FAT, FAT 32, etc.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mail Man Bob
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M

Mail Man Bob

Hey, I'm about a dumb as they come on FAT's. I'm using W2000 and the hard drive is FAT32. A thumb drive is FAT.....

What's the best type of file system to use with Win2000? If FAT32 is not that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there something out there better?

Thanks!

Bob
 
Hey, I'm about a dumb as they come on FAT's. I'm using W2000 and the hard
drive is FAT32. A thumb drive is FAT.....

What's the best type of file system to use with Win2000? If FAT32 is not
that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there
something out there better?

Thanks!

Bob
===============
FAT/FAT32 is the file system used by DOS/Win9x. While
Win2000/XP can access FAT partitions, its native (and
preferred) file system is NTFS.
 
NTFS is the native file system of Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista and is
always recommended.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Hey, I'm about a dumb as they come on FAT's. I'm using W2000 and the hard
drive is FAT32. A thumb drive is FAT.....

What's the best type of file system to use with Win2000? If FAT32 is not
that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there
something out there better?

Thanks!

Bob
 
Thanks, MVP and Dave. Since I've got W2000 running on FAT32, what's the advantage to me of switching to NTFS?
 
Now may not be the time to consider unless you're planning on a clean
install. Windows 2000 includes the convert.exe utility that allows you to
convert to NTFS without any loss of data. The downside to this is you'll end
up with 512 byte clusters which is pretty inefficient, slow, and more prone
to fragmentation. The overhead of traversing a greater number of clusters to
retrieve and commit data will result in a degradation in file system (or
disk I/O) performance. Best to choose NTFS at the time of install.

You can use NTFS compression to compress individual files and folders, as
well as an entire NTFS volume. You can compress a folder without compressing
its contents. You can work with NTFS-compressed files without decompressing
them, because they are decompressed and recompressed without user
intervention.

This may also help.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...bd32-4786-a849-03245d68d8e41033.mspx?mfr=true


If you plan on the clean install here are the steps. To do a clean install,
either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup disks. The set of four
install disks can be created from your Windows 2000 CD-Rom; change to the
\bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos) or
makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *F6* very early and very
important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive
controller detection, and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later
you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver
for your drive controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, MVP and Dave. Since I've got W2000 running on FAT32, what's the
advantage to me of switching to NTFS?
 
Thanks, Dave! I'll save your post for when I reinstall. Many thanks.

You may have answered it but I'm pretty slow to catch these things....

What's the big advantage of NTFS over FAT on a new install?

Bob

Dave Patrick said:
Now may not be the time to consider unless you're planning on a clean
install. Windows 2000 includes the convert.exe utility that allows you to
convert to NTFS without any loss of data. The downside to this is you'll end
up with 512 byte clusters which is pretty inefficient, slow, and more prone
to fragmentation. The overhead of traversing a greater number of clusters to
retrieve and commit data will result in a degradation in file system (or
disk I/O) performance. Best to choose NTFS at the time of install.

You can use NTFS compression to compress individual files and folders, as
well as an entire NTFS volume. You can compress a folder without compressing
its contents. You can work with NTFS-compressed files without decompressing
them, because they are decompressed and recompressed without user
intervention.

This may also help.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...bd32-4786-a849-03245d68d8e41033.mspx?mfr=true


If you plan on the clean install here are the steps. To do a clean install,
either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup disks. The set of four
install disks can be created from your Windows 2000 CD-Rom; change to the
\bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos) or
makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *F6* very early and very
important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive
controller detection, and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later
you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver
for your drive controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, MVP and Dave. Since I've got W2000 running on FAT32, what's the
advantage to me of switching to NTFS?
Click to expand...
 
Biggest? Reliability. Check the link I posted.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, Dave! I'll save your post for when I reinstall. Many thanks.

You may have answered it but I'm pretty slow to catch these things....

What's the big advantage of NTFS over FAT on a new install?

Bob
 
Thanks, but that's way over my head. This keeps refering to Windows Server 2003 and I'm just using W2000.

I know that FAT and NTFS are both file managements systems, but is there any noticable advantage to using NTFS with W2000? By 'stability' what do you mean - in laymans terms?

Thanks again.

Bob

Dave Patrick said:
Now may not be the time to consider unless you're planning on a clean
install. Windows 2000 includes the convert.exe utility that allows you to
convert to NTFS without any loss of data. The downside to this is you'll end
up with 512 byte clusters which is pretty inefficient, slow, and more prone
to fragmentation. The overhead of traversing a greater number of clusters to
retrieve and commit data will result in a degradation in file system (or
disk I/O) performance. Best to choose NTFS at the time of install.

You can use NTFS compression to compress individual files and folders, as
well as an entire NTFS volume. You can compress a folder without compressing
its contents. You can work with NTFS-compressed files without decompressing
them, because they are decompressed and recompressed without user
intervention.

This may also help.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo...bd32-4786-a849-03245d68d8e41033.mspx?mfr=true


If you plan on the clean install here are the steps. To do a clean install,
either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup disks. The set of four
install disks can be created from your Windows 2000 CD-Rom; change to the
\bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos) or
makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

(Note: If your drive controller is not natively supported then you'll want
to boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom. Then *F6* very early and very
important (at setup is inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive
controller detection, and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later
you'll be prompted to insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver
for your drive controller in drive "A")

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en



--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, MVP and Dave. Since I've got W2000 running on FAT32, what's the
advantage to me of switching to NTFS?
Click to expand...
 
Windows 2000 has been deprecated hence the references to newer versions of
Windows. The biggest advantage is reliability. Will you notice this
immediately? No probably not.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, but that's way over my head. This keeps refering to Windows Server
2003 and I'm just using W2000.

I know that FAT and NTFS are both file managements systems, but is there any
noticable advantage to using NTFS with W2000? By 'stability' what do you
mean - in laymans terms?

Thanks again.

Bob
 
Mail said:
Hey, I'm about a dumb as they come on FAT's. I'm using W2000 and the hard drive is FAT32. A thumb drive is FAT.....

What's the best type of file system to use with Win2000? If FAT32 is not that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there something out there better?

Thanks!

Bob
Click to expand...
It depends on what you are doing and the size of your drives. While NT
can handle much larger drives it is also not backward compatible to
Win9x versions. There was a similar problem when moving from Fat16 to
Fat32. Win3x would not read the F32 system. If you are running any
older OS's on that machine, including some older Linux flavors, F32
would be a good share format. If you are only running the one OS and
have, or are anticipating, very large drives NT would be a better
choice. Remember also that W2k also has its own drive size limitations
depending on the way you have it setup.

For your thumb drive I would stick with F32 so it will work with a
larger selection of systems.

If you google Fat32, NTFS, very large hard drives, hard drive
partitioning, windows 2000, etc. you will get a wealth of information.
Wikipedia has a great deal of information as well.

For the record I am running W98se, W2kpro & a couple of Linux versions
on various machines and run Fat32 on all. Win95 & 3.1 are lurking on a
couple of machines as well. For sharing you can run NTFS on a W2k+
machine and still share with a W3x, 9x, Linux machine as well since the
local OS is what is reading the local file. I use F32 so drives can be
moved from machine to machine in the event of a mobo failure.

James
 
Thanks, but what is meant by reliability? Does that mean fewer crashes or what? I seldom have any trouble with W98 or W2000 with regards to file handling.
 
Thanks, James, that's great info. The problem I have is I'm using basic low-end programs and the usual word, excel, etc. No video, animation, etc. So I'm not sure that it makes any difference to me what the file systems is. Does that sound correct?

Bob
 
You don't seem to want to do any reading or research for yourself. Yes, I'd
stick with what you have. It probably won't make a dimes difference to you.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Thanks, but what is meant by reliability? Does that mean fewer crashes or
what? I seldom have any trouble with W98 or W2000 with regards to file
handling.
 
Dave Patrick said:
You don't seem to want to do any reading or research for yourself. Yes, I'd
stick with what you have. It probably won't make a dimes difference to you.
Click to expand...

Correct! I'm not that interested in computers - only from the stand point of getting the best use out of 'em. It takes me weeks to change a hard drive, so I just have to rely on expert advice, which I really appreciate from you on this!

Bob
 
Then for future installations I'd choose NTFS file system.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
Correct! I'm not that interested in computers - only from the stand point
of getting the best use out of 'em. It takes me weeks to change a hard
drive, so I just have to rely on expert advice, which I really appreciate
from you on this!

Bob
 
Mail said:
Thanks, James, that's great info. The problem I have is I'm using basic low-end programs and the usual word, excel, etc. No video, animation, etc. So I'm not sure that it makes any difference to me what the file systems is. Does that sound correct?

Bob
Click to expand...
Using low-end programs is not a problem it can be a blessing. I also
run similar programs with no games, video, music, etc. This is why I am
still running F32 even on the machine I am using as a server. It has
not failed me so I really don't have the inclination to change.
Someday, far into the future at least a few years, I may change but
there will have to be a compelling reason other than general hype. Just
watch for drive size limitations with whatever you are running. By the
end of next year we will likely not be able to find any drives much
under a terabyte and then we will both be in trouble if we have a drive
failure. Until then if it works run it. By then I will likely be 95%
Linux anyway so M$, along with all its hype, will be irrelevant to my needs.

James
 
I chose to keep my files FAT32 when i loaded in win 2000 over the existing
win 98SE files. I did have F32 files on a partitioned 320 GB HD that
remained F32.
then i bought a new HD, WD250 GB. and placed it too off of a Sabrent PCI
Cntrlr
card.
i used WDs Ontrack s/w to fdisk/format it hoping to make that FAT32 as well,
but it would not allow FAT32 past 25 GB and auto changed to NTFS.

i tried to convert it back
convert K: /fs:fat32 /v
didn't work.
before i add any files to this drive, is there anyway to do this as i am
concerned with mixing the 2 types of files on one computer, or copying to
another computer running win 98SE. Or, do i have to worry at all about
that?
comments?

ssome
Seattle

not that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there
something out there better?
 
got it, thanks, Meinholf

ssome

ssome said:
I chose to keep my files FAT32 when i loaded in win 2000 over the existing
win 98SE files. I did have F32 files on a partitioned 320 GB HD that
remained F32.
then i bought a new HD, WD250 GB. and placed it too off of a Sabrent PCI
Cntrlr
card.
i used WDs Ontrack s/w to fdisk/format it hoping to make that FAT32 as well,
but it would not allow FAT32 past 25 GB and auto changed to NTFS.

i tried to convert it back
convert K: /fs:fat32 /v
didn't work.
before i add any files to this drive, is there anyway to do this as i am
concerned with mixing the 2 types of files on one computer, or copying to
another computer running win 98SE. Or, do i have to worry at all about
that?
comments?

ssome
Seattle


not that bad, I'll stick with it to avoid the 'learning curve', but is there
something out there better?
Click to expand...
 
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