NTFS 4 in Software

Creator QR Code in Software NTFS 4

NTFS 4, originally called new technology file system (NTFS), was introduced with the Windows NT OS NTFS 4 is a 32-bit file system, which means it supports large capacities and small cluster sizes NTFS 4 also includes native file compression, so files and folders can be compressed individually without using a third-party utility NTFS 4 allows you to set access permissions on individual files and folders and supports a spanned disk (known as a volume set in Windows NT), a partition that is made up of space on more than one physical disk This allows you to create partitions that exceed the size of a single hard drive and to create a partition out of the extra space on multiple drives Windows 9x can use and access FAT16 or FAT32 partitions Windows NT can access FAT16 or NTFS 4 partitions, and Windows 2000 and XP can access FAT16, FAT32, NTFS 4, and NTFS 5 partitions When you mount an NTFS 4 drive in Windows 2000 or XP it will automatically be upgraded to NTFS 5

NTFS 5 is a new file system, released in Windows 2000 It has the same features as NTFS 4 but includes several improvements, such as native encryption NTFS 5 also allows administrators to set disk quotas for network users NTFS 5 can be used by Windows 2000 and XP only

It is important that you know the differences between the four file systems discussed here, both in your career as a technician and in preparing for the A+

exam The FAT file systems are typically used in the Windows 9x line, and the NTFS file systems are used in the NT line, including Windows 2000 and XP

HPFS, for high-performance file system, is traditionally used in OS/2 systems OS/2 stands for Operating System/2 and is IBM s native OS HPFS cannot be used with Windows 9x or 2000 HPFS can support volumes up to 64GB and results in less slack space than FAT due to its use of much smaller storage units (single sectors rather than larger clusters) It s very unlikely that you will encounter HPFS either on the exam or in the field However, there are still some very large companies that use HPFS and OS/2 out there HPFS uses a different disk structure from FAT file systems While FAT systems use a single file allocation table in the first cluster of the volume to keep an index of the volume s contents, HPFS volumes are divided into 16 bands Each band includes its own index, meaning that the drive s read/write head travels less when accessing files, and file access is much faster It also means that volumes become less fragmented That is, fragmentation can occur within a single band, but it is unlikely to occur across the entire volume

Windows 9x includes a converter utility, CVTEXE, that allows you to convert existing FAT16 volumes to FAT32 without loss of information This is an important utility, because the conversion of a file system type typically requires repartitioning and reformatting of the volume When you partition and/or format a volume, all of that volume s data is lost To use the Windows 98 drive converter utility, click Start, then select Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Drive Converter It s important to note that, although

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this utility will convert from FAT16 to FAT32 without data loss, the opposite is not true; this is a one-way conversion utility To revert back from FAT32 to FAT16, the volume must be repartitioned and reformatted Windows NT, 2000, and XP do not provide a separate conversion utility