Author Topic: Hrm... switch to NTFS? (Read 279 times)

Krusty · « **on:** March 23, 2006, 01:42:06 PM »

I ran into a problem trying to digitize about 25 minutes of footage from a DV tape. Seems FAT32 has a max file size limit of 4GB. Well I'll be damned!

Was doing some reading on it (google searches are your friend) and it seems NTFS doesn't have this limit.

It seems that NTFS allows better partitioning of drives, even though I only have 1 partition on my drives I know there's a chunk of 50MB+ lost when partitioning like this.

So from somebody who's been FAT16 and then FAT32 for .. well forever... what are the problems with NTFS? I've got a new HD on the way and that's the perfect time to switch over (if I'm going to switch).

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2006, 03:13:08 PM »

NTFS is loosely based on the old V7 UNIX file system. It is not bad, but it does have the ability to be completely blown away. Slightly more volitile than FAT32, but FAT32 has its own set of issues when problems occur.

NTFS can have better security. I say *can* as it defaults to virtually no security.

A converted FAT32 to NTFS filesystem will be sort of a munge between the two and not a full NTFS filesystem. Yes, you can convert an existing FAT32 to NTFS without formatting the partition.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2006, 03:44:29 PM »

But only one way.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2006, 04:49:10 PM »

True.

Krusty · « **Reply #4 on:** March 23, 2006, 05:21:09 PM »

I read that there's a small program you can run that will re-sort your clusters into 4k sizes (or some such) and then you defrag and then you run the conversion, so that when it switches the clusters are proper sizes. (I *think* that's what the article said when I read it).

I'm not worried about security so much. I'm behind a netgear firewall and only disable AV when I run AH2 (even then sometimes I forget).

So I get more usable space on my partition with NTFS, and I get larger file sizes.

What's this you mention about

"It is not bad, but it does have the ability to be completely blown away. Slightly more volitile than FAT32"

Under what situations would it be ruined? Are we talking bad clusters or some problem with the drive itself?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #5 on:** March 23, 2006, 05:35:17 PM »

Quite frankly, for all intents and purposes, it is a crap shoot. I have seen NTFS get blown away from an improper shutdown but then seen it recover from more severe things.
If you shutdown your computer everyday, it seems less likely to get damaged.

Krusty · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2006, 07:59:19 PM »

Hrm... so a hang/freeze or something that requires a hard boot would be a serious problem?

Might do to keep a backup of all my stuff at all times, is what I gather?