Difference between FAT32 and NTFS in Operating System

An operating system uses the file systems FAT32 and NTFS. FAT32 is the first of the file systems and is used in earlier OS like DOS and Windows versions before the XP version, whereas NTFS is the successor to FAT32 and is used in newer OS like Windows NT and 2000 and its later versions. The main distinction between FAT32 and NTFS is that the NTFS file system could trace system changes by keeping a journal, but FAT32 does not, even though FAT32 is also utilized in removable media and storage drives. Furthermore, NTFS supports extremely large file and volume sizes and offers efficient data organization.

In this article, you will learn about the difference between the FAT32 and NTFS in the operating system. But before discussing the differences, you must know about the FAT32 and NTFS with their advantages and disadvantages.

What is the FAT32 file system?

FAT32 extends previous file systems that store data in 32-bit chunks. FAT32 is an upgraded version of the FAT16 file system that supports larger media and solves FAT16's constraints. FAT32 was utilized in prior OS like Windows 95 and up to Windows XP. The first file system for the Windows operating system is FAT32, which was created in the 1970s. It was primarily designed for floppy drives that were smaller than 500 K. There are three types of FAT: FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32, and each has a unique file size and disk structure. When the maximum hard drive size was 32 MB, with sectors of 512 K partitions, the FAT file system was initially utilized in MS-DOS. It is commonly found in detachable disks and storage devices.

The maximum file size in a FAT32 drive may not be greater than 4 GB, and FAT32 partitions cannot be larger than 8 TB. The main disadvantage of utilizing FAT32 is that it provides no security. The previous FAT file system version, FAT16, suffers from internal fragmentation and lacks file access protection.

Disk space management of the FAT32 File System

The linked allocation used by the FAT32 file system holds the control data apart from the file system. A disk's file allocation table contains an element for each disk block in an array. The disk block is allocated to a file, and the related FAT element keeps the next disk block address. As a result, the disk block and its FAT component form a unit that has the same data as the disk block through the linked allocation.

The directory entry for a file contains the address of the first disk block, and the FAT element for that disk block contains the address of the second disk block. The specific code to indicate the end of the file is included in the last disk block FAT element.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the FAT32 file system?

There are various advantages and disadvantages of the FAT32 file system. Some advantages and disadvantages of the FAT32 file system are as follows:

Advantages

1. FAT32 enables disk partitions of up to 2 terabytes. FAT16 partitions can only be up to 2GB in size.
2. The minimum cluster size for partitions under 8GB remains a modest 4KB, so FAT32 utilizes far less disc space for huge partitions.
3. It performs effectively with partitions of 200 MB.
4. It is widely used as the primary partition on multi-boot systems since it is compatible with several operating systems.

Disadvantages

1. It is an insecure file system.
2. The partitions larger than 200 MB may decrease the performance.
3. Fragmentation is a risk.

What is the NTFS file system?

NTFS stands for New Technology File System. It was first released in 1993 and is now utilized in newer operating systems such as Windows NT and 2000, and 2 later versions of Windows. It is a more robust, high-performance journaling file system that contains ACLs, multi-user access control and several other features that make it appropriate for use with a protected OS. NTFS features data recovery, multi-streaming, fault tolerances, security, enhanced file size, and file systems with UNICODE names. ExFAT can be used when the NTFS file system is not a viable option due to data-structure complexity, but a bigger file-size limit than the conventional FAT32 file system is required.

Disk Space Management of NTFS File System

The NTFS file system is not dependent on different disk sector sizes. It allocates disc space using the cluster concept, which is a set of contiguous sectors, and the cluster could contain 2n number of sections. A volume is a logical partition on a disk that uses a bitmap file to represent the allocated and unoccupied clusters in the volume. There is also a file called a bad cluster file that keeps track of unusable clusters. A volume set allows you to exceed the partition's capacity of up to 32 volumes.

The master file table (MFT), boot sector, and other user and system data are all part of the NTFS volume. The master file table (MFT) is comparable to a FAT table in that it stores all the information about the volume's files and directories. Every volume can be booted because it has a boot sector.

Advantages and Disadvantages of the NTFS File System

There are various advantages and disadvantages of the NTFS file system. Some advantages and disadvantages of the NTFS file system are as follows:

Advantages

1. The NTFS file system can handle up to 2TB of hard disks. Unlike FAT, the performance of NTFS is unaffected by increasing disk size.
2. NTFS is more stable than FAT32 and provides faster processing. You can also categorize file attributes as non-resident or resident. The resident characteristics are kept in MFT, whereas the non-resident attributes are kept outside of MFT. If the file is smaller than 1KB, all properties are preserved, and the MFT is loaded when Windows starts. If you want to search for specific folders and files, the contents are already in the cache, resulting in faster access.
3. The NTFS file system may automatically repair physical and logical disk problems. It validates the sector before each read and writes operation. It will report any errors that occur during the reading process. It will select the right sector to write the data if a problem happens during the writing process. It will also indicate the damaged region so that you don't use it again.

Disadvantages

1. The NTFS file system needs a lot of extra space to work. The data storage devoted to the file system itself is referred to as "space overhead", and it can't store other types of data. As a result, you will lose some storage space if you format a drive that uses the NTFS file system.
2. The incompatibility of the NTFS file system is one of its biggest flaws. It is designed to work with Windows 2000 and later operating system versions. Previous versions of Windows are incompatible. Media devices like digital cameras, DVD players and portable devices like Android smartphones do not support the file system.
3. There are some restrictions on file naming. The directory and file names can only be 255 characters While capital letters may be used in file names, the system does not distinguish between lowercase and capital letters.
4. The NTFS file system cannot be used to format a floppy disk due to the space overhead needed. Floppy disk drives are popular on older systems running previous Windows versions.
5. Mac computers cannot write NTFS formatted storage without third-party software assistance.

Key differences between the FAT32 and NTFS file system

There are various key differences between the FAT32 and NTFS file systems. Some main differences between the FAT32 and NTFS file systems are as follows:

1. The FAT32 file system is simple. On the other hand, the NTFS structure is quite complex.
2. The NTFS performance is comparatively better than FAT32 because it also offers fault tolerance.
3. The NTFS file system is equipped with security and encryption. In contrast to FAT32, that doesn't offer much encryption or security.
4. The NTFS file system provides capabilities such as journaling and compression that FAT32 does not.
5. It is quite simple to transfer one FAT file system to another without losing data. On the other hand, the NTFS conversion is tough to achieve.
6. Compared to the FAT32 file system, NTFS may allow bigger file and volume sizes and longer file names.
7. In the case of NTFS, files are accessible more quickly. In contrast, the FAT32 is slower than NTFS.
8. FAT32 File system was introduced in 1977. In contrast, the NTFS was introduced in 1973.
9. The FAT32 file system doesn't support Active Directory in Windows 2000 or Windows 2003. In contrast, the NTFS file system requires using Windows 2000 or 2003 Active Directory or shared cluster drives.
10. FAT32 is a standard file system because it works with more Windows versions. On the other hand, the most recent versions of Windows, including Windows XP, Windows 2000, and higher, support NTFS.

Head-to-Head Comparison between the FAT32 and NTFS File System

There are various head-to-head comparisons between the FAT32 and NTFS file systems. Some differences between the FAT32 and NTFS file systems are as follows:

Conclusion

The FAT32 and NTFS are both file systems. The NTFS file system contains new technology which offers better features than the FAT32 file system, including reliability, security and access control, storage efficiency, and enhanced size and name of the file. In contrast, the FAT32 is still in use due to its compatibility.