NTFS or fat32 for external HD

[Woodchuck]

Just wonder if I should, and how to convert my external 120g hard drive to
NTFS
before it gets used. Is NTFS more efficient for managing space? I know fat32
has 32k clusters which produced a lot of unused space as I see files which
are on 10k taking a full 32k cluster. How does NTFS deal with this? BTW, I'm
running XP.

Thanks

 

[Rod Speed]

Just wonder if I should, and how to convert my external 120g hard drive
to NTFS before it gets used. Is NTFS more efficient for managing space?

Not really.

I know fat32 has 32k clusters

That varys with the partition size.

which produced a lot of unused space as I see
files which are on 10k taking a full 32k cluster.

Sure, but what matters is how many of those you have on a 120GB drive.

How does NTFS deal with this?

Better, but has extra overheads elsewhere.

And if you dont backup whats on that drive religiously, there are a
lot more free data recovery programs around for fat32 than for ntfs.

BTW, I'm running XP.

Or its running you.