Guidelines For Choosing a File System In Windows

After you create the installation partition, Setup prompts you to select the file system with which to format the partition. Windows XP Professional can be installed on two file  systems:

File allocation table (FAT): Although Windows Setup references only file allocation table (FAT), there are actually two versions of FAT: FAT and FAT32. FAT is a 16-bit file system used in older versions of Windows. FAT32 is a 32-bit file system supported by Windows 95 original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Service Release 2, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

Volume size:  Volumes from 512 MB to 2 terabytes.In Windows Vista, you can format a FAT32 volume only up to 32 GB. Cannot be used on floppy disks.

File size: Maximum file size 4 GB

Files per volume: Approximately 4,177,920 

New Technology File System NTFS: The preferred file system for Windows XP, NTFS provides more security and flexibility than FAT32. Microsoft recommends that you always use NTFS unless there is a specific reason to use another file system (such as when you are installing more than one operating system on a computer and one of those operating systems does not recognize NTFS partitions). NTFS is supported by Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Seven, Windows 2003 Server and Windows 2008 Server.

Operating system compatibility:  A computer running Windows  7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows XP can access files on an NTFS partition. A computer running Windows NT  4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later can access files on the partition, but some NTFS features, such as Disk Quotas, are not available. Other operating systems allow no access.

Tip: Unless you are installing Windows XP Professional on a multiple-boot computer that also has an operating system that cannot access NTFS partitions (such as Windows 98), you should always use NTFS.

Using NTFS

Use NTFS when the partition on which Windows XP Professional will reside requires any of the following features:

• File- and folder-level security: NTFS allows you to control access to files and folders.
• Disk compression: NTFS can compress files to store more data on the partition.
• Disk quota: NTFS allows you to control disk usage on a per-user basis.
• Encryption: NTFS allows you to encrypt file data on the physical hard disk by using the Microsoft Encrypting File System (EFS).

The version of NTFS in Windows XP Professional supports remote storage, dynamic volumes, and mounting volumes to folders. Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, Windows Seven, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000, and Windows NT are the only operating systems that can access data on a local hard disk formatted with NTFS.

Volume size: Recommended minimum volume size is approximately 10 MB. Recommended practical maximum for volumes is 2 terabytes. Much larger sizes are possible.  Cannot be used on floppy disks.

File size: Maximum file size 16 terabytes minus 64 KB (244 minus 64 KB)

Files per volume: 4,294,967,295 (232 minus 1 files)