FAT 32 or NTFS - driving me nuts

Discussion in 'Storage Devices' started by kennyk, Feb 11, 2003.

  1. kennyk

    kennyk Geek Trainee

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    Hi there - FAT 32 or NTFS - this problem is driving me nuts. I recently bought two 40GB hard drives. The plan is to use one for the operating system and one dedicated to capturing video, rendering animations etc. I've heard conflicting reports on which of the above filing systems works best for my needs. The flavour left in my mouth, after quite a bit of research on the web, is FAT 32. So I thought I would go this route for capturing work. However NTFS seems to be more secure. So this is what I was thinking of doing. I was thinking of installing Windows XP onto one of the 40GB disks. I was then going to create 3 partitions, 2X 4GB and 1X 32GB. I was going to format the two 4GB partitions with NTFS and the large 32GB with FAT 32. (I wouldn't be capturing to this 32GB space I though I would use it for storage only - the other 40GB disk would be entirely FAT 32)

    Is this configuration possible and does my plan hold water?

    Cheers, thanks for your help.

    Kennyk
     
  2. archcommus

    archcommus Big Geek

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    What advantages for video capturing would FAT32 give you over NTFS? I wasn't aware that there were any.
     
  3. kennyk

    kennyk Geek Trainee

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    It has something to do with how quickly video is written to disk. One system I've heard can be up to 10% slower. If you have a computer that seems to be on the borderline of whether or not it can capture video without dropping frames you can see the importance of my question.
     
  4. Big B

    Big B HWF Godfather

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    It will work just fine. I ran a NTFS/FAT32 combo with partitions before eventually going all NTFS. Personally, I can't tell you the difference in speed between NTFS and FAT32. If you can't, I'd highly recommend going with the more secure solution: NTFS. It handles larger partitons better than FAT32 due to it's design.
     
  5. RZA

    RZA l337 CounterStriker

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    if your gonna capture video I higly recommend using NTFS cause FAT32 doesnt suport files larger then 2gb :(
    and the speed is fine imo
    I first had FAT32 and now I have NTFS and I cant really see any diference in speed :)

    could you give us your whole pc specs ?
    and what kind of video capturing ?
     

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