[ayds]

Last year I had to reformat my hard drive. I have a dell computer with xp preinstalled. When I reformatted, Dell had me install the fat 32 file system.
I have heard that the NTFS file system is better for XP. Is there any reason that I should switch it? Would it make my system run better?

 

[viperben1]

personally i dont think it makes the computer run any better. it simply adds features to the computer for system administrators that arnt in the fat32 file system. if the computer runs on fat32 well and you have no need to reformat your computer i wouldnt do it just for this but if you need to certainly do it will only be an advantage. nothing will stop working because of it.

thankyou

any problems Email me on [email protected]

 

[ayds]

personally i dont think it makes the computer run any better. it simply adds features to the computer for system administrators that arnt in the fat32 file system. if the computer runs on fat32 well and you have no need to reformat your computer i wouldnt do it just for this but if you need to certainly do it will only be an advantage. nothing will stop working because of it.

thankyou

any problems Email me on [email protected]

Thank you, I will just leave it the way it is.If I ever have to reformat , I will change it then. Thanks again!

 

[Sketchs]

Thank you, I will just leave it the way it is.If I ever have to reformat , I will change it then. Thanks again!

Don't purposely go out of your way to change it But if the chance arrises and you need to format, go with NTFS. Depending on how big your HDD is. But I'm sure you have a big HDD, so go w/ NTFS

 

[MastiffShack]

After reviewing some documentation on the matter from MS and other sources, this was the findings:

1. NTFS is faster because it manages the MFTs (Master File Tables) better. It does this by permitting "indexes" to your data to be spread through out your drive, thereby providing a faster acquisition/load of files and software.
2. NTFS is more fault tollerent. This means that there are fewer lost chains and/or overlapped files (they still occur, but with less frequency).
3. NTFS reports on the status of an object more accurately. This means that when the object starts to decay and/or is corrupted by overlapping, it is better able to "decide" which file is priority and to correct the issue. (FYI: Files will decay after a very long period of inactivity - generally 18-24 months since they do not get "rewritten" due to updates and/or moves of the file. NTFS recognizes this and helps to keep the files "current".)
4. FAT32 is just an extension of FAT. This means that the problems that occur in FAT are migrated to FAT32 (not all, but many). To maintain a > 8 character file name, the FAT32 has to maintain the data in multiple locations, and not often in the same sector/cluster, thereby increasing demand on disk I/O. NTFS attempts to maintain the file "header" data in one location so that file I/O is kept to a minimum.

Anyway, that's what I've read and been told by those that supposed to "know".

If I'm wrong, please enlighten me - I certainly want to improve my knowledge.

- Jim

 

[ayds]

Thank you for the info. I read on how to switch it in microsofts web page & it looks pretty easy but everytime i try to do something like this myself i manage to mess it up.Should I have dell help me or is it safe to follow microsofts instructions? Thank you.

 

[crjdriver]

The convert command in xp works pretty well; much better than the one for win2k. If you want to use ntfs, then you can do the convert yourself it is pretty easy. If your computer is running fine now, I would leave it alone until you need to format / clean install the os. Then use ntfs.

 

[MastiffShack]

I went through the conversion from FAT32 to NTFS on my Winodws XP HE; and also on a system running Windows XP Pro. Both worked great. However, I've worked with computers of all types for 30 years.

For me, I would agree with crjDriver. For general purpose filing (taxes, word, excel, etc.) FAT32 is acceptable. Only when you begin to perform large (high volume) system utilization would NTFS make a noticable impact and therefore be worth the effort of converting from FAT32 to NTFS. If your comfortable with FAT32 for now, I'd coast along. As your disk becomes more utilized and/or a reload of the OS becomes necessary, only then is the conversion necessary.

- Jim

 

[ayds]

Thank you,