Understanding FAT and NTFS
FAT16: With the MS-DOS operating system, the FAT file system (FAT16 – to distinguish it from FAT32) was introduced in 1981 as a new way to organize and manage files on hard drives and floppy disks. However, as hard drive capacities rapidly increased, FAT16 revealed many limitations. With a 16-bit address space, FAT16 only supports up to 65,536 clusters on a partition, leading to significant space wastage (up to 50% for drives over 2 GB).
FAT32: Introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2 (OSR 2), FAT32 is considered an extended version of FAT16. By utilizing a 32-bit address space, FAT32 supports many more clusters on a partition, thus making better use of hard drive space. Additionally, FAT32 can support partition sizes from 2 GB up to 2 TB, and the maximum filename length has been expanded to 255 characters, quickly rendering FAT16 obsolete. However, FAT32 has the drawback of low security and fault tolerance. 
NTFS (New Technology File System): Introduced with the first version of Windows NT (which also supports FAT32), NTFS employs a 64-bit address space, allowing for independent resizing of clusters regardless of hard drive capacity. NTFS essentially eliminates the limitations associated with the number of clusters and maximum file sizes on a disk partition.
NTFS uses the Master File Table (MFT) instead of the familiar FAT table to enhance storage capabilities, file and folder security, and data encryption at the file level. Additionally, NTFS has high fault tolerance, allowing users to close a “non-responding” application without affecting other running applications. However, NTFS is not suitable for low-capacity drives (below 400 MB) and cannot be used on floppy disks.
Comparison between FAT32 and NTFS
NTFS is a far more advanced file system compared to FAT32. It possesses all the features of a modern file system that FAT32 lacks. Here are several reasons why you should consider using NTFS over FAT32:
– FAT32 does not support security features such as permission management and encryption like NTFS does. This is especially effective for Windows. With NTFS, you may not need to use encryption utilities or password-protect hidden folders, as these features are inherently available in NTFS, provided you know how to leverage them. Using external utilities not built into the operating system to manipulate the disk carries some risk.
– FAT32 has very poor recovery and fault tolerance capabilities compared to NTFS. Some argue that NTFS is not highly compatible with disk-checking or repair programs that users have long been accustomed to, making it inconvenient in the case of sector failure. However, NTFS can log operations that the operating system has performed on the data, allowing it to identify files affected by issues without needing to scan the entire file system, making the data recovery process more reliable and faster. This is a significant advantage that FAT32 does not offer.
When there is a sudden power loss, Windows 98, 2000, XP, etc., must rescan the disk upon reboot if it is formatted with FAT32. In contrast, when formatting a hard drive with NTFS, there is no need to rescan the disk because NTFS retains information about the integrity of the data written to the disk, allowing it to quickly determine if there are logical errors and, if so, the system can recover very simply and swiftly. FAT32, on the other hand, requires a much longer complete scan. A Windows 2000 or XP system will be much more stable if installed on a partition formatted with NTFS. Additionally, NTFS includes excellent disk checking and repair tools from Microsoft.
– NTFS can efficiently access and process compressed files just as easily as it does uncompressed files, which not only saves hard drive space but also extends the lifespan of the hard drive.
– Many people complain that they cannot access NTFS-formatted hard drives while using DOS, Windows 98, or Windows ME. However, DOS, Windows 98, and Windows ME are outdated, and the useful software from those systems is minimal.
– NTFS allows for user quotas, which is very handy for corporate systems. This is particularly useful for “silently” preventing children from copying inappropriate movies into their “secret” folders on the hard drive.
Furthermore, NTFS offers many advanced utilities for high-end users, such as “mount partition,” creating “hard links” to a file, and RAID support.
– If you have truly decided to choose NTFS as your file system, you can completely abandon FAT32 from now on. There are many utilities available to convert from FAT32 to NTFS for you to choose from. The most convenient option is to use utilities included in the widely popular Hiren’s Boot CD.
Nonetheless, FAT32 remains useful on very low-spec computers that can only run Windows 98. FAT16 and FAT32 are still used to format various types of memory cards since devices that accept memory cards, such as digital cameras and music players, have yet to be compatible with NTFS. FAT16 is always the top choice when you want to transfer data from a Windows computer to one running a different operating system, like Mac, for example. Most Macs today cannot recognize USB memory cards formatted with FAT32.
THUY KHANH
