FAT32 or NTFS?

NTFS and FAT32 are the ways files are stored on the harddrive. NTFS is regarded to be better as its newer.

To convert your harddrives to NTFS open Command prompt and type

"convert C: /fs:ntfs" <-- without the quotes, just change the letter to what ever drive you want to change you can even do it with memory sticks.

You cant convert back to FAT32 after you convert btw, on memsticks the only way i goes back to FAT32 is after you format it, so guess its the same for bigger harddrives.

NTFS will also let you create files larger than 2GB, which is the limit for FAT32.

In addition to the larger size of both drives/partitions and files,the allocation unit (the smallest "chunk" of space required to store a file) can be set to as small as 512 bytes with NTFS (as opposed to 4KB, I believe, with FAT32) giving you greater effective storage space on a given drive. Also, with NTFS, you can assign very specific security and access rights, not possible with FAT32.

FAT32 stands for "File Allocation Table 32" where the 32 means 32 bit, FAT16 is the previous version for 16 bit. NTFS stands for "New Technology File System".

Windows 95 & 98 were FAT32, Windows nt was NTFS, XP & Vista 32 bit versions allow for either, 64 bit versions I am unsure of, but I would think they would be NTFS only.

In networked environments and transferrable media such as ramsticks, NTFS systems can read FAT32 drives, etc.,,, but FAT32 systems can NOT read NTFS

The files themselves are not the issue, these are "filing systems" directly related to the formatting of the drive or media in question. If a ramstick is formatted as FAT32, you can write to it from an NTFS system and read it on win 98, you cannot read a ramstick that formatted in NTFS on win 98.