FAT 32 in Windows XP

[Zedtom]

My girlfriend's company gave her an IBM Thinkpad T30. It has Windows XP installed on FAT 32. I thought FAT 32 was limited to 32 GB, but the hard drive says 36 GB capacity with 28GB unused.

Are these numbers reliable? Is FAT32 okay on XP?

UPDATE-

She talked to the IT people and they said that the system was formatted with FAT32 from the factory. They just installed Windows XP. They also mentioned something about a Novell login to get to the company network, and since there were units within the company still running Windows 98, that they use FAT32 until they can get the whole company modernized.

Seems kinda backwards to me, but that's how they run their company. Thanks to all who commented.

 

[bacillus]

Yes, XP works okay when installed on a FAT32 partition.
The hard disk was not partitioned and formatted with XP hence the 32GB FAT32 limit of using XP's setup did not come into play.

 

[Zedtom]

I am considering converting this drive to NTFS. Would this make a difference in performance?

 

[Continuity27]

FAT32 is fine unless you're dealing with large file sizes... like if you work with video content. Or if you deal with DVD images. You'll run into a 4GB file size limitation.

NTFS is also a bit faster today, it doesn't hurt to just convert it to NTFS.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Zedtom
I am considering converting this drive to NTFS. Would this make a difference in performance?

not to my knowledge

 

[Continuity27]

convert C: /fs:ntfs

(if C is the fat32 partition)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Don't do it if she doesn't own the laptop.

 

[Continuity27]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Don't do it if she doesn't own the laptop.

Good point. Ask her to ask the company IT manager whether or not she can have NTFS or not. I don't know why any company would have FAT32 on there in the first place though...

 

[Zedtom]

Yeah, I don't feel comfortable messing around with company property. If her IT people install their systems with FAT32, they must have a reason.

 

[Continuity27]

Originally posted by: Zedtom
Yeah, I don't feel comfortable messing around with company property. If her IT people install their systems with FAT32, they must have a reason.

Not necessarily. (They could just assume FAT32 is what they should use without having a real reason) I can't think of any reliable software that actually needs FAT32 today. Never hurts to ask though.

 

[Zedtom]

I'm going to have her talk to those guys. If they don't care, I'll do the conversion...but if I was in their shoes, I'd be thinking...does this girl know what she's doing? or, what the h*ll is this girl's boyfriend doing screwing around with our laptop?

 

[Continuity27]

Originally posted by: Zedtom
I'm going to have her talk to those guys. If they don't care, I'll do the conversion...but if I was in their shoes, I'd be thinking...does this girl know what she's doing? or, what the h*ll is this girl's boyfriend doing screwing around with our laptop?

As long as she works at home on it from time to time, it's otherwise hers to use. She obviously shouldn't abuse it, but I don't think an IT department would care who uses it and for what. As an IT person myself, I know that I don't care what my company does with their laptops... as long as it doesn't make my job harder. NTFS is not one of my concerns. Spyware would be though, if I were the one that had to clean it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Continuity27

Originally posted by: Zedtom
I'm going to have her talk to those guys. If they don't care, I'll do the conversion...but if I was in their shoes, I'd be thinking...does this girl know what she's doing? or, what the h*ll is this girl's boyfriend doing screwing around with our laptop?

As long as she works at home on it from time to time, it's otherwise hers to use. She obviously shouldn't abuse it, but I don't think an IT department would care who uses it and for what. As an IT person myself, I know that I don't care what my company does with their laptops... as long as it doesn't make my job harder. NTFS is not one of my concerns. Spyware would be though, if I were the one that had to clean it.

If it is their property, she should follow their rules. Those rules may include not modifying the system.

She should ask before modifying the system.

 

[Thorny]

Originally posted by: Continuity27

NTFS is also a bit faster today, it doesn't hurt to just convert it to NTFS.

I thought throughput was decreased by NTFS? If you test a FAT32 drive to a NTFS drive the FAT32 amost always has a 25% advantage. NTFS offers more reliability and security features. I'm not saying NTFS isn't a good system, I actually prefer it, but it is slower than FAT32

 

[stash]

I'm not saying NTFS isn't a good system, I actually prefer it, but it is slower than FAT32

Source?

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: STaSh

I'm not saying NTFS isn't a good system, I actually prefer it, but it is slower than FAT32

Source?

Oh man, I remember back when Windows 2000 was coming out, you could find so many sources for this that it was just accepted as common knowledge.

However, in real world performance, you only occasionally access the harddrive, so in reality everything isn't 25% slower. I don't see why any IT person would forego the advantages of NTFS. My guess is someone in the IT department is stuck in the Stone Age of FAT32 and is scared to try something different, or the manufacturer installed the system with FAT32.

 

[Nothinman]

I thought throughput was decreased by NTFS? If you test a FAT32 drive to a NTFS drive the FAT32 amost always has a 25% advantage. NTFS offers more reliability and security features. I'm not saying NTFS isn't a good system, I actually prefer it, but it is slower than FAT32

There is no way that NTFS is 25% slower, maybe 0-2%, but no more IMO. The only added overhead is security checks and I would imagine NT caches those to limit their affect on performance. In most other areas NTFS is a good bit faster.