NTFS or FAT32 for audio in XP?

[notCardio]

Which would be better to use for the audio data? I always thought that NTFS was supposed to be better because of the cluster size, which reduced fragmentation, but the guy I bought my audio computer from said FAT32 was better for audio. Any opinions?

 

[Stealthtech]

Both my drives are formatted NTFS....no complaints here
I believe NTFS is recommended with XP

 

[drstawl]

NTFS is recommended for a number of geeky reasons, but I wanted backward compatibility with my win98 machine so I went with FAT32. No complaints.

 

[James Argo]

It's been discussed many times. You can use Searh button for NTFS or FAT32 in this forum. BTW, here's a link to one of the best site to tweak your WinXP for audio applications.

www.musicxp.net

Or straight to NTFS or FAT32 page...

www.musicxp.net/hardware_tips.htm


Jaymz

 

[notCardio]

Thanks, guys.

So, I guess what I'm reading is that it probably doesn't really matter that much, unless I'm using a hard drive partition larger than 32G, or unless I encounter some problem, which there is no way of predicting. I need FAT32 to dual-boot to 98SE so that I can run PT Free, at least for now. I guess I'll start off making everything NTFS except the partitions for 98SE, PT Free, and it's data.

And thanks for the links, Jaymz.

 

[James Argo]

And since you're here, you may want to check this thread (actually it's right below this thread by the time I type this reply )

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84012

Nice discussion down there...


Jaymz

 

[MiXit-G]

Stick with the fat.

 

[Timanator]

I use separate drives.

I have a 20 gig on a swapable tray that has NTFS with WIndows XP on it.

I have the second Hard drive which houses all my files and music directories(Where I store my tracks and projects) as Fat 32.

If I ever decide I need to use WIn 98 or whatever, I can use my other 20 gig and swap it with the XP NTFS drive and still access my backup drive which is on Fat 32.


No peformance differences, just more or less security differences.

 

[Fusion2]

depends on your OS or software really, 98/fat 2k/me/either xp/ntfs... i like the ease of partitioning with NTFS, here's a link to help you get setup right...

this page (4) outlines a good partition setup for an IDE, DAW....

http://www.icrontic.com/?action=article&id=322&page=4

 

[Codmate]

FAT32 is marginally faster - but it won't make any difference to your recordings.

 

[Fusion2]

there was a big go around at sweetwater about this same topic a while back, in the end the OS was the security factor i believe in that when 98 goes south, it really goes south, not that XP can't but its pretty hard to get it to, 2k is in between, just partitioning your drive will help save your data, [hopefully] running an under powered PSU has cooked a few hard drives/main boards/etc, usualy when the system has added hardware on it, extra HHD, cards, effects, etc...

just a thought...er, precaution...

IMHO encoding a 60mb wav file will up a systms temp to the benchmark temps relm, this sucks on the PSU/system pretty hard from watching the system volt lines in mother board monitor...

excuse the OT blabber, im zoned today...aleriges, pollen "spring"...sheesh over the counter meds

 

[sae]

NTFS is recommended for a number of geeky reasons, but I wanted backward compatibility with my win98 machine so I went with FAT32. No complaints.

If you mean compatability through a network, it don't matter. The only time it would matter would be when you have the same harddrive in the same computer, but then you couldn't use both OS's at the same time.