WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NTFS AND FAT 32 FILE SYSTEMS

HOW DO  YOU THINK YOUR DATA IS STORED , MANAGED AND ORGANIZED ON DISKS? A PHYSICAL DISK CAN JUST DO 0'S OR 1'S AND IT IS THE FILE SYSTEM THAT GIVES MEANING TO SUCH DATA . WHEN PEOPLE SAY THAT THEIR DISK IS NTFS OR FAT, IT ACTUALLY REFERS TO THE FILE SYSTEM THAT'S BEING USED BY THE COMPUTER OR MORE APPROPRIATELY , THE OPERATING SYSTEM.

TODAY WE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAT32 AND NTFS FILE SYSTEM USED BY WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEMS.THIS INFORMATION MAY HELP YOU IN CHOOSING THE RIGHT SYSTEM AS PER YOUR REQUIREMENTS.

BASIC DEFINITION
 FAT STANDS FOR FILE ALLOCATION TABLE AND FAT32 IN EXTENSION WHICH MEANS THAT DATA IS STORED  IN CHUNKS OF 32 BITS. THESE IS AN OLDER TYPES OF FILE SYSTEM THAT ISN'T COMMONLY USED THESE DAYS.
 NTFS STANDS FOR NEW TECHNOLOGY FILE SYSTEM AND THIS TOOK OVER FROM FAT AS THE PRIMARY FILE SYSTEM BEING USED IN WINDOWS.
INDEED, BEFORE  MAKING A CHOICE YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR CAPABILITIES.THE TABLE BELOW WILL GIVE YOU A ROUGH IDEA OF THE FEATURES AND  RESPECTIVE SUPPORT.

 

DESCRIPTION OF FEATURES

FEW OF THE THINGS HERE ARE SELF EXPLANATORY . SO, I WILL EXPAND THOSE WHICH REQUIRE  DESCRIPTION.

FAULT TOLERANCE

NTFS MAINTAINS A LOG OF DISK CHANGED AND IN CASE OF POWER FAILURE OR ABRUPT ERRORS IT REPAIRS THE FILES AND FOLDERS AUTOMATICALLY  WITHOUT THE USER BEING NOTIFIED ANYTHING .FAT32 MAINTAINS TWO DIFFERENT COPIES OF THE FILE  ALLOCATION TABLE AND USES A BACK UP MECHANISM IF SOME DAMAGE OCCURS.

SECURITY

IN FAT 32  YOU WILL HAVE TO DEPEND ON SHARE PERMISSION FOR SECURITY . THIS MEANS THAT THEY ARE GOOD IN THE NETWORK BUT LOCALLY THEY ARE VULNERABLE.ON THE OTHER HAND NTFS  ALLOWS YOU TO SET PERMISSIONS ON LOCAL  FILES AND FOLDERS AS WELL.

COMPRESSION

FAT32 OFFERS NO COMPRESSION FEATURE WHATSOVER. WHILE  NTFS LETS YOU COMPRESS FILES AND FOLDERS INDIVIDUALLY SO THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SLOW DOWN THE SYSTEM BY DEPENDING ON PARTITION COMPRESSION.

CONVERSION

YOU MAY EASILY CONVERT A FAT32 SYSTEM TO NTFS . BUT THE REVERSE IS NOT TRUE BECAUSE NTFS FOLLOWS A SECURE PROTOCOL .SO, THE ONLY OPTION HERE IS TO BACKUP YOUR DATA AND FORMAT THE DISK.  

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