What is the difference between NTFS and FAT32

Source: Internet
Author: User

NTFS and FAT32 two are disk File system format, but the two are not the same, like two different libraries, their bookshelf layout, different sizes, management style is also different! Here we introduce the difference between the two.

1, disk partition capacity Difference

Partitions that can be supported by NTFS (referred to as volumes if using dynamic disks) can be up to 2TB (2048GB) in size, while FAT32 support partitions in Windows 2000 have a maximum size of 32GB

2. Individual file capacity differences

FAT32 does not support a single file larger than 4GB in the actual operation, once the capacity limit is exceeded then the system will prompt for insufficient disk space.

NTFS has now broken through the capacity limit of a single file 4GB, there seems to be no capacity limit, as long as the hard disk space capacity, then NTFS can be divided into how big.

Because many applications and games are now more than 4GB in size, the user must change the disk of the large program installation to NTFS format.

3. Differences in security

You can encrypt, modify, run, read directory and write permission settings for all folders and files in this format for computer users. In addition, the right-click property on any folder or file under the disk partition, check the encrypted content in the Advanced Properties window to protect the data to encrypt.

FAT32 file Security settings: not supported; NTFS file security settings: Support

Figure one: NTFS format


4, the difference between disk quotas

When a computer has multiple users, and as a system administrator, you can set different disk space capacity, the user is set to use only this limited amount of disk space.

Such as: The administrator set User A's D disk quota of 1GB, then user A in the use of computers, e-disk He can only use 1GB space, more than the use of.

FAT32 disk quotas: not supported; NTFS disk quotas: Supported

5, Disk Utilization difference:

In the case of the Windows2000 FAT32 file system, the size of the cluster is 4KB when the partition size is at 2GB~8GB, the size of the cluster is 8KB when the partition size is 8GB~16GB, and the size of the cluster is 16KB when the partition size is 16GB~32GB.

While the NTFS file system of Win 2000, when the size of the partition is below 2GB, the cluster size is smaller than the corresponding FAT32 cluster, and when the partition size is above 2GB (2GB~2TB), the cluster size is 4KB.

By contrast, NTFS can manage disk space more efficiently than FAT32, minimizing wasted disk space.

6, the System file compression difference

In any file in the disk partition right-click Properties, we can be set in the Advanced Properties window to a single file or the entire folder compression, after compression can be reduced to a certain extent the amount of disk space consumption. And when the file is read, the file will be automatically decompressed, the file is closed or saved when the file is customized to compress.

FAT32 System file compression: not supported; NTFS system file compression: Supported

Figure II: FAT32 format


7. Differences in Disk fragmentation

From the FAT16 file system format, to the later FAT32 and then to the current NTFS file system format, we will find that the format of the disk partition is different, then the product disk fragmentation is also getting smaller.

FAT32 disk Fragmentation: resulting disk fragmentation in general; NTFS disk fragmentation: produces less disk fragmentation

8. Differences in real-world applications

NTFS is currently used for computers, mobile hard disk and other large and medium-sized space capacity of the disk.

FAT32 is used for small disks such as U-disk, memory card and so on.

In summary, we can see: the NTFS file system is more powerful than the FAT file system, suitable for larger disks and partitions, and disk utilization is very high, security and stability is also leverage, want to more FAT32 is a more complete and flexible file system. For more information, you can go to the NTFS for Mac website.

The above is reproduced content, the original is: http://www.ntfsformac.cn/qita-nytqubie.html

What is the difference between NTFS and FAT32

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