Criteria |
NTFS5 |
NTFS |
FAT32 |
FAT16 |
FAT12 |
Operting System |
Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows 2003 Server |
Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows 2003 Server |
DOS v7 and higher Windows 98 Windows ME Windows 2000 Windows
XP |
DOS All versions of Microsoft Windows |
DOS All versions of Microsoft Windows |
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Limitations |
Max Volume Size |
2TB |
2TB |
32GB for all OS. 2TB for some OS |
2GB for all OS. 4GB for some OS |
16MB |
Max Files on Volume |
Nearly Unlimited |
Nearly Unlimited |
4194304 |
65536 |
|
Max File Size |
Limit Only by Volume Size |
Limit Only by Volume Size |
4GB minus 2 Bytes |
2GB (Limit Only by Volume Size) |
16MB (Limit Only by Volume Size) |
Max Clusters Number |
Nearly Unlimited |
Nearly Unlimited |
4177918 |
65520 |
4080 |
Max File Name Length |
Up to 255 |
Up to 255 |
Up to 255 |
Standard - 8.3 Extended - up to
255 |
Up to 254 |
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File System Features |
Unicode File Names |
Unicode Character Set |
Unicode Character Set |
System Character Set |
System Character Set |
System Character Set |
System Records Mirror |
MFT Mirror File |
MFT Mirror File |
Second Copy of FAT |
Second Copy of FAT |
Second Copy of FAT |
Boot Sector Location |
First and Last Sectors |
First and Last Sectors |
First Sector and Copy in Sector #6 |
First Sector |
First Sector |
File Attributes |
Standard and Custom |
Standard and Custom |
Standard Set |
Standard Set |
Standard Set |
Alternate Streams |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Compression |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Encryption |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Object Permissions |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Disk Quotas |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Sparse Files |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Reparse Points |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Volume Mount Points |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Overall Performance |
Built-In Security |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Recoverability |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Performance |
Low on small volumes High on
Large |
Low on small volumes High on Large |
High on small volumes Low on
large |
Highest on small volumes Low on large |
High |
Disk Space Economy |
Max |
Max |
Average |
Minimal on large volumes |
Max |
Fault Tolerance |
Max |
Max |
Minimal |
Average |
Average |
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