Win2k NTFS question

Does anyone know if Win2k does a better job creating NTFS partitions on new installs than NT 4.0?

Let me explain. Under 4.0 when you create a new partition during install and format it as NTFS the setup actually formats it as FAT and runs CONVERT.EXE on the partition when the system reboots.

This is all fine, except, it puts the Master File Tables somewhere on the disk after all the temporary files when they should be at the start of the disk. The result is once those tables get fragmented performance starts to suck, bad. What you should do under 4.0 is install it on a clean, pre-formatted NTFS partition to guarantee the MFTs are at the start of the disk. See the link below for more information.

http://www.execsoft.com/tech-support/support-articles/NT/article.asp?F=1999102801.htm

I did a clean install of Win2k yesterday and it seemed not to run convert but I am not sure. Does anyone have any proof that when you create and format a new partition from setup it does it right, formatting it as NTFS from the get-go?

 

[AndyHui]

Get can always install Diskeeper to move the MFT around and keep it defragged.

But as to whether it formats directly as NTFS....not sure.

 

[StuckMojo]

i think it still behaves in the same stupid fashion, as i installed onto a non-formatted disk, and now when i use the NT defrag tool, i see a block of system files right in the middle of the drive, probably the MTF.

 

I actually see a block of system files at the start of the disk, then a whole huge section marked as "reserved for system." I hope this is the MFTs. It would help if there were a tool to identify the files on the disk via a map. Anyone know of any?

 

[Cyph3r]

The only difference between the NT and W2K installation sequences is instead of W2K creating a FAT partition first which limits the partitions to only 2 gig's, it uses FAT32 partitioning which allows for much larger partitions. Other than that, the conversion still takes place, perhaps a little more hidden than in NT..Regards

 

When I did it I did not see a conversion step, but I wouldn't doubt it happened behind the scenes like Cyph3r said. What's your reasoning BartJ?

Another NTFS question. How do you do symbolic links with the new NTFS? I know how to link a parition to a directory but can I do the equivalent of a Unix &quot;ln -s /<dir> /<link> under Win2k. Even better, does it allow linking of network drives?