What are the advantages of FAT over NTFS?
Performs faster on volumes ~10GB and less.
Works well with small disk cache and system cache (less than 96MB systems).
What are the disadvantages of FAT?
Gets slower as the number of files on a partition increases.
Slows as volume size increases, because drive must constantly reference the file allocation table at the beginning of the volume.
Tends to highly fragment files.
What are the advantages of NTFS over FAT?
Is the native file system for WinNT/2k/XP.
Allows indexing which improves file searching (mostly, faster); causes slight performance hit (can turn off).
Has better security -- such as file-wise encryption (not supported by WinXP home) and per-user access rules (you can stop your gf/wife from seeing the porn folder!)
Supports user quotas (prevent the tykes from downloading too many mp3s)
Has file-wise compression.
Is journaled, decreasing data loss (ScanDisk at start up unnecessary).
Uses Unicode (allows foreign and extended character) file names and natively supports long file names.
Supports larger files than FAT (greater than 4GB).
Allows larger volume sizes (greater than 1TB) There is talk about a theoretical limit of 16 Exabytes, and up to 2 Terabytes.
Supported format on dynamic disks (no dynamic disks on WinXP Home).
Works well with large cache (greater than 96MB systems).
Performs better on volumes ~20GB and more.
Is more space-efficient on large volumes (greater than 8GB).
Resistant to fragmentation.
What are the disadvantages of NTFS?
Suffers with small cache (less than 96MB systems).
Suffers with slow disks and controllers.
Is less space-efficient on small volumes (less than 4GB).
Should I use FAT or NTFS? Which is faster?
Some people report FAT is faster than NTFS; others report that NTFS is faster than FAT. Compare your system specs and needs with the advantages and disadvantages of each file system.
Comfort level is important -- if you are apprehensive about using NTFS, then do not put your important files on it! You can always convert from FAT to NTFS later. Try NTFS on a spare partition first, if possible.
Consider FAT if you have:
Less than 96MB of memory
A "slow" disk (less than 5400RPM) and/or controller (slower than ATA/33)
A volume of 10GB or less
A volume you want to use with a Win9x OS
Consider NTFS if you:
Have a volume of 20GB or more
Have 128MB or more system memory
Will have a large number of files and folders (greater than 100,000 total)
Use files greater than 4GB in size
Use dynamic disks/soft RAID
Want faster file searches
Want greater file security
Want to control which files and directories users can see and use
Want to control how much disk space users can utilize
Want file compression
Want to improve data integrity
Want to use foreign/extended characters in file names
