Windows File System

In Windows, there are three types of File System: fat, FAT32 and NTFS.

Each of them has his own characteristics.

 

Chars FS	OS supported	Maximum File Name	Maximum disk partition	Security	Dual Boot
Fat	MS-DOS, Win95, Win98, WINNT, win2000 (Professional/Server/Advanced Server), WINXP, win2003, or later	11	2G	N	Y
FAT32	Win95, Win98, WINNT, win2000 (Professional/Server/Advanced Server), WINXP, win2003, or later	128	32G	N	Y
NTFS	Winnt, win2000 (Professional/Server/Advanced Server), WINXP, win2003, or later	256	Not Limited	Y	N

 

Fat is a 16-bit file system.

FAT32 is a 32bit file system.

NTFS is new technology file system.

 

Disk Partitions that have fat or FAT32 configured can be converted to an NTFS disk partition. But the opposite road is not applicable.