quote:
Originally posted by alegator
I have a 500Gb external hard drive that I use mainly for file storage. This involves frequent transfer of files from my PC to the external HD and sometimes also deletion and copy/paste of files from the ext.HD to the PC drive. Should I format the external drive with the FAT32 file system? (it currently has NTFS).
That only depends on 1 thing: Are you planning to use the external drive also on system which doesn't support NTFS (like win98)? Although, when you do format it with FAT32, there is a big chance you will not be able to use the full 500GB...
NTFS has also some other benefits, other then the support for high volumes, like more security (if you wish) and better/optimized storage of data.
Bottem line, if you're planning to use your external drive on machines with NTFS compatible OS's like WinXP, etc. stay with NFTS.
quote:
Originally posted by alegator
The reason for my concern is the following post I read in this forum:
"i would suggest keeping a Fat32 file system if you plan on transferring alot of data back and forth
there is a critical Flaw in the NTFs volume bitmap which causes freespace to be reporting within the MFT and the MFT reserved space (MFT = Master File Table)
(Volume bitmap is what tells the drive where all the freespace lies)
this is becoz transfering alot of small and large files over at once causes it to become confused and it damages the drive
i had to format back to Fat32 after restoring all my data to NTFS
luckily i was able to salvage my data"
That's total malinformation and should never be posted in the first place. There is nothing wrong with NFTS...
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