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External Hard Drive Format Preference?

post #1 of 12
7/11/05 at 10:59pm
Thread Starter 
Is there a reason to favor either NTFS or FAT for an external HDD? I never had an external HDD before so I have not a clue. I was thinking FAT. For some reason I was thinking NTFS was just for the system volume. My system volume is NTFS.
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post #2 of 12
7/11/05 at 11:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMoreMrNiceGuy
Is there a reason to favor either NTFS or FAT for an external HDD? I never had an external HDD before so I have not a clue. I was thinking FAT. For some reason I was thinking NTFS was just for the system volume. My system volume is NTFS.
Besides the security and compression issues NTFS is a very recoverable file system since it maintains a log of transactions on the hard drive. The CHKDSK utility made use of in XP, which takes the place of the Scandisk utility used in previous versions of Windows on FAT16/32 systems, will check the consistency of various pointers within the directories, allocation and file tables. If an inconsistency is found, then transactions can be rolled back to a point where consistency is recovered. Multiple copies of the Master File Table are maintained.
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post #3 of 12
7/11/05 at 11:36pm
Thread Starter 
Don't be shy Happy, tell us what you think
Thanks for the input.

So, if I plug this NTFS external HDD into a FAT system, will I be able to read it?
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post #4 of 12
7/12/05 at 3:36am
However, NTFS is a propriatary file system specific to Microsoft. Other OS have trouble reading and writing to NTFS, so if you want to share files with people that have Mac or Linux it would be better to have FAT32 as both Mac and Linux can read/write to the FAT32 file system.



Edit: Just read your second question. If your primary volume is FAT32 on Windows XP or 2000, you will be able to read your NTFS formatted drive external drive w/o a problem. Other OS might be able to read, but not write to NTFS.
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post #5 of 12
7/12/05 at 7:21am
Thread Starter 
Thanks frog, that's what I was in the dark about. Whither I could read/write the NTFS external HDD from a FAT32 system volume.

I think I'll go NTFS. It's for my daughter to take to college next month. In the event she needs to move data to an incompatible system she can always use the 1GB flash drive or burn it
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post #6 of 12
7/12/05 at 7:29am
NTFS compatibilities (this is only what I remember, but hopefully won't be incorrect):
- Windows XP Home/Pro = Fully working
- Windows 2000 = Fully working
- Windows ME = Read-only
- Windows NT = None
- Windows 98/95 = None
- Mac = No idea
- Linux = Supported reading by Mandrake Linux, and probably other distributions too
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post #7 of 12
7/12/05 at 9:30pm
Windows NT only supports it's own version of NTFS, not the version in 2000 or XP.
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post #8 of 12
7/12/05 at 9:34pm
my external is in FAT32 for 1 reason and one reason only: LINUX COMPATIBLITY since the files stored on that drive get used on a linux box even more often than a Windows PC
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post #9 of 12
7/12/05 at 9:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labmouse
Windows NT only supports it's own version of NTFS, not the version in 2000 or XP.
Huh, didn't know that. What a crock. Can't imagine why so many folks dislike M$
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post #10 of 12
7/13/05 at 1:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMoreMrNiceGuy
Huh, didn't know that. What a crock. Can't imagine why so many folks dislike M$
What's your point? Windows NT 4.0 is almost 10 years old.

HFS+ is not supported under Mac OS 8.0 or older either. Technology evolves; you can't create a better file system and maintain a 20-year backward compatibility.
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post #11 of 12
7/13/05 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MagicRobin
What's your point? Windows NT 4.0 is almost 10 years old.

It wasn't 10 yrs old when 2000 was introduced.

Does Longhorn support XP or 2000?
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post #12 of 12
7/13/05 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NoMoreMrNiceGuy
It wasn't 10 yrs old when 2000 was introduced.
So? When Mac OS 8.1 introduced HFS+, they didn't create a patch to allow Mac OS 8.0 users to read HFS+. On the other side, Windows NT 4.0 with SP4 supports NTFS 5. So it's really a good trade-off. What are you complaining about?

Quote:
Does Longhorn support XP or 2000?
How can an operating system support another operating system? If your question was, "does Longhorn support NTFS 5", then the answer's yes. Longhorn won't introduce any new file system; remember that WinFS is not a file system.
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