What are the pros and cons of changing the USB disk to ntfs format?

The pros and cons of changing the USB disk to ntfs format are: NTFS is a recoverable, safe and efficient file system. It is also designed to support multiple data streams, Western European character set names and bad cluster redirection. Function; If the computer does not consider security issues and pays more attention to compatibility with Win 9X, then the FAT32 format is the best choice.

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 7 system, Dell G3 computer.

The advantage of the NTFS file system is that it has higher security than FAT32. The advantage of FAT32 is that it has better compatibility than NTFS. Both have their own pros and cons. So on the premise of satisfying the application, which file system is more suitable for our use? Let’s first take a look at the characteristics of the two file systems, NTFS and FAT32.

2. NTFS&FAT32

NTFS file system

NTFS is the abbreviation of "New Technology File System". It is a file system developed by Microsoft for Windows NT. It was used in the past Certain improvements have been made based on the FAT file system to improve performance. It is an advanced file system based on protecting file and directory data, while saving storage resources and reducing disk usage. The NTFS file system adopted by Windows XP allows users to not only operate and manage computers as conveniently and quickly as Win 9X, but also enjoy the system security brought by NTFS. NTFS supports security management based on the NT* operating system. Of course, there is no free lunch. When this kind of management is required, additional space will be required. Generally, when running an NT operating system, it is best to free up 10-15% of the hard disk space to ensure the normal operation of the NT operating system.

NTFS file system has the following characteristics:

1. The partition size that NTFS can support can reach 2TB (2048GB), while the maximum partition size supported by FAT32 is 32GB.

2.NTFS uses smaller cluster groups to manage disk space more efficiently. In the NTFS file system, when the partition size is below 2GB, the cluster size is smaller than the corresponding FAT32 cluster. When the partition size is above 2GB, the cluster size is 4KB. In the case of the FAT32 file system, when the partition size is between 2GB and 8GB, the cluster size is 4KB, when the partition size is between 8GB and 16GB, the cluster size is 8KB, and when the partition size is between 16GB and 32GB, the cluster size is 16KB. In comparison, NTFS can manage disk space more effectively and avoid wasting disk space to the greatest extent.

3.NTFS can automatically repair disk errors without displaying error messages. When Windows XP writes a file to an NTFS partition, it retains a copy of the file and then checks whether the file written to the disk is consistent with the one in memory. If the two are inconsistent, Windows will mark the corresponding sector as a bad sector and no longer use it (cluster remapping), and then use the file copy retained in the memory to re-write the file to the disk. If an error occurs while reading the file, NTFS returns a read error message and informs the corresponding application that the data has been lost.

4.NTFS has many security performance options, which can protect files and directories locally and remotely. NTFS also supports Encrypting File System (EFS), which can prevent unauthorized users from accessing files.

5. Another benefit brought by the NTFS file system is the support for file compression. Users can choose to compress individual files or entire folders. Any Windows-based application that reads and writes compressed files on an NTFS partition does not need to be decompressed by other programs in advance. When the file is read, the file will be automatically decompressed; the file will be automatically decompressed when it is closed or saved. The file is compressed.

6. The disk quota function allows system administrators to manage the disk space allocated to each user. Legal users can only access their own files. The disk quota function in Windows 2000 is based on users and volumes.

FAT32 file system

Before the FAT32 file system, the file system commonly used by PCs was FAT16. Systems such as MS-DOS and Winows95 all use the FAT16 file system. Under Win 9X system, the maximum supported partition size of FAT16 is 2GB. In the case of FAT16, the cluster is relatively large, and the storage efficiency is lower, resulting in a waste of storage space. In this case, the enhanced file system FAT32 was introduced. FAT32 uses 32 bits of space to represent each sector (Sector) configuration file. A single partition that can be used with FAT32 can reach a maximum of 2TB (2048GB), and the cluster size that can be used for partitions of various sizes is also just right. The above two advantages make the use of hard disks more efficient.

Compared with FAT16, FAT32 mainly has the following characteristics:

1. FAT32 can support disk sizes up to 2TB, and can support partitions up to 32GB under Windows XP. FAT16 only supports a maximum partition of 4GB.

2. Because the clusters used are smaller, the FAT32 file system can save information more efficiently, usually by 15%.

3. Ending

Let’s explain the difference between the two file systems: The difference between NTFS and FAT file system is that NTFS is not only a recoverable, safe and efficient file system, NTFS is also designed to support multiple data streams. Western Europe Character set names and bad cluster redirection functionality. Multiple data streams make it possible to add new attributes or information to a file without rebuilding the file system. The Western European character set can support any language in the world, and we know that the ASCII code has only 7 bits, and the supported language is English. Finally, the bad cluster redirection function allows NTFS to identify bad clusters, so that written data is not written into these families, ensuring data security.

If you use a partition larger than 32GB in Windows XP, the only option is NTFS format. If the computer does not consider security issues and pays more attention to compatibility with Win 9X, then the FAT32 format is the best choice. If you pay attention to the security of the computer system, it is recommended that users use NTFS format. If you want to use multiple operating systems, you need to install Win 9X or other operating systems. It is recommended that users create a multi-boot system. One partition uses FAT32 format, the other partition uses NTFS format, and Windows XP is installed under the NTFS format partition. , other operating systems are installed in FAT32 format.

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