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Fat32 File

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by eagl

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I'm very new to computers and even newer to windows, which is why I've been studying very hard on the subject. I came across an article about the Fat32 File and it suggests that I convert from Fat16 to Fat32 because it would help windows run faster and better. Can anyone explain the pro's and con's to this? Would it be beneficial to a "NEWBIE" like me? I have a new Pentium lll 533 with win98 SE and have only one computer for home use mostly. Please reply in easy step by step instructions in easy to understand english. Thanks Peggy.

13 replies

by george.lostia

FYI: I Believe that Win98 by Default is FAT32 if you Right Click on your Hard drive from My Computer and go to properties you should be able to see what type of file system tou are using.

by eagl

Sorry but this doesn't help me out much at all, remember I'm a newbie and understand nothing at all about PC lingo. Thanks anyway eagl.

by earnest

One major difference between fat16 and fat32 is fat16 drives are limited to 2gig. Fat32 is in the terabytes. Fat32 supposedly is faster access time. But many older programs can't recognise fat32, especially last version of dos. This means if you can't get you fat32 os to run you loose some troubleshooting / repair tools. If you make a win98 starup disk this helps. I am not sure but I don't think nt sees fat32 either. Nt is limited to hpfs, ntfs, fat16, I think.
Give some thought to converting, but I think it is a good idea.
This inability comes into play also when you dual boot. It just makes it more difficult to navigate your hard drive.

Bo

by eagl

I'm sorry but please remember I'm a newbie and any tech info does me no good, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me. thanks anyway, eagl.

by eagl

I must thank you very much, I think of all the replys I got, you must be the only one who paid any attention to the fact that I'm a "NEWBIE" and understand absolutely nothing about PC tech lingo. But the websites you gave me were very informative and I was able to print some stuff out and study it at my leisure. Once again, thank you; yours gratefully eagl.

by auman

In general, you should convert to FAT32 when you are using a newer system with a large Hard Drive. It allows for greater than 2GB partitions and does a better job in general of allocation and management. Keep in mind though that you should keep a98 dos bootable in case you need to boot into the machine. 95a and older DOS bootables will not allow you to read a FAT32 partition from the boot disk...

by eagl

Sorry but I'm a newbie and don't understand any PC tech lingo but thanks for trying; eagl.

by milky

FAT means File Allocation Table. It is the way your computer devides your hard drive into sectors. FAT or FAT16 uses 16 bit technology and FAT32 use 32 bit technology. The reason why it's better is that a 32bit computer system will obviously work better with FAT32 since both are 32bit. It also gives you more hard drive space than FAT16.
Finally, the computer will read FAT32 faster and will use it more efficiently.

by eagl

Thank you for reading the part in my question about me being a "NEWBIE" and answering accordingly. I appreciate the simple english as to what Fat32 means. Hopefully one day, I'll be able to ask a question without feeling a little stupid about beingso new at everything. Again, thank you very much; Gratefully Yours; "newbie"--eagl.

by s6xtyn9ne

Really, this is going to depend on your HDD. If you have a small hdd (about 6 gigs or less), and you wouldnt mind having more than one drive (they partition to 2047 megs or 2 gigs), then i would go with FAT 16 because it is faster than fat32. It is up to 8x faster than fat32. Fat 16 utilizes a larger cluster size. It uses 32kb clusters where as fat32 uses 4kb, but that is scalable. However with fat16, there is more slack, or wasted space. Fat32 allows you to utilize more of the hdd because it doesnt have as much wasted space. If you have a larger drive, you will want to use Fat32 just because i dont think you will want a ton of little 2 gig drives. Hope this helps and good luck!

by eagl

Sorry, but I'm a newbie and have no idea what you're trying to tell me. I don't even know what you mean by HDD, so I got lost right away. But thanks for answering anyhow; eagl.

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