Fat 32 or Ntfs - Filesystem decisions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mealz
  • Start date Start date

Which Filesystem is best?

  • FAT 32

    Votes: 5 55.6%

  • NTFS

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Doesn't make any difference

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Total voters
    9
M

Mealz

New member
I'm wondering which filesystem is the best to run for audio?

I seem to get the impression that fat32 has better performance

What do you think?

Any apps work better with one while otherrs perform better with the other f/s?
 
Fat32 is supposed to perform better, but I've used both and I haven't noticed much difference. Apps don't care a bit what file system they are running on. If you're running an NT OS, it's a better idea to have NTFS on that partition.
 
First of all, if you are using Win9x, you have no choice but to use FAT32.

Secondly, FAT32 only supports partitions up to 32Gb in size.

I have been using NTFS for the last 3 years and it works just fine, if not better than FAT32.
 
My machine came formatted with NTFS. I re-did it in FAT32 and man,. there was a big difference in startup and file copies.

braz...
i have a 60 gig on my machine running fat. formatted with a win98 startup floppy disk (with my cd rom drivers) popped in the win2k cd. no prob.
 
Don't sweat this issue to much. If you can do NTFS, then do NTFS. It's slightly slower (roughtly 1MB/sec slower in the tests I've run), but it's still plenty fast. It's more recoverable than FAT, and the added security can certainly come in handy depending on what all you use your machine for.

Slackmaster 2000
 
eyeslikefire said:
My machine came formatted with NTFS. I re-did it in FAT32 and man,. there was a big difference in startup and file copies.
Click to expand...
What was the difference? Faster, slower?

On my computer, CPU speed is far more a limiting factor than disk access, especially if a I have a couple of reverb plugins running, and I have a pretty fast CPU (1.4 Ghz). So, I can't see a slight change in file transfer speed making too much difference for me in practical terms.
 
eyeslikefire said:


braz...
i have a 60 gig on my machine running fat. formatted with a win98 startup floppy disk (with my cd rom drivers) popped in the win2k cd. no prob.
Click to expand...

FAT32 partitions cannot be larger than 32Gb if you are using XP.
 
Ditto with Slack and brzilian.

If anyone still using Win98 wants to create a FAT32 partition larger than 64 megs you need to download an updated version of the FDISK utility from Microsoft. I formated an 80 gig drive and found this out through experiance. I put up an earlier post which had the direct link to download that file.
 
Solution

Get two hard drives. On the OS hardrive use NTFS (for security benefits), on the audio drive use FAT32.
 
brzilian said:


FAT32 partitions cannot be larger than 32Gb if you are using XP.
Click to expand...

Sorry Brzilian, you are wrong.

I've been running XP with two drives both of which have two FAT32 partitions, one of which is greater than 90 GB on each drive.

I use Norton Ghost to partition & format with. (actually: GDisk)

In the past I've have formatted and used the two drives as (FAT32) 114 GB drives (one partition on each).

Perhaps you simply need a better partitioning & formatting pgm?

Win XP clearly has no problems with FAT32 partitions > 32 GB.
 
WJD said:


Sorry Brzilian, you are wrong.

I've been running XP with two drives both of which have two FAT32 partitions, one of which is greater than 90 GB on each drive.

I use Norton Ghost to partition & format with. (actually: GDisk)

In the past I've have formatted and used the two drives as (FAT32) 114 GB drives (one partition on each).

Perhaps you simply need a better partitioning & formatting pgm?

Win XP clearly has no problems with FAT32 partitions > 32 GB.
Click to expand...

Yes, Ghost lets you get around this as well as the partitioning issue with NT 4.0 and the primary partition BUT not everybody has Ghost...

If you just have the XP installation CD (like most people) you are S.O.L.
 
Im goin with FAT32 for the recording drive. However, NTFS is might be a little better for you applications drive, but from what ive read, FAT32 for recording drive. And also i think thats weird you cant go higher than 32GB on a FAT32 because i havnt had any problems with my 40GB on a FAT32.

Darnold
 
In my extensive experience, I have found the best way to choose a file system for audio is this (windows 2000, XP):

1) Start your computer.
2) Start the Disk Management tool from Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management
3) Select the partition you would like to format. If the space is not partitioned, create the parition now.
4) Drink a gallon of water and wait approximately 30 minutes (you may substitute 3 beers).
5) Strip off all of your clothes and lay flat on your back.
6) When you feel the urge to urinate, just let it rip.
7) If your feet are wet with urine, choose the FAT32 filesystem. If your head is wet with urine, choose NTFS. If neither your head nor your feet are wet with urine, repeat the test. If both your head and feet are wet with urine, man that's pretty funny.

Slackmaster 2000
 
neirbo said:

What was the difference? Faster, slower?

On my computer, CPU speed is far more a limiting factor than disk access, especially if a I have a couple of reverb plugins running, and I have a pretty fast CPU (1.4 Ghz). So, I can't see a slight change in file transfer speed making too much difference for me in practical terms.
Click to expand...

Sorry neirbo...
fat32 was faster than NTFS.
 
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