How many have used PM7 to convert NTFS to FAT32?

[Pinger]

I was wondering how many here have converted NTFS to FAT32 using patition magic 7?? I have PM7 and when I installed XP pro I went the NTFS route but now I understand Fat32 is a bit quicker and I am always looking for faster... I understand XP is just as stable with fat32 file system as it is in NTFS.. please tell of results or horror stories..... thx

 

[Nothinman]

The speed difference is minimal and not worth the tradeoff of all the bad things about FAT, stick with NTFS.

 

[Lord Evermore]

To some people a speed difference is worth it. If you're not concerned with encrypting your data or the other features of NTFS, then FAT32 can be better due to the speed. It's also not likely totally accurate to assume that on all systems NTFS will be nearly as fast; there could be a considerable difference.

There are some features of NTFS that are always better, and to many people can be worth a slight loss of speed. Journaling makes it a more reliable file system so you're less likely to lose data. The ability to create files of nearly any size (rather than a limit of 4GB with FAT32). The ability to extend the size of a partition from Windows (rather than needing to use another app). However the loss of being able to read the partition from another OS without using other software workarounds can be significantly bad for some people.

In the next couple of hours I'm rebuilding a partition with NTFS to make it easier to do DVD rips (for my own use), since they can reach greater than 4GB sizes before conversion.

 

[Nothinman]

To some people a speed difference is worth it.

You would be very hard pressed to find someone who can tell the difference, and benchmarks don't count because they can't simulate real world work well enough to be reliable.

The only reason to consider using FAT is if you need access to the drive from another OS, and then you should think about whether you really need the other OS or not because most of the time you don't.

 

[robisc]

Don't know about speed differences but I do know that PM 7 and all previous versions or PM can be either great or a nightmare, have had good luck and have trashed whole system partitions that were unrecoverable. If it is very important data make sure you backup.

 

[jmorrell]

I successfully used PM7 to convert my secondary hard drive from NTFS to FAT 32, but not for the speed gain. The conversion was necessary to create a drive image with Norton Ghost 2002 Personal Edition - Ghost can read an NTFS partition, but can't write to one, so I needed to revert the secondary hard drive to FAT 32 to write the image of my primary hard drive (NTFS). I had asbolutely on problems with the conversion, but I suggest you back up your data - you could be one of the unlucky ones who has problems with the conversion.