NTFS and FAT32 are two different types of file systems. File system decides how data is stored and retrieved. File system separates data to pieces and gives a name to each piece, otherwise we don’t know the location of our files saved in a storage medium.
There are many types of file systems such as FAT12/16/32, exFAT, NTFS. But today I want to put the emphasis on NTFS and FAT32. I will explain what is NTFS and what is FAT32. More importantly, the features of each file system.
NTFS is an acronym for New Technology File System. Introduced by Microsoft in 1993, NTFS is the file system by default of the Windows NT family.
The theoretical maximum volume size of NTFS is 264 clusters − 1 cluster (format); 256 TB − 64 KB (implementation). As to the largest file size, it is 16 EiB – 1 KB (format);16 TB – 64 KB (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or earlier implementation); 256 TB – 64 KB (Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 or later implementation). Well, I think your files will not be so large. With NTFS file system, you don’t need to worry problem that you cannot save a high definition movie.
NTFS is supported by Windows NT 3.1 and later versions. When it comes to operating system including Mac OS X 10.3 and some Linux kernel versions, NTFS is read-only instead of fully read or write.
NTFS is a journaling file system which can guarantee the data’s consistency when circumstance like system crash happens. Specifically, it uses log file and checkpoint information to make file system consistent automatically.
Users can set access permissions for shared resources, folders, and files on NTFS partition. It contains two parts. The first one is to set who can be allowed to access folders, files and shared resources. The second one is what can be visited.
NTFS adopts smaller cluster in comparison with FAT32. In this way, disk space can be managed effectively.
Compared with NTFS, FAT32 is an older file system, at the same time, the most common version of the FAT (File Allocation Table) file system. The birth of FAT32 is to break down the volume size limit of FAT16.
FAT32 supports up to a single file with 4GB. What does it mean? If you want to save a large file more than 4 GB, you cannot save it on a FAT32 partition. And the maximum volume size of FAT32 is 2 TB with 512 byte sector. If you want to use a 3 TB drive, you cannot format it as FAT partition.
Related Article: What Is FAT32 Partition Size Limit and How to Break It?
As for compatibility, FAT32 is compatible with all Windows versions, Mac OS, Linux, games consoles and bootable disk for it is a simple file system. It has better compatibility.
FAT32 is not a journaling file system. Therefore, file system corruption happens more frequently. This point is not as good as NTFS.
The cluster of FAT32 is larger than NTFS. For example, the cluster is 4 kb when a FAT32 partition’s size is 2 GB to 8 GB in Windows 2000, and 8kb when the size is 8 GB to 16 GB. While as regard NTFS, the cluster is 4 kb as long as the partition size is the range of 2 GB to 2 TB. This avoids the waste of disk space.
As we can see, NTFS is more robust and secure. You can use NTFS for Windows system drive and system partition.
Click here to get How Can You Convert FAT32 to NTFS without Losing Data.
In this post, I explain what is NTFS and what is FAT32 and their own features. Choose a suitable one as your file system.
Server Partiton Manager Copyright (C) 2009 - 2014 www.server-partition-manager.com, All Rights Reserved.