So, I got a really neat program called DESKTOP2.EXE. It switches your desktop to another folder or drive. So, I switched mine to my home folder on the FAT32 drive. I don't use the C:\User\myfolder anymore. Besides, when I do a clean install of Windows, I erase the entire drive anyway, so why should I store my documents on the same drive with Windows.
When you click to access the files, Windows 7 reads through the entire directory structure of the user folder, looking for something, and if you happen to have a lot of files like I do, it takes forever.
So you wouldn't even need to click on that one button, once, as I said.
It's much more efficient this way. I have everything on a tiny laptop hard drive. I got a USB converter. I just stick it into any USB plug on any computer. It could be DOS or Windows 98 or XP or Windows 7 or 10 or any type of Linux or Apple, and I got instant access to all my files. Every OS can read and write FAT32, because it's the standard format for USB pendrives.
Actually, it isn't. More often that not these days it's exFAT (possibly due to licensing issues), which even Windows XP isn't even compatible with unless you install an official patch that doesn't come down via Windows Update. MS-DOS can't even read USB storage devices, nor can Win9x until you get to (IIRC) WinME. Windows NT4 can't read FAT32 or exFAT, and only FAT32 with a third party driver; specific versions of NT4 don't like certain partition sizes, Win95 RTM can't read FAT32 full stop, later versions can only handle 128GB volumes. The fact that you're not aware of these compatibility issues is sufficient proof of how flawed your usage argument is.
So, if you store your files on FAT32 system, then that means you can access your files using any computer. Just plug in the USB and viola! You can read/write all your files. Even older linux systems that cannot read/write NTFS drives can access FAT32 file systems.
Linux's has had NTFS read/write support since 2003, ditto OS X (read only though). How much older do you want to go back?
What kind of scenarios do you anticipate needing cross platform, read/write support for all your personal files, regardless of the age of machine? I don't know about you, but I do plenty of work on older operating systems, but not once has there been a scenario that wasn't resolved by dumping a handful of files on a USB flash drive or onto a CD/DVD, nor was there a scenario where NTFS became a problem. Furthermore, if the machine is really old and I need a significant amount of data from it, it is far, far faster to remove the HDD from that machine, connect it to my own via an enclosure and reap the benefits of USB3.0 and a far more capable processor.
Furthermore, I'd think twice about plugging my primary storage system into some ancient machine: Malware, iffy hardware causing USB oddities, a FAT32/NTFS implementation that's not the best (or perhaps doesn't like say a >32GB volume). Backups aside, cleaning up after a screw-up like that is a hassle I can do without.