FAT, FAT32 or NTFS

[Drone2903]

I would like your toughts on what is the best selection and why.

From our experiences here, fat32 beats fat in all aspect but while ntfs provides better security features, it run slower than fat32.

Comments ???

[Deity]

It depends on each situation. For security, I opt for NTFS, for speed and compatibility, I opt for FAT32.

[SubZero]

FAT16 - for DOS/Win3.1/Early versions of 95
FAT32 - 98/ME/Win2k(if you dual boot on the same partition or don't need security)
NTFS - NT Server/Win2k(if you need security and don't plan on dual booting w/ 9x on the same partition)

[Darren Wilson]

NTFS all the way as I don't use win9x O/S's. TBH I don't see any speed advantage using FAT32 over NTFS.

[Iridium x2]

I use both, NTFS and Fat32, on different machines. With NTFS it is a lot more stable but I am running Linux on another server, so I am running FAT32 there. Like the guys have said, if you are only going go run NT, then go with NTFS. Keep in mind to, that if you ever want to use that hard drive for anything else, formating NTFS is different then formating Fat32.

[supatech]

ntfs has TONS of advantages over fat32 and fat. Really it all depends on what operating system you want to use, and if you are dual booting between the two. WinNT 4 can't see fat32 so if you are dual booting you have to format your 98, or 95, to fat16. And fat32 can't see ntfs. Windows Win2000 fixes half the problem ntfs v5 can see fat32. Plus it supports file encryption, compression, user and file level security and disc quota's

can't beat that with a stick

[Drone2903]

Originally posted by Darren Wilson:
NTFS all the way as I don't use win9x O/S's. TBH I don't see any speed advantage using FAT32 over NTFS.

I do. on identical pc, when in ntfs, the system is about 15 to 20 % slower than fat32.

Doesnt matter if index is on or off.
(tried on different pc, laptops, same results. average machine: PIII, 500mhz, 128m Ram, 20Go hd )

Seems that the swap file takes longer to acces in ntfs.

Dont know why...

[Darren Wilson]

On the benchmarks that I ran last night, the NTFS drive was actually 9% faster than what it was as FAT32.

I am not going to bother to do benchmarks anymore as I am sick of formatting & reinstalling just to prove something.