NTFS or FAT32?

[shuzo]

Right so my PC has been playing up a bit lately, its a few years old now (can't exactly remember how old) and was passed on to me by my brother. I've currently got two partitions and they are both in the FAT32 format but I'm thinking of formatting my C: drive and installing windows XP again. I'm not sure if I should use the NTFS rather than FAT32 format? I've heard it's more secure but since I'm not on a network and no one else uses my pc I'm wondering if it's worth it?

So can anyone else tell me if there are any major benefits to using NTFS rather than FAT32 or should I keep it as it is?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[Commander Marklar]

NTFS. Its more "secure", works with larger drives and makes maintenance much easier (not that you'll notice much, 'cept for some permissions thing).

Here's something Google turns up:

http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

[shuzo]

Thanks for that Marklar, I've had a look at some of those articles already so seems like I will go for NTFS.

[Ginger Tosser]

To save reinstalling, run convert c: /FS:NTFS from the command prompt.

[shuzo]

Well I really want to format the drive to get rid of the stuff on there I don't need and I'm assuming converting won't really do that will it? I don't mind formatting, I think my PC needs it but thanks for the advice anyway.

[marcus]

Format away mate.

[yashiro]

Format and use NTFS.

[wod]

if you installing xp deffo use ntfs and make sure theres at least 256mb of ram as otherwise you'll notice how slow it will be

[mid]

NTFS, unless you're dual-booting. Linux is still a bit haphazard with writing to NTFS partitions, so I like keep a spare FAT32 partition around in case.

[randombs]

ntfs, as, among other things, you won't keep having those damn scandisk(chkdsk) boot-time scans after forcing your pc to switch off if it's crashed etc.

also, if you 'work' with big files, fat32 won't allow single files (eg. disc images) larger than 4gb, but ntfs does.

[shuzo]

Thanks for all the advice! So the deed is done and I have formatted my C drive into NTFS format, and the only thing I've noticed really, and this may be wrong (due to the fact that it is me saying it!) but it seems that my comp loads a lot quieter.

Other than that I'm glad to hear about the scandisk not having to run everytime the comp crashes (it does hav a tendecy too..) so thats good. All in all - I'm happy . Thanks.

[FelixofMars]

It is a better file system and that is all I need to know, I do tend to find Windows is more stable under NTFS.