FAT32 vs. NTFS on MacBook Pro - Windows XP

Question

Level 1

18 points

FAT32 vs. NTFS on MacBook Pro - Windows XP

I have a brand spanking new MAcBook Pro and as I prepared to install BootCamp and Windows XP Pro, I have a fundamental question.

I plan on installing MacDrive to allow the Windows machine to be able to read, write, save files on the OS X machine partition. What format should I use for the Windows machine FAT32 or NTFS if I want the OS X machine to be able to read, write, and save files on the XP machine?

My plans are to allow Windows to have approximately 40 gigs of space on the drive to allow for all the various corporate applications that I must have access to that are "Windows only" apps. But would like to maintain all my files (My Documents) in only one location but have full access to them on either machine with MacDrive on the Windows machine.

Can anyone offer some thoughts on how best to do this and what the trade offs are on FAT32 versus NTFS.....I don't need extra encryption, etc.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Apr 12, 2006 2:57 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Apr 12, 2006 3:00 PM in response to rfkirk

If you want full read/write compatability, you need to go with FAT32.

The downside is that FAT32 does not support encrypted filesystems (most people don't need it anyway), NTFS permissions, large files (no DVD rips).

Reply

Answer 2

Bob Maher

Level 3

680 points

Apr 12, 2006 3:50 PM in response to moleverine

Sure, you can Rip DVD's all day with FAT 32 - I do it. In fact, that is one of the benefits of XP on the MBP - is it is so fast! When I rep a DVD, my file is rarely larger than 500MB, which is way below the limit...

Transfering files from Mac to XP is the reason why I went with FAT32.

Bob

Reply

Answer 3

macusque

Level 1

20 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:18 PM in response to Bob Maher

So, is there any drawback in using FAT32 ?

Quad 2.5 - PB 12" 1.5 - Just ordered: MBP 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Reply

Answer 4

Bill_R

Level 2

325 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:27 PM in response to rfkirk

I see you are talking about a 40GB partition for Windows. According to Apple:

If the partition is 32 GB or smaller, you can use either FAT or NTFS. If it's larger than 32 GB, then you can only format it using NTFS. Mac OS X can read and write FAT volumes, but only read NTFS volumes. Refer to the Windows XP documentation if you are not sure which best suits your needs.

NTFS vs. FAT: Which Is Right for You?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/russel_october01.mspx

Reply

Answer 5

Bob Maher

Level 3

680 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:28 PM in response to macusque

No - not really. You can't have a single file over 4GB's in FAT32, but that's about it. IMHO, anyway.

What Bill says below is correct, BTW, I didn't really see that before...

Bob

Reply

Answer 6

djames42

Level 1

80 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:32 PM in response to Bob Maher

Sure, you can Rip DVD's all day with FAT 32 - I do it.

It depends on how you rip tho'. If you use something like dvddecrypter to create an ISO, then you're very likely going to run into the 2g limitation. However, if you rip in file mode (recreating the video_ts file structure), then you should be fine; I don't think any of the individual VOB files go above 1g (I've never seen any that have at least).

Reply

Answer 7

rfkirk Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:40 PM in response to rfkirk

I think I ahve the essence of the solution now....many thanks.

I will partition the disk and make it FAT32 but limit its size to 32gig. Since I plan on using Windows only for corporate apps, I don't think ripping a DVD is going to happen, if it does, it will be a personal situation and I will just do that on OS X.

I have heard two different responses to the size per file on FAT32, 2gig and 4gig. Does anyone know off hand what the per file limit is?

Again, many thanks.

Bob

Reply

Answer 8

Bob Maher

Level 3

680 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:15 PM in response to rfkirk

If you get this before you start - you might want to consider much less than 32GB. I don't think you need more than 20 for most daily dasks, corporate or not. I am running all of CS2, MS Office, and a slew of other apps on my MBP, and I only have 20GB's partioned for XP.

Bob

Reply

Answer 9

rfkirk Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:23 PM in response to rfkirk

Very true now that I think about it. Once I move all my iTunes files, pictures, etc. over to OS X, and eliminate all of the duplicate apps that I won't need on XP, I can live with a much smaller XP partition than 32gig.

BUT, what happens if I need more, is there an easy way to resize the partitions once they are established.

Bob

Reply

Answer 10

Bob Maher

Level 3

680 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:26 PM in response to rfkirk

No Easy Way - I'm sorry. You would have to delete the partition, and then start from scratch.

Now, From Finder in Mac, I made a duplicate of my XP partition, so it will be easy to replicate if required...

Bob

Reply

Answer 11

rfkirk Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:33 PM in response to Bob Maher

Will I be able to use Norton Ghost while in XP to make a bit level image backup of the XP partition, then delete the XP partition in OS X, resize it, then restore the XP image backup to a larger partition?

Did you say that you made a backup of the XP partition while in OS X? is this the same as using Ghost?

Bob

Reply

Answer 12

Bob Maher

Level 3

680 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:45 PM in response to rfkirk

We were actually playing around with trying to get XP to be bootable or usable directly from a Firewire drive. It didn't work, but we did find, with a simple copy function, we were able to make a duplicate (exact) of the XP partition. Now, this does not replace re-installing windows, but after we installed XP again, we went back to Mac, copied the saved files from the FW drive, and all worked as before.

Bob

Reply

Answer 13

Oben

Level 1

65 points

Apr 12, 2006 9:53 PM in response to rfkirk

There is one disadvantage of FAT over NTFS, and that is the lack of journalling; what the file system is doing is not recorded so in the case of a sudden crash the file system does need repair through exhaustive searching that can take a while and/or trash the partition making it unusable. Rare though.

I have FAT32 though- 15GB should be plenty really if its only a seldom used thing.

You can always convert a FAT32 into an NTFS through admin tools in XP; but not the other way around.

Reply

Answer 14

Apr 12, 2006 10:19 PM in response to macusque

I have to disagree with Bob on this one.

FAT is wasteful of space, lacks access permissions, has no journaling, is slower, has no Unicode file names and other shortcomings.

Another factor to consider is that with the Boot Camp drivers still in beta, one might expect Windows to be less stable than it will be in its release form. This means the lack of journaling in FAT may well compromise your Windows file system's integrity.

Check out this table: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfsvsfat.htm

I strongly recommend NTFS unless the ability to read Windows files while running Mac OS is very important. Keep in mind you can use a flash-RAM disk (formatted for FAT, of course) to move files back and forth. It's far from seamless, but you needn't compromise your Windows setup.

My 2¢, of course.

Randall Schulz

iMac 20" Core Duo; MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Reply