

I said FAT 16 (edited) NOT FAT 32


DOH!!!!

 

[JohnWill]

I have heard of file size limitations on FAT32 but I've never hit them, what is it 12gb? I have a 12gb file sitting on my fat32 drive now.

I'm afraid I'd have to see that, since FAT32 has an absolute maximum file size of 4 gigabytes, and that's only when it has 64kb clusters. There is no way you have a 12gig single file on a FAT32 formatted volume. For your reading enjoyment, here's Microsoft's Comparison NTFS, FAT16, FAT32.

 

[JohnWill]

no chance buttie, that's fat16 with the 4gb limitation. and that's a 16 bit filing system that only works with win 95 (both) win98 and *i think* win ME

Actually, FAT16 has a logical drive limitation of 2 gigabytes, so I doubt it supports a 4 gigabyte file! See my earlier response for a comparison of NTFS, FAT16, and FAT32.

 

[Cookiegal]

obvious,

I have edited your post. Name calling will not be tolerated.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi again berndawg84,

Unfortunately somel people in here have bad information and have resorted to conduct (thanks to an alert moderator for taking care of one of those problems) that is not conducive of providing you with good advice.
You need to take a read of the Johnwill reference and I can assure you that his advice and information is correct. The amount lost with NTFS is so small it is not worth even discussing.

I think if you really want to know what is best to use, then ask a tech who works with this information each and every day and has to confront the problems for using either Fat32 or NTFS. Rest assured that your decision will be easy after doing that.

I do work with and personally know many techs and I don't know one that still uses Fat32 with the WinXP or Win2K platforms. I am not saying there are not some out there, but they are very few and far between. My advice is still the same and NTFS is as good as it gets with the two platforms I mentioned.

Read though the article, sort through all the BS and make an informed decision for you. Good Luck!

 

[rmay635703]

I'm afraid I'd have to see that, since FAT32 has an absolute maximum file size of 4 gigabytes, and that's only when it has 64kb clusters. There is no way you have a 12gig single file on a FAT32 formatted volume. For your reading enjoyment, here's Microsoft's Comparison NTFS, FAT16, FAT32.

I have a ghost backup of a 40gb drive on a 120gb fat32 drive and it comes out to about 12gb give or take and yes it is accessible I used it to deploy a couple of systems.

 

[JohnWill]

My bet is the file system that this is stored on is an NTFS filesystem, since there is absolutely no way that a 12 gigabyte files lives on a FAT32 formatted volume.

Remember, it's not what you imaged, it's where you stored the file. Just because the image is of a FAT32 volume, that doesn't mean it's the GHOST image file is stored on a FAT32 volume.

Like I said, this really isn't something I made up, the design of FAT32 simply will not allow a file of larger than 4 gigabytes to be created, it's as simple as that.

Why don't you right click on the C: drive in My Computer and select Properties for that disk you posted the image of. I'll faint dead away if it does not say NTFS.

 

[chicken pie]

hello,
i am thinking about reformatting my computer and i dont know if i should use FAT 32 or NTFS (currently useing NTFS) . i looked at everyones posts in this tread and im still not sure on what I should pick .
I mainly use my computer for playing games and surfing the internet and i also have a 120gig hard drive with win xp.
thanks
-chicken pie

 

[~Candy~]

Stick with NTFS.

 

[griffinspc]

NTFS, the only way to go. Hi Candy !!!