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Thread: Fat vs NTFS which wins?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
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    Dec 2001
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    Question Fat vs NTFS which wins?

    I am wondering what is the difference between fat and ntfs. I remember a lil while back i found in my start menu and fat to ntfs converter. I never used this because i never thought i needed it. Of course it dissappeared somehow so i don't know where i can get it. I run a dual boot system with win 98 and xp on it. If i wanted to could i change my file system and still use win98 would that be possible.
    Thanks all,
    XPaCiScOoL

    [glowpurple]\"Your Smallest Flaw is my greatest Strength.\" - Me[/glowpurple]

  2. #2
    AO French Antique News Whore
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    If Win98 and XP are on different disk or partition, you can change the partition who hold XP in NTFS. But that mean that Win98 will not be able to read everything that is on the NTFS file system. If you're Win98 DO NOT need to acces data on the XP partition, I suggest turning in NTFS because NTFS is much better. It read data from disk faster, it include security build-in for very file and encryption. But if you NEED Win98 to acces date on the XP partition, leave everything in FAT 32.
    -Simon \"SDK\"

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    Dec 2001
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    I have Win98 and xp on the same partition. Too bad, i really would have liked to tryy it out Thanks for clearing up my question.
    XPaCiScOoL

    [glowpurple]\"Your Smallest Flaw is my greatest Strength.\" - Me[/glowpurple]

  4. #4
    Antionline Herpetologist
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    XPaciscool, just in case you do decide to convert your partition to NTFS, here's what you do:
    Open a command prompt.
    Type convert c: /fs NTFS
    Pick yes when it asks you whether you want to schedule the conversion
    Reboot.
    Sit back and watch your FAT partition get converted to NTFS
    Cheers,
    cgkanchi

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
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    you can switch to NTFS its supposed to be more secure, but ms-dos isnt usable, which i dont think is very good, and most programs that are labeled "win95/98" are unusable in an NTFS filesystem. but like SDK said you can just convert the xp partiition to NTFS. keep the other at FAT32.
    all work and no play makes bios a dull boy

  6. #6
    Originally posted here by cgkanchi

    Type convert c: /fs NTFS

    A quick correction... your forgot the : between /fs and NTFS.. it is convert c: /fs:NTFS...

  7. #7
    xpaciscool,
    there is a driver "NTFS for dos version 3 "
    version 3 uses ntfs5 (for win2k and xp) there's also version 2 which only reads ntfs4 (= nt4)
    It enables you to READ your ntfs partition in windows 98.
    you won't be able to BOOT from a partition using ntfs with this driver though..
    who knows?

  8. #8
    Senior Member
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    Dec 2001
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    Well, I was just reading this PC Mag (APC) about a week ago and this is what they said:

    "XP gives you two major choices of the file systems depending on what you want to use them for. In short, you should use NTFS for stability and security, and FAT32 for speed. If you're more concerned with not losing critical data and with being able to secure files and folders against prying eyes, use the NTFS disk format. If you want speed, use FAT32. For best results, you can mix and match formats on a per-disk or per-partition basis: NTFS for your system partition, FAT32 for your scratch disks."

    I never knew NTFS was good for security - would anyone know how it improves security??

    Greg
    \"Do you know what people are most afraid of?
    What they don\'t understand.
    When we don\'t understand, we turn to our assumptions.\"
    -- William Forrester

  9. #9
    NTFS Gives you the ability to encript files and also setup users/permitions to view files and folders that you would not be able to do with Fat

  10. #10
    Actually, in XP you can enable that security, even with a FAT32 FS. . .
    In control Panels, open FOLDER OPTIONS, click the second tab, and UNCHECK "simple file sharing"

    you will have that security tab.


    BE WARNED:
    Though this provides a bit of security in XP, i am pretty sure that it can be circumvented through any other OS. . .

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