Choosing the Appropriate File System to Use in a Given Situation

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Windows NT Workstation 4.0 has support for two file systems: FAT and NTFS. Windows NT 3.51 contained support for HPFS (the High Performance File System used with OS/2), but that support has been eliminated in the latest release.

Windows NT 4.0 supports the use of either or both the NTFS and FAT file systems. An important decision in planning your Windows NT Workstation environment is which file system to use. Which file system you use on each workstation or each partition within a workstation depends on the needs of your particular environment. Some of the issues to consider when choosing a file system are the following:

• Performance
• Size of partition
• Recoverability
• Dual-boot capabilities
• Security
• Compressing files

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Further Information

• Using Disk Administrator
• Default Drive Letter Assignment
• The High Performance File System (HPFS)
• FAT
• Using NTFS
• Comparison of FAT and NTFS
• Using Compression
• Implementing Security
• Choosing Dual-Boot Scenarios
• Moving or Copying Files