FAT32 or NTFS?

[Comp625]

I am planning on installing XP Pro within the next few days. I know FAT32 is the File Allocation Table that Windows 9x/ME uses. What about NTFS? It sounds like Windows NT's File System? I'm a gamer so max performance is most appriciated. What are the pros and cons to using either FAT32 or NTFS with XP Pro?

Thanks in advance!

 

[fastman]

NTFS is shown to be faster and safer.

 

[Doh!]

Anand's FAQ re: FAT32 vs. NTFS

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Anand's FAQ re: FAT32 vs. NTFS >>



You rock.

 

[kerykeion]

<< NTFS is shown to be faster and safer. >>



I'd like to see the proof.

Faster is a a bit of a sweeping generalization. NTFS uses more system resources with its added features -- built-in security, disk compression, file encryption, etc. -- and so for gaming purposes, I would opt for FAT32. However, if you feel that you will benefit from any of the features that NTFS offers, use it. When it comes to speed, FAT32 and NTFS are about the same. Obviously, for a large volume greater than 32GB, NTFS is the only option to go.

And if you ever decide to multi-boot OSes, FAT32 will make things more easy.

 

[n0cmonkey]

<<

<< NTFS is shown to be faster and safer. >>



I'd like to see the proof.

Faster is a a bit of a sweeping generalization. NTFS uses more system resources with its added features -- built-in security, disk compression, file encryption, etc. -- and so for gaming purposes, I would opt for FAT32. However, if you feel that you will benefit from any of the features that NTFS offers, use it. When it comes to speed, FAT32 and NTFS are about the same. Obviously, for a large volume greater than 32GB, NTFS is the only option to go.

And if you ever decide to multi-boot OSes, FAT32 will make things more easy. >>



Ive seen benchmarks (dont remember where, sorry) that showed NTFS faster during some situations and FAT32 faster during others. For gaming, why bother with XP? Win98se should be just fine, and faster in general. Dualbooting with other OSes is probably the only good reason to use FAT32.

 

[agentK]

Dualbooting with other OSes is probably the only good reason to use FAT32.

i second that!

 

[neuralfx]

for even more opinions, do a search on this topic, you can use the verbatim topic you used .. and have a search all messages .. you will probably get tons of topics .. have fun ..
-neural

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< for even more opinions, do a search on this topic, you can use the verbatim topic you used .. and have a search all messages .. you will probably get tons of topics .. have fun ..
-neural >>



A few opinions and a great many flames

 

[Comp625]

<<

<<

<< NTFS is shown to be faster and safer. >>



I'd like to see the proof.

Faster is a a bit of a sweeping generalization. NTFS uses more system resources with its added features -- built-in security, disk compression, file encryption, etc. -- and so for gaming purposes, I would opt for FAT32. However, if you feel that you will benefit from any of the features that NTFS offers, use it. When it comes to speed, FAT32 and NTFS are about the same. Obviously, for a large volume greater than 32GB, NTFS is the only option to go.

And if you ever decide to multi-boot OSes, FAT32 will make things more easy. >>



Ive seen benchmarks (dont remember where, sorry) that showed NTFS faster during some situations and FAT32 faster during others. For gaming, why bother with XP? Win98se should be just fine, and faster in general. Dualbooting with other OSes is probably the only good reason to use FAT32. >>



Well I've seen benchmarks comparing games (such as Quake 3 Arena) in 98SE and XP and the performance is almost identical (according to the FiringSquad Benchmark Test that I saw). I'd like the extra stability provided with XP though. My system is also capable of handling XP very well. I have 512mb of RAM, I'd like to put em to good use (via XP) Plus it's been a while since I installed 98SE and formatted my drive. I can feel the sluggishness nowadays. Bootups take ages too...

AMD T-Bird 850
ASUS A7V
512mb PC133 SDRam
40gb HDD space
CL GeForce2 GTS
SB Live Value

 

[Comp625]

Oh and by the way, from the info I've gathered from my thread along with the FAQ made by Anand...I take it I should opt to go with Fat32 instead of NTFS? Here's what I'm planning to do with XP:

I plan on just booting straight into XP, bypassing that User Login screen. Myself and my Dad are the only ones who go on the computer. He goes on like what? Once every 2 weeks or so (cuz he has his own desktop that's networked with mine, downstairs). He also doesn't rage through my hard drive to see what I keep in it. So that priority access stuff that comes with NTFS is not needed.

I'm a huge gamer. Online multiplayer is the way to go for me. I heard that XP may lower your ping by 5 or 10ms because of better TCP/IP stacks or something? Is that true?

I may start diving into programming again. I was once decent with VB and my friend is encouraging me to program in Delphi. XP is more stable from what I've heard.

PS: I also know about the Net Tweak for XP where you turn off that feature that eats up 20% of your bandwith.

 

[Sunner]

One thing that definately WONT be affected by the filesystem is gaming performance.

What will be affected is filesystem performance(never saw that one comming huh?), copying, moving, deleting, etc, and with todays hardware and HD sizes, NTFS will be supperior in most cases.

I could see FAT16/32 being an option if you have an old crappy computer with a 2 GB HD, but not with todays hardware.

Look at it this way, there's a reason why MS is phasing FAT32 out.

 

[AndyHui]

Erm, I wrote that FAQ, not Anand.

If you are not going to dual boot, you should go with NTFS.

 

[Doh!]

I knew you wrote it Who has the copyright to the contents on AnandTech's website anyway?

 

[AndyHui]

AnandTech, Inc. the company owns the copyright.

 

[Slapstick]

One thing you might also consider is that FAT32 has a 4 gig file size limit. If you think you might want to try playing with video files or set up a TIVO type thing someday then NTFS is the only way to go.

 

[Comp625]

I manage ALOT of large files on a daily basis that involves moving stuff from 1 hard drive partition to another. I take it NTFS is the way to go performance wise, even if I don't need its extra features (like file access restrictions, etc)? Also, I do not plan on dual-booting. I don't run any programs that require me to boot back into Win9x/ME and I believe I am still unexperienced to give Linux (or any other O/S) a go.

Please note, I have a 40 gigger (split into 3 partitions, 20gb;10gb;10gb).

 

[kerykeion]

Although my first post discourages the use of NTFS for maximum performance because of its extra features ... In now think that you should go with NTFS and turn off the features that you won't be using to free up your system resources.

 

[jmorrell]

I found out one disadvantage of NTFS today - Norton Ghost 2002 can READ an NTFS partition or drive, it just can't WRITE an image to an NTFS partition or drive (According to Symantec, only the Ghost Corporate Version 7.5 can do that). I had just converted both my hard drives from FAT 32 to NTFS and wanted to create a new image file of my boot drive and save it to my other hard drive. In order for me to save the image to the second drive (used primarily for backup images and for some large data files only), I had to convert it to FAT 32. Just wish Symantec had made this clear on the outside of the box - you expect a product that is XP compatible to work with all the XP file systems.

 

[CTho9305]

NTFS is much safer.... after a bad shutdown (fat32) i ended up with a lot of broken stuff, but I never had issues when I used NTFS. next format (read: soon ) i'll be moving to NTFS, with a small (~2gig) fat32 partition for swapping files between OSes.

 

[oldfoof]

now think that you should go with NTFS and turn off the features that you won't be using to free up your system resources.

You can actully do this ? and how

 

[oldfoof]

bump

 

[AndyHui]

oldfoof: You don't really turn off the options as such. You simply do not use them. NOT using EFS, Encryption, etc, allows for faster performance.

 

[oldfoof]

Okies, Gotch ya!

IE ... File permissions and such?

 

[Bovinicus]

I don't know what all this gaming talk has to do with the filing system. Your disk subsystem has almost no impact on gaming. The only exception is in load times.