Windows-supported operating systems rely on one of two different file system types: File Allocation Table (FAT) and New Technology File System (NTFS). Although both file systems are created by Microsoft, each has distinct advantages and disadvantages regarding compatibility, security, and flexibility.
Windows uses NTFS for its system drives and, by default, for most non-removable drives. FAT32 is an older file system that is not as efficient as NTFS and does not support such a large feature set, but offers greater compatibility with other operating systems.
Here we summarize the differences between NTFS and FAT32 on computers.
What is FAT32?
FAT32 is the oldest file system developed in the 1970s available for the Windows operating system. It is basically designed for floppy drives that are less than 500K in size.
There are three versions of FAT - FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 and they differ in the size and structure of the files on the disk.
The FAT file system was first used in MS-DOS where the maximum hard disk size could reach 32 MB consisting of 512 K partition sectors. It is commonly used on removable drives and storage devices.
The maximum file size on a FAT32 drive must not exceed 4 GB and partitions created on FAT32 must be smaller than 8 TB.
The main disadvantage of using FAT32 is that it does not provide any security. Previous FAT16 versions of the FAT file system suffered from internal fragmentation and had no access protection for the files.
FAT32. disk space management
The FAT32 file system uses linked allocations which store control data separately from the file system. The disk file allocation table contains the elements for each disk block on disk in the array.
The disk block assigned to a file, the associated FAT component stores the address of the next disk block.
Therefore, disk blocks and their FAT elements collaboratively form a unit containing the same information as disk blocks in the form of associated allocations.
The file directory entry stores the address of the first disk block and the FAT element corresponding to this disk block contains the address of the second disk block and so on.
The last disk block FAT element includes a special code to mark the end of the file.
What is NTFS?
NTFS is the last version of the file system created in the late 1990s for windows system drives and removable drives.
NTFS was created with the aim of removing the limitations of the FAT file system. It includes characteristics such as data recovery, multi-streaming, fault tolerance, security, extended file size and file system, UNICODE name.
NTFS maintains a journal that tracks operations performed on the drive and can quickly recover errors, shadow copies for backups, encryption, disk quota limits, and hard links.
NTFS supports larger file sizes and drive volumes compared to FAT32. It prevents unauthorized access to file contents by implementing an encryption system called Encryption File System that uses public key security.
NTFS disk space management
The NTFS file system does not depend on sector sizes on different disks. It uses the concept of a cluster and a cluster is a group of contiguous sectors for disk space allocation.
Clusters can contain 2 n number of sectors. A logical partition on a disk is known as a volume and uses a bitmap file to mark allocated and empty clusters in a volume.
There is also a file called bad cluster file for storing unusable cluster records. A set of volumes provides a way to exceed the partition capacity of up to 32 volumes.
An NTFS volume consists of a master file table (MFT), a boot sector, and several user and system files.
The master file table resembles the FAT table and includes all the details about the files and folders on the volume. The existence of a boot sector makes each volume bootable.
Difference between NTFS and FAT32
1. FAT32 is simple while the structure of NTFS is quite complicated.
2. NTFS can support larger file sizes and volumes along with large file names relative to the FAT32 file system.
3. FAT32 does not provide encryption and a lot of security whereas NTFS is enabled with security and encryption.
4. It is very easy to convert a FAT file system to another system without losing data. On the other hand, NTFS conversion is difficult to achieve.
5. NTFS performance is relatively better than FAT32 because it also provides fault tolerance.
6. Files are accessed faster in case of NTFS. On the other hand, FAT32 is slower than NTFS.
7. NTFS provides features such as journaling and compression, which FAT32 does not provide.
Advantages of FAT32
- Work efficiently under 200 MB partition.
- Provides compatibility with different operating systems and is often used as the primary partition on multiboot systems.
Advantages of NTFS
- Very safe.
- Performs well even on partitions over 400 MB.
- File and directory structure improves performance.
- Less prone to fragmentation.
Disadvantages of FAT32
- Partitions more than 200 MB can degrade performance.
- Not safe.
- Vulnerable to fragmentation.
- The directory structure has no standard organization.
Disadvantages of NTFS
- NTFS is not widely supported.
- Performance drops below a 400 MB partition which means when a small volume contains small files, overhead can be generated.