Comments on: Identical hard drive file systems http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/identical-hard-drive-file-systems/ Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:04:31 +0000 hourly 1 By: pjb0222 http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/identical-hard-drive-file-systems/#comment-78962 pjb0222 Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:56:24 +0000 #comment-78962 I recommend removable media be FAT (FAT32) as it is a more portable file system (recognized by more OS [Windows, OSX, Linux...]). One consideration for removable media is if you store large (4 GB +) files. FAT32 has a maximum file size limit of less than 4 GB.

In the case of external storage for large (multimedia) files I recommend NTFS. Generally people working with these types of files have some technical understanding and will properly dismount the volume prior to removing it from the system (a requirement for NTFS).

While there are potential performance or fault tolerance for NTFS over FAT there are other considerations as well. The ability to access information off-line and the availability of recovery tools for each file system. Additionally the portability of the file system for multiple OSs may impact your decision. Another decision point is total disk size as FAT32 has a smaller max partition than NTFS. A final decision point is Microsoft limits the size of a FAT32 partition you may create with native windows tools (this is an artificial limit imposed on MS tools by MS).

Personally, I use NTFS for system (internal) disks because of the fault tolerance and security capabilities NTFS provides.

]]> By: patzo http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/itanswers/identical-hard-drive-file-systems/#comment-78923 patzo Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:00:50 +0000 #comment-78923 You get improved security features and fault tolerance with NTFS. I would back up the flash drive, then format it as NTFS and copy the data back to the flash.

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