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This is a free essay sample about file systems used by Microsoft Windows and their main features. The paper summarizes their advantages and disadvantages, differences and similarities.

 File Systems Used by Windows 

 A file system is the consolidated structure in which files are stored, named and organized. Basically, Microsoft Windows operation system deals with three main file systems – FAT, FAT32 and NTFS. A file system can be directly selected while installing Windows, while formatting or installing new hard drive. FAT system works properly under all Windows versions and Microsoft DOS. FAT32 system works with all Windows after version 95 OSR2, while NTFS is available only under Windows NT (with Service Pack 4), 2000 and XP. Of course each file system has own advantages and disadvantages. So as to choose the most suitable file system it is essential to understand the major differences between them, their advantages and disadvantages. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the above specified file systems used by Microsoft Windows and emphasizes the main differences and similarities between them.

FAT is an abbreviation for ‘file allocation table’ (Microsoft Windows XP help). Firstly it was used by MS-DOS. The structure of FAT volume can be described in the following way: Partition Boot Sector -> FAT -> copy of FAT -> Root Folder -> Other folders and files. Copy of FAT is used to protect data from being damaged or lost. The minimum disk size for this file system is 1.4 megabytes (just as a floppy disk), maximum disk size is 4 gigabytes, and the maximum file size is limited with 2 gigabytes. FAT volume can be easily converted to NTFS one from Windows operating systems that support NTFS file system, but there is a probability of data loss.

Thus it will be a good practice to back up data before starting the data translation. The root directory and system files must be stored in a fixed location in order to start operation system properly. Otherwise there is no any guarantee of successful operating system performance and start. Cluster size is determined depending on the disk volume size, maximum clusters’ number is 65,535 in FAT system. After each operation of writing on the disk FAT must be updated and further disk read heads must be positioned to the zero track. Such operation consumes users’ time uselessly. Anybody can access the FAT volume – in other words such volume can not be locked or protected from external access. The limitation on the length of the filename totals 8 symbols and 3 more symbols can be used to define file extension. Extended mode increases the length of the file name up to 255 symbols.

FAT32 is a newer version of FAT which provides the usage of more capacious hard drives and more efficient space allocation because of smaller cluster size. The structure of FAT32 volume is almost the same as on usual FAT volumes. The minimum disk size for this file system is 512 megabytes, maximum disk size is limited with 2 terabytes, and limitation on file size is 4 gigabytes. But there is an exception in this file system under Windows XP maximum disk capacity is limited with 32 gigabytes. FAT 32 can be freely converted to NTFS and as in the case of FAT converting to NTFS it is better to backup data before processing.

Maximum clusters number is 268,435,456. The length of the file name can be up to 255. FAT 32 does not have built-in security and is hard to recover after system failures.

NTFS is an abbreviation to network file system. The structure of NTFS volume can be described in the following way: Partition Boot Sector -> Master File Table (MFT) -> System Files -> File Area. MFT contains information about all the files and folders on the NTFS volume. The minimum disk size for this file system is 10 megabytes, maximum disk size is more than 2 terabytes, and maximum file size is limited only by the capacity of the volume which contains that file. Unfortunately some programs can not work properly with NTFS and thus it is important to check their compatibility before choosing this file system. NTFS can not be converted to FAT or FAT32 and the only way to do this is to format this volume once again. Maximum clusters number is nearly unlimited. The length of the file name can be up to 255 symbols and can include almost all standard symbols. The most outstanding innovations and advantages of NTFS over FAT and FAT32 are the following: alternate streams, compression, support of Unicode symbols, object permissions, built-in security, high recoverability and domain support (www.ntfs.com). Therefore NTFS is more reliable and introduces many useful innovations for its users. After system failures it is very easy to recover it, but there is an exception – if either the master boot record or the boot sector is corrupted you might not get access to the data on that volume.

NTFS also can perform cluster remapping – it is useful if there are bad sectors on your drive. This procedure can be described in the following way: after detection of bad sector NTFS dynamically remaps the cluster with the bad sector and allocates a new cluster for the data, but this operation is applicable only for writing operations. NTFS can easily limit access to the data by using permissions and assigning privileges for users. It is almost impossible to get access to such data without corresponding permission because NTFS uses 32bit key sequence to access the encrypted data.

Moreover Windows 2000 support more advanced file system – NTFS5. It has much more advantages even over usual NTFS: encryption (even if somebody would get access to the encrypted data he could not read it), disk quotas (system administrators can limit disk space usage), reparse points, mounted volumes, sparse files, distributed link tracking and some other.

To summarize this overview I want to highlight the most important advantages and disadvantages of each file system concerned and make some recommendations about them:
1) FAT can be used with very old computers and with small hard drives (under 200 megabytes). Recovering data from FAT volumes is problematic, space allocation is ineffective, and security level is very low. I think FAT is just a remnant of antiquity.
2) FAT 32 is relatively good file system although it has some significant disadvantages. It can be used with not very large hard drives. FAT32 uses hard disk effectively enough.
3) NTFS is the most advanced file system which has more advantages than disadvantages. It can be used with large hard drives most effectively although lack of compatibility with old Windows versions. NTFS uses the most advanced methods of reading and writing data, and thus NTFS is the fastest and the most reliable file system ever used by Microsoft Windows.

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words: 1,102