FAT32 vs NTFS

I have an Acer TravelMate 800LCI Centrino 1.3 GHz, 40GB w/ 512MB Ram.
XP-Home and XP-Office are installed. I have set up my home network w/ belkin
router between the laptop w/ mentioned configuration and a desktop w/ AMD
Athlon 800Mhz, 20GB, 512 MB Win98 SE connecting wireless and wired
respectively.

Laptop's HD is currently formatted as Fat32. I am considering to convert to
NTFS since Windows help states that it is a better one.

Just wondering if anyone w/ FAt32 converted to NTFS. Windows help says files
will remain intact after conversion, however I want to be sure of it.

Are there any disadvantages of doing so? Do I have to set up network again?
etc...

Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thx,

--
Tuncel Sunar
PS: To send email, REMOVE "NOSPAM" from the email address.

Tuncel

You can convert your file system to NTFS without losing any data or
settings at allat all. NTFS is a faster file system and will enable
you to encrypt your files and set special permissions on them if you
wish. If you run up Help and Support on your Win XP machine and type
in convert it will give you detailed instructions on how to do it.

Hope this helps




"Tuncel Sunar" wrote in message ...
I have an Acer TravelMate 800LCI Centrino 1.3 GHz, 40GB w/ 512MB Ram.
XP-Home and XP-Office are installed. I have set up my home network w/ belkin
router between the laptop w/ mentioned configuration and a desktop w/ AMD
Athlon 800Mhz, 20GB, 512 MB Win98 SE connecting wireless and wired
respectively.

Laptop's HD is currently formatted as Fat32. I am considering to convert to
NTFS since Windows help states that it is a better one.

Just wondering if anyone w/ FAt32 converted to NTFS. Windows help says files
will remain intact after conversion, however I want to be sure of it.

Are there any disadvantages of doing so? Do I have to set up network again?
etc...

Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thx,

The conversion is straightforward and you shouldn't have problems.

That said, personally, I'd stay with FAT32 unless you have a specific
reason to switch. If things go "bad", fixing a fat32 system is much
easier than fixing an NTFS system

When I do use NTFS is:

-if I need security (not typically in a home system)
-if I need a partition over about 16 to 32 gigs
-if I need individual files over 2 to 4 gigs (video, especially)

Otherwise, I prefer FAT32. I have seen no detectable performance
difference.


Tuncel Sunar wrote:
I have an Acer TravelMate 800LCI Centrino 1.3 GHz, 40GB w/ 512MB Ram.
XP-Home and XP-Office are installed. I have set up my home network w/ belkin
router between the laptop w/ mentioned configuration and a desktop w/ AMD
Athlon 800Mhz, 20GB, 512 MB Win98 SE connecting wireless and wired
respectively.

Laptop's HD is currently formatted as Fat32. I am considering to convert to
NTFS since Windows help states that it is a better one.

Just wondering if anyone w/ FAt32 converted to NTFS. Windows help says files
will remain intact after conversion, however I want to be sure of it.

Are there any disadvantages of doing so? Do I have to set up network again?
etc...

Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thx,

Barry Watzman wrote:
The conversion is straightforward and you shouldn't have problems.

That said, personally, I'd stay with FAT32 unless you have a specific
reason to switch. If things go "bad", fixing a fat32 system is much
easier than fixing an NTFS system

But things are much, much more likely to go bad with a FAT32 system. NTFS is immune to nearly all of
the filesystem damage than can happen to a FAT system. It was designed from the ground up to be
robust.

For more information:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+fat+robust

-Mike

Keep in mind that windows 98 cannot read ntfs partitions, but winxp can read
both. If you want your networked drives to see each other, make sure that
you either keep win98 or upgrade the 98 system to either 2000 or xp.

Joe

"Barry Watzman" wrote in message
...
The conversion is straightforward and you shouldn't have problems.

That said, personally, I'd stay with FAT32 unless you have a specific
reason to switch. If things go "bad", fixing a fat32 system is much
easier than fixing an NTFS system

When I do use NTFS is:

-if I need security (not typically in a home system)
-if I need a partition over about 16 to 32 gigs
-if I need individual files over 2 to 4 gigs (video, especially)

Otherwise, I prefer FAT32. I have seen no detectable performance
difference.


Tuncel Sunar wrote:
I have an Acer TravelMate 800LCI Centrino 1.3 GHz, 40GB w/ 512MB Ram.
XP-Home and XP-Office are installed. I have set up my home network w/
belkin
router between the laptop w/ mentioned configuration and a desktop w/
AMD
Athlon 800Mhz, 20GB, 512 MB Win98 SE connecting wireless and wired
respectively.

Laptop's HD is currently formatted as Fat32. I am considering to convert
to
NTFS since Windows help states that it is a better one.

Just wondering if anyone w/ FAt32 converted to NTFS. Windows help says
files
will remain intact after conversion, however I want to be sure of it.

Are there any disadvantages of doing so? Do I have to set up network
again?
etc...

Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thx,

Joseph Squires wrote:
Keep in mind that windows 98 cannot read ntfs partitions, but
winxp can read both. If you want your networked drives to see
each other, make sure that you either keep win98 or upgrade
the 98 system to either 2000 or xp.

I think there was a typo in there. Did you mean:

Keep in mind that windows 98 cannot read ntfs partitions, but
winxp can read both. If you want your networked drives to see
each other, make sure that you either keep *FAT32* or upgrade
the 98 system to either 2000 or xp.

If that's what you meant, it's not correct. When a machine accesses a share across the network, it
doesn't attempt to read that filesystem directly. The machine providing the shared folder takes care
of that.

A Win98 system can access shares on an NT/2000/XP NTFS partition, just as it can access shares on a
Linux system using any of the filesystems that Linux supports such as ext2.

-Mike

Make a backup with Nero on a cd, it would be better, so your system is
always safe.
"Michael Geary" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Barry Watzman wrote:
The conversion is straightforward and you shouldn't have problems.

That said, personally, I'd stay with FAT32 unless you have a specific
reason to switch. If things go "bad", fixing a fat32 system is much
easier than fixing an NTFS system

But things are much, much more likely to go bad with a FAT32 system. NTFS
is immune to nearly all of
the filesystem damage than can happen to a FAT system. It was designed
from the ground up to be
robust.

For more information:

http://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+fat+robust

-Mike

Make a backup with Nero on a cd, it would be better, so
your system is always safe.

Great minds think alike! :-)

As I mentioned in another thread, I have three identical hard drives for my
ThinkPad, one in the main drive bay and two mounted in second drive
adapters. Once or twice a week I use Ghost or Drive Image to clone the main
drive onto one of the backup drives, alternating between the two. So if
something goes wrong, I can just swap in a backup drive and be back up and
running in minutes.

I haven't had a case of serious filesystem damage in all the years I've been
running NTFS (unlike the years before when I ran FAT and had problems like
crosslinked files all too often). But I have had a hard drive or two fail,
and not even NTFS can protect against that.

-Mike

It's much easier to convert to NTFS than from NTFS to FAT32.

Recovery programs (unless I'm out-of-date) aren't happy with NTFS.


"Tuncel Sunar" wrote in message
news
I have an Acer TravelMate 800LCI Centrino 1.3 GHz, 40GB w/ 512MB Ram.
XP-Home and XP-Office are installed. I have set up my home network w/
belkin
router between the laptop w/ mentioned configuration and a desktop w/ AMD
Athlon 800Mhz, 20GB, 512 MB Win98 SE connecting wireless and wired
respectively.

Laptop's HD is currently formatted as Fat32. I am considering to convert
to
NTFS since Windows help states that it is a better one.

Just wondering if anyone w/ FAt32 converted to NTFS. Windows help says
files
will remain intact after conversion, however I want to be sure of it.

Are there any disadvantages of doing so? Do I have to set up network
again?
etc...

Any insight is highly appreciated.

Thx,

--
Tuncel Sunar
PS: To send email, REMOVE "NOSPAM" from the email address.

Ed Bigelow wrote:

It's much easier to convert to NTFS than from NTFS to FAT32.


Wont't Partion Magic go either way?

Phil