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Windows Vista

File systems

• This article introduces notes relating to file systems used in products by Microsoft. The article was created some time ago and this updated version gives you information relating to Windows Vista.
• File system defines the way that data is stored on the disk. File system is created upon a process called formatting. Every new hard disk must usually be partitioned and formatted before being used in the system. Many other articles are dedicated to these processes.

Basic types of the file systems

• FAT16 (File Allocation Table) - Support from most operating systems (DOS, WIN95,WIN98, NT, 2000, OS/2). Maximum size of the partition can be only 4GB (Fdisk in Win95,98 and Dos supports only 2GB). Support of long file name by length of 255 characters. Required if you want dual-boot Windows NT with another OS (DOS, WIN95).
• FAT32 (File Allocation Table) - Not compatible with NT4 system. Fast file system designated for Windows 95 OSR2, 98 and 2000. 32bit structure. Using smaller size clusters, large saving size compared to FAT16. (Up to 2 TB). Maximum file size is 4GB. It is recommended for portable media used in different OS.
• NTFS (NT File System) - Used only for NT. It is unreadable in DOS, WIN95 and WIN 98 systems. It can enable local security (possible to lock up the files for another user) and file compression (Windows NT Explorer - Properties - General - compress or utility compact.exe) New in Windows 2000 is support for Disk Quotas and Encryption. In a partition larger than 400MB it is efficient and quicker than FAT, but it has large overhead (4-5MB NTFS vs 1MB FAT). Up disk to 2TB (Theoretical 16Exabytes). Supports sector sparing, also known as hot fixing, on SCSI hard drives (maps and mark bad sectors). Support long file name by length of 255 characters. If you want to convert FAT to NTFS you can use utility convert.exe (cannot convert NTFS to FAT). Example convert - convert.exe c: /fs:ntfs
• HPFS (High Performance File System) - Older system used in IBM and Windows NT 3.51 operating systems. For installation of NT 4 it is necessary to convert file system to NTFS. It is not supported in NT 4.
• CDFS (Compact Disc File System) - Used for recording and reading the Compact Disc (CD).

• Some features are only available in some operating systems. Some other features that are dependent on NTFS will be introduced in forthcoming articles.

Windows Vista

• The features are similar to those in Windows XP, but they include many new tools and properties. NTFS restricted permissions are applied on most folders and so there can appear problems with accessing them from the network or Windows XP, if not manually configured.
• NTFS system is required for installation. If you want to use the existing FAT32 partition for installation, you have to convert it to NTFS.
• As a new feature, the size of a disk partition can be changed without deleting or formatting it.

Windows XP

• NTFS is preferred. This system enables you to format the disk using FAT32 to the size of 32GB; if bigger, you will only be offered NTFS in the options.

Windows 2000

• Support of all operating systems except an older one - HPFS. It is recommended to use the new version of NTFS files. For using at home possibility of FAT32 usage.
• As well as for Windows NT 4.0 it is possible to convert FAT system to NTFS using "Convert" command. (unfortunately, it doesn't work to the contrary)

Windows NT 4.0

• For the support of FAT32 it is necessary to install Support
• For higher security NTFS is recommended because it enables to set up the security for particular files.
• For reading the disks from NTFS system from Windows 2000 you must have installed Service Pack 4 or later.

Windows 98 SE

• For reading the files in NTFS system you have to install NTFS support for Windows 98 which you find on www.winternals.com page.

DOS 6.22

• Not possible to read FAT32 file system. Support of older FAT16.
• For reading NTFS possible to use NTFS File System Driver for DOS.

How may it be with the file size on the disk with different file systems?

1. "Test" directory (13274 files in 100 folders, size 481MB)
2. "Film" MPEG file, size 675MB

Default Value of Clusters

Default Value of Clusters (new / Windows 2003 Server)

Access to NTFS in case of disk breakdown.

• Transfer the disk to another computer where the OS Windows NT have been installed.
• Transfer the disk to a computer with Windows 98 where the support for NTFS has been installed.
• Use the diskette for DOS with NTFS driver.

• All the supports for NTFS in DOS or Windows98, or FAT32 in Windows NT 4.0 are from another producers. Microsoft company does not offer such a solution officially (otherwise they would be already in the system and you wouldn't need to be looking for them in another companies)
• In 2006, Microsoft acquired the Winternals company (products for NTFS support and some other tools for administrators).

How to identify used file system?

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6000
Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: L-PC

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 E FAT32 Partition 16 GB Healthy
Volume 1 D LRMBVOL_CS_ UDF DVD-ROM 1861 MB Healthy
Volume 2 C NTFS Partition 19 GB Healthy System

DISKPART> select volume 2
DISKPART> filesystem

Current File System

Type : NTFS
Allocation Unit Size : 4096

File Systems Supported for Formatting

Type : NTFS (Default)
Allocation Unit Sizes: 512, 1024, 2048, 4096 (Default), 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K

Type : FAT32
Allocation Unit Sizes: 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K (Default), 32K, 64K
 

Diskpart

Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc)

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Web links»Operating Systems»Windows Vista (Longhorn)

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