Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Windows 2000 and Fat32 file system

0 helpful
11 replies

by deans

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I have several users who have Windows 2000 operating system on their desktops with a FAT 32 file system, running network printers from a NT 4 server. The users are experiencing various network printer problems, i.e when printing photos only a part of the photo is printed, sometimes the print job hangs indefinitly and the system has to be rebooted and general operating system slowdown. Most of the users are using Compaq Deskpro PC's (PIII-800MHZ). I think that part of their performance issues isbecause they are using a FAT32 file system with a Windows 2000 operating system. However, our help desk dosen't thing that this is an issue and even suggest that the FAT32 file system is better that NTFS. I think that all the users systems should beconverted to a NTFS file system to help maximize performance. I guess what I want to know is am I correct or is the help desk correct with regards to this issue? I am aware there are many things that affect PC performance but I think this would as least help a little and eliminate one performance issue.

11 replies

by dmiles

I would agree with the Help Desk the file system is a structured of how files are allocated on the disk and how disk space is used.

File systems will effect performance,yet NTFS is structured around security,they may be using FAT32 on the W2K computers to share resources on Windows 98 computers

Windows NT4 cannot access a FAT32 file system

by qballrail

I disagree with soulrider. NTFS is by far superior to FAT32. Although it's space usage is not as efficient, the other benefits more than make up for that minor shortfall. NTFS is more stable and secure than FAT32. FAT is an ancient file system and should be retired, in my opinion. Especially with the advent of NTFS5, the added benefit of Disk Quotas. Unfortunately, FAT32 is a necessary evil but whenever possible I will implement NTFS. For that reason, however, many corporates are migrating to XP which will run and recognize FAT file systems and run 16-bit apps almost flawlessly. Should your company migrate to solely NTFS, I would recommend XP because it is just plain more versitile than 2000. XP takes the best of 98 and W2K and puts them together in a superb environment. Sure, it has it's bugs and hiccups, what doesn't MS release that doesn't.

Unfortunately, help desk personnel are not always as knowledgeable as we would hope. Many times, the help desk is manned with people posessing less than a year's experience and worse, 6 months or less!

by hjs

Ok here is the deal. I have no idea why your " help desk " would say something as uninformed as that. NTFS is twice as efficient as FAT32 and the security is no contest. Here is the problem. If you convert from Fat to NTFS you will loose some of both of these features. The only way to do it correctly is to start from scratch. Now for your printing problem. This is a driver issue. The drivers are different fron NT to W2K.

by thechas

The printing problems are related to the print server and/or printer drivers installed on the user systems, and not the file system on the PCs.

Another possability, is that the image files are to large for network traffic, or system timeouts.

Switching to ntsf will not improve system speed.
The advantages of ntsf over FAT32 are;

A smaller file allocation unit, however, more disk overhead.

Built in file security.

Better error recovery.

Dissadvantages include that ntsf drives cannot be easily accessed from DOS.

I would tend to concor with your IT department that while there are some advantages to going to ntsf, there will not be a performance improvement. Nor, will the change in file systems correct the printing problems.

Chas

This discussion is closed to new replies.