NTFS vs FAT32

[khrysalis]

I just read the Anandtech article ntfs vs fat32. Near the end of the article there is a statement that says for a dual boot system, fat32 might be the way to go. The article then goes on to site some dual boot systems like 98/xp etc. The article does not site any dual boot systems that use one operating system.

I am using a dual boot system with xp on two different partitions. I am wondering if this statement still applies, and if so, why?

Thanks,

kristin

 

[corkyg]

No, I would not think that the FAT32 for dual boot would apply in your case since you have a dual XP boot scenario. The "why" is because NTFS is common to both versions of XP . . . whatever they are. 🙂

You must have a good reason for such a masochistic setup. 😀)

 

[khrysalis]

<< masochistic setup >>



??

I use the same system for business and some video editing. Changing video drivers etc is not my idea of fun on a drive used for my company payroll.... You have a point tho...might just be simpler to pick up another small system (for business, of course ;-))

Thanks for your reply!

kristin

 

[Nothinman]

XP has the ability to have more than one hardware profile...

 

[khrysalis]

<< XP has the ability to have more than one hardware profile... >>



That is something I should look into. Another reason I got involved with the dual boot system is that the video program I use is not always system friendly. Things like over-writing directx files. I just thought the dual boot system would allow me to isolate the "damage"...;-) kristin

 

[rbV5]

<< . I am wondering if this statement still applies, and if so, why? >>



The reason they suggest fat32 would be so that you can read the contents of either partition from either OS in the more common dual boot situation of Win9x(cannot natively read NTFS) and Win2k or XP(can read/write NTFS or FAT). In your case with a dual XP boot, as others have said, it would not apply.

 

[AndyHui]

rbV5 has it right.

If you dual boot any Win9X OS with Win2K/WinXP, you will need FAT32.

If you dual boot 2 separate installations of Win2K or WinXP, you can stick with just NTFS.

 

[khrysalis]

Thank you for your replies!

From what I understand there are at least two issues that contribute to the inefficiency of a drive converted from fat32 to ntfs. The MFT issue and the cluster size issue.

I found this site:

Scot's Newsletter

that mentioned Paragon Partition Manager which is supposed to be able to change the cluster size of a partition...anybody tried it? Even if this works (wonder if it re-aligns the partition first?), what about the MFT?

kristin

 

[khrysalis]

Could someone explain:

1. My partitions are set. (At the moment, they are formatted fat32.) If I were to format the partitions ntfs using the boot from xp cd clean install method, what happens if the demarcation between partitions is not on the requisite multiple number of hard drive sectors? Does the format process handle this? If I cannot achieve the kind of alignment necessary for 4K clusters by this method, then how would I get this done?

2. Using this same format/clean install process, will the MFT be handled properly?

Any help appreciated...if I have been repetitious, I appologize, this is new to me, would like to grasp this somewhat so I don't really screw things up!

thanks,
kristin