But i dont want NTFS!

M

MonkeyVsRobot

New Member
Hello,
Its always got to know that this forum is here to save me when i get in too deep!
Anyways.... I recently got a new external hard disk (120gb) and a hard disk enclosure. Ive put the HDD in the enclosure and hooked it up. Everything seems fine but when i try to create a new partition it asks me what 'file system to use'. Now, i dont really know the difference but the install guide tells me i want FAT32 but the only option available is NTFS.

Any ideas why i cant choose FAT32?

Anyhelp would be really appreciated.
 
Windows XP can't format to FAT32 (to my knowledge anyway, correct me if I'm wrong). I don't see why there would be a problem using NTFS unless the drive is going to interact with a win9x and winXP system
 
I am running WinXP but it says my internal harddisk are in FAT32. Well i think, im a bit out of my depth here. In the disk management, next to my hard disk it has two blocks one says 'Vaio (C:) 10.00 GB FAT32 Healthy (System)' and the other says 'Vaio (D:) 8.63 GB FAT32 Healthy'. I assume that means im in FAT32.
 
Yeah

Well I also use FAT32 instead of NTFS. The easiest way to format the whole HDD with FAT32 would be with a Windows ME / 98SE startup disk. Then run fdisk from there. This will format the whole thing. Windows XP can format with FAT32 but only 40 gigabytes max! So therefore if you, like me, wanna stick with FAT32 on all my drives, I suggest you use Fdisk and enjoy the good old FAT32. And one thing...keep in mind that FAT32 is best when under 40 gigs. SO create partitions. The easiest way ou is to format with NTFS I guess... and you will not need to worry about anything...except the cross OS compatibility issues.

JAN :D
 
Its starting to make sense. The reason i cant use FAT32 is because its a 120Gb harddisk that im trying to format. Its looking like the easiest thing is going to be to use NTFS. What sort of problems will that cause if my internal HDDs are FAT32?

Im only really going to use the external HDD to save music, films and to back up 'my documents'.
 
jancz3rt said:
Windows XP can format with FAT32 but only 40 gigabytes max!
Click to expand...

I believe it's 32gb max. Had this dilemma when I formatted a LaCie external hard disk that I needed to transport between PC and Mac. Macs can't write to NTFS, they can only read from it (using the latest Mac OS X).
 
Win Xp can run either fat32, or NTFS...the main difference between the two is security...mainly fat32 has none LOL you can use the convert tool to go from NTFS to FAT32...but I guess this doesn't work in your case.....the only way to change it is to format....there is nothing wrong with NTFS on winxp you will be fine
 
Once again you guys have done yourself proud! Thanks for all your help!
I eventualy went with NTFS on the external HDD and so far have had no problems!

Thanks again.
 
Great...

Yeah I still use FAT32 and although I know it's a bit outdated, it's a classic. I wanna have the same file system on all my drives for the sake of clarity I guess. LOL. The next comp I will get will have NTFS...or maybe the Longhorn file system, whatever it will be. Anyway...FAT32 is still good and I have an 80 gig HDD formated with it and works no problem. Don't see what the NTFS offers over FAT32 in ways other than security?

JAN :D
 
FAT32 has a file number limitation, I also find FAT32 takes an eon and a half to defrag while NTFS is somewhat quicker
 
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