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Tech:
File Systems (By Mohammad Yousef):

What is a file system? You might've noticed it in your drives' properties. A file system is an operating system's overall structure in which files are named, stored, and organized. If you're a Windows XP user, you've got 3 choices for a file system: NTFS, FAT, and FAT32. But what's the difference between them? Read on as I give you a detailed review of the file systems and tell you (what I think is) your best choice.

Following are Microsoft's Windows Glossary definitions for each of the 3 file systems:

File Allocation Table (FAT): A file system used by MS-DOS and other Windows-based operating systems to organize and manage files. The file allocation table (FAT) is a data structure that Windows creates when you format a volume by using the FAT or FAT32 file systems. Windows stores information about each file in the FAT so that it can retrieve the file later.
FAT32: A derivative of the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes and larger volumes than FAT, which results in more efficient space allocation on FAT32 volumes.
NTFS: An advanced file system that provides performance, security, reliability, and advanced features that are not found in any version of FAT. For example, NTFS guarantees volume consistency by using standard transaction logging and recovery techniques. If a system fails, NTFS uses its log file and checkpoint information to restore the consistency of the file system. In Windows 2000 and Windows XP, NTFS also provides advanced features such as file and folder permissions, encryption, disk quotas, and compression.

As it might seem obvious from the definitions, NTFS is your best option. Wait for the sequence of this thread... You'll see if NTFS is apt for you.  ;)

Tech:
NTFS is the best file system for large drives. Unlike FAT and FAT32, performance with NTFS isn't corrupted as drive size increases.
One of the major security features in NTFS is encryption or, in other words, the process of disguising a message or data in such a way as to hide its substance.
Another feature in NTFS is disk quotas. It gives you the ability to monitor and control the amount of disk space used by each user.
Using NTFS, you can keep access control on files and folders and support limited accounts. In FAT and FAT32, all files and folders are accessible by all users no matter what their account type is.
Domains can be used to tweak security options while keeping administration simple.
Compression available in NTFS enables you to compress files, folders, or whole drives when you're running out of disk space.
Removable media (such as tapes) are made more accessible through the Remote Storage feature.
Recovery logging helps you restore information quickly if power failures or other system problems occur.
However, there are 2 drawbacks for NTFS. Old software might not run on NTFS properly. Secondly, if you're going to run an earlier version of Windows along with Windows XP, you'll need to have a FAT or FAT32 as the start-up partition. The reason is that most (not all) earlier versions of Windows can't access a partition with the latest version of NTFS.

So now, you should have enough knowledge regarding file systems to know whether you want to opt for NTFS or not. If you're interested in switching your file system to NTFS, stay tuned for the third and last part in which I'll guide you to convert your file system to NTFS.

(by Mohammad Yousef)

BBFI:
One more thing to mention.  There is one slight downside to NTFS.  NTFS drives are slightly slower than FAT32 ones.   :-\

RejZoR:
No they're not. NTFS has lower fragmentation ratio. I'm using NTFS partition which is compressed with lossless filesystem compression and i see only little slowdown (because its compressed). If it's not compressed,than speed is the same as on FAT32.
Also NTFS has less Slack Space (lost free space).

BBFI:
PC Pitstop

--- Quote ---One or more partitions are using the NTFS file system. Although this file system offers many good features such as encryption, security, and improved reliability, it is often slower than the FAT32 file system. However, we do not advise switching back to FAT32 just to increase disk performance scores.
--- End quote ---

My results from test -

Cached speed -
NTFS - 100.03 MB/s
FAT32 - 75.49 MB/s

Uncached speed -
NTFS - 0.96 MB/s
FAT32 - 2.9 MB/s

So, it appears that the NTFS is faster when cached, but slower when uncached.  :o

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