Formatting Hard Drive

[TacitCracker]

When installing XP you have an option to format NTFS (Quick) or NTFS. What is the diffrence between them?

 

[Geoff]

NTFS (Quick) and NTFS are the same format, the only difference is that the NTFS (quick) does a quick format, vs the regular format which can take a very long time depending on your hard drive.

 

[34erd]

Where is FAT32 used?

 

[Ku-sama]

before NTFS, i heard something about the whole FAT16, FAT32, about how they cant use big harddrives at all or something

 

[SFR]

34erd:

Fat32 was introduced in Windows 95 SP2. It was an extension to FAT16 which had been used since MS-DOS in the early '80s.

Around same time as the 9x series began, Microsoft's primary focus was on their future OS (Windows NT) and it's new and improved (more security, better file compression and encryption) file system, NTFS.

Ku-sama:

If I am not mistaken there was a 2GB partition limitation to FAT16 & 32GB for Fat32.

 

[NeuromancerWGDD'U]

I know that that figure is wrong (the FAT32 limit). I believe that the FAT32 limit is 160 gig's. I had been running my FAT32 partition on a 100 gig hard drive for a while, and it had no problem at all recognizing all of it.

 

[HDR]

FAT32 has a 4Tb limit for partition size (or 2Tb). Most of the Maxtor one touch drives are running FAT32 (why, I do not know). FAT 32 has a file size limit of 2Gb which is no good for large files (obviously).

The answer to the original question, is that the quick format formats the drive by writing and testing the minimum amount on the drive. If you have the time, always use the slow format.

 

[Yeti]

Most of the Maxtor one touch drives are running FAT32 (why, I do not know).

Not everyone uses Windows

 

[NeuromancerWGDD'U]

I looked up a little bit o' info that explains some of what was said pertaining to FAT32. FAT32 theoretically has an eight terabyte partition limit, but from Windows 2000 forward it only allows you to make a FAT32 partition up to 32 gigs. If you were to partition a FAT32 drive in/through W98 you'd be able to make it the maximum partition size. Even though FAT32 can theoretically handle an 8 TB drive, the MBR partition tables will only allow partitions up to the size of 2 TB, so technically you'd only be able to make a 2 TB partition (the horror ). Files in FAT32 are limited to 4 GB.

 

[maroon1]

i voted for ntfs, but i don't see that there is difference between fat32 and ntfs, All are the same

 

[Geoff]

from Windows 2000 forward it only allows you to make a FAT32 partition up to 32 gigs.

Hmm... right now i have 34.3GB on my laptop and its FAT32

 

[kof2000]

ntfs is better than fat32 security-wise.

i remember formatting a 120gb hdd to fat32.

 

[mgoldb2]

i voted for ntfs, but i don't see that there is difference between fat32 and ntfs, All are the same

I have files on my computer bigger then 4GB believe me it makes a difference.

 

[diduknowthat]

If I am not mistaken there was a 2GB partition limitation to FAT16 & 32GB for Fat32.

huh? Fat32 can only partition to 32gigs? My old dell is formated Fat32 and its at 76.6 gigs...I'm probably just understanding it wrong.

 

[kof2000]

i did install a small fat32 partition on my raptor raid 0 just in case i need to reinstall windows xp again i will just boot xp from that partition, it even changed my d drive icon to an xp cd icon lol i can boot in does and run setup and is much faster only takes like 5-10 minutes to install the os instead of 30-45min. and i remember fat32 you can have a file bigger than 4gb. thats why you should upgrade if you have a dvd burner. or rip dvds alot.

 

[Geoff]

My computer teacher told us that FAT32 can support up to 10 terabytes (or something like that).

 

[gamerman4]

NTFS is also said to be harder to fragment so performance loss is less than the FAT systems.
Here, straight from microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp

For people too lazy to read it:
NTFS FILE maximum size: Theory(16 exabytes minus 1 KB (2^64 bytes minus 1 KB)
Actually Implemented (16 terabytes minus 64 KB (2^44 bytes minus 64 KB)
Obviously Microsoft probably can't make something the size of an exabyte but possibly in the future.
Maximum VOLUME Size
Theory: 2^64 clusters minus 1 cluster (18,446,744,073,709,551,615 clusters)
Actually Implemented: 256 terabytes minus 64 KB ( 2^32 clusters minus 1 cluster)
Files per volume 4,294,967,295

FAT32 max file size:
A FAT32 volume must have a minimum of 65,527 clusters. Windows XP Professional can format FAT32 volumes up to 32 GB, but it can mount larger FAT32 volumes created by other operating systems. Table 13.6 lists FAT32 size limits.

Maximum file size 4 GB minus 1 byte (2^32 bytes minus 1 byte)
Maximum volume size: 32 GB (implementation)

Other Advantages of NTFS:

Robust, reliable performance

* NTFS guarantees the consistency of the volume by using standard transaction logging and recovery techniques. In the event of a system failure, NTFS uses its log file and checkpoint information to restore the consistency of the file system when the computer is restarted.
* In the event of a bad-sector error, NTFS dynamically remaps the cluster containing the bad sector and allocates a new cluster for the data. NTFS also marks the cluster as bad and no longer uses it.

Built-in security features

* When you set permissions on a file or folder, you specify the groups and users whose access you want to restrict or allow, and then select the type of access. For example, you can let one group read the contents of a file, let another group make changes to the file, and prevent all other groups from accessing the file.
* The Encrypting File System (EFS) is the technology used to store encrypted files on NTFS volumes. After you encrypt a file or folder, you work with the encrypted file or folder just as you do with any other files and folders. However, an intruder who tries to access your encrypted files or folders is prevented from doing so, even if the intruder has physical access to the computer.

Supports large volumes

* Using the default cluster size (4 KB) for large volumes, you can create an NTFS volume up to 16 terabytes. You can create NTFS volumes up to 256 terabytes using the maximum cluster size of 64 KB. NTFS also supports larger files and more files per volume than FAT.
* NTFS manages disk space more efficiently than FAT by using smaller cluster sizes. For example, a 30-GB NTFS volume uses 4-KB clusters. The same volume formatted by using FAT32 uses 16-KB clusters. Using smaller clusters reduces wasted space on hard disks.

Designed for storage growth

* By enabling disk quotas, you can track and control disk space usage for NTFS volumes. You can configure whether users are allowed to exceed their limit, and you can also configure Windows XP Professional to log an event when a user exceeds a specified warning level or quota limit.
* To create extra disk space, you can compress files on NTFS volumes. Compressed files can be read and written by any Windows-based application without first being decompressed by another program.
* If you run out of drive letters or need to create additional space that is accessible from an existing folder, you can mount a volume at any empty folder on a local NTFS volume to create a mounted drive. Mounted drives make data more accessible and give you the flexibility to manage data storage based on your work environment and system usage.
* You can increase the size of most NTFS volumes by adding unallocated space from the same disk or from another disk. For more information about increasing the size of NTFS volumes, see "Disk Management" in this book.

Other advanced features found only on NTFS volumes

* Distributed link tracking maintains the integrity of shortcuts and OLE links. You can rename source files, move them to NTFS volumes on different computers within a Windows 2000 domain, change the computer name or folder name that stores the target — all without breaking the shortcut or OLE links.
* Sparse files consist of large, consecutive areas of zeroes. NTFS manages sparse files by tracking the starting and ending point of the sparse file, as well as its useful (non-zero) data. The unused space in a sparse file is made available as free space.
* The NTFS change journal provides a persistent log of changes made to files on a volume. NTFS maintains the change journal by tracking information about added, deleted, and modified files for each volume. Programs such as Indexing Service can take advantage of the change journal to boost search performance.
* Hard links are NTFS-based links to a file on an NTFS volume. By creating hard links, you can have a single file in multiple folders without duplicating the file. You can also create multiple hard links for a file in a folder if you use different file names for the hard links. Because all of the hard links reference the same file, applications can open any of the hard links and modify the file.

I guess for a FAT32 system of over 32GB you would have to use a partition manager program.

Enough info for you?

 

[NeuromancerWGDD'U]

Enough info for you?

That was my source of info on FAT32 and NTFS too!