NTFS & FAT32 whats the difference?

stephenb

stephenb

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Before I click buy for a new hard drive can anybody tell me what the difference is between ntfs and fat32? I plan to use the drive as a back up and want to use it with my pc and macbook.
Ta in advance.
 
Both are Microsoft filing systems, I think the main difference is that NTFS is 'secure' ie if you delete a file it can't be recovered.

I don't know if a mac can read NTFS so I'd double check that first :thinking:
 
FAT32 = Not very reliable file system, however readable by loads of things
NTFS = Fairly reliable file system, proprietary software by Microsoft, readable by quite a lot of things, writeable by Windows and some Linux Distros.

NTFS does lots of nice stuff with regard to file permissions and fault tolerance; effectively unlimited file system size. FAT32 is ubiquitous, simple and does the job, much more limited than NTFS when it comes to file system size and file permissions.

If you want to use it on PC and Macbook format it as FAT32 - the macbook MAY be able to r/w ntfs but I doubt it.

B.
 
Fat is less secure than NTFS. Older operating systems cannot understand NTFS. NTFS also allows you to have a file bigger than 4GB.
 
You can read and write to Fat 32 partitions with both Mac and pc. You will be able to read NTFS partitions with your Mac, but you wont be able to write to them unless you use a 3rd party programme. I believe Paragon has a programme called NTFS for Mac that allows users to read write on a Mac, but have never used it.
I would suggest you format the new disc as Fat 32, I have with mine and I never have any issues.
Allan
 
allanm said:
You can read and write to Fat 32 partitions with both Mac and pc. You will be able to read NTFS partitions with your Mac, but you wont be able to write to them unless you use a 3rd party programme. I believe Paragon has a programme called NTFS for Mac that allows users to read write on a Mac, but have never used it.
I would suggest you format the new disc as Fat 32, I have with mine and I never have any issues.
Allan
Click to expand...

I can read and write to NTFS hard drives with OSX 10.4
 
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