It also means that you are limited to 4GB files. This means that you're limited to 2TB FAT32 partitions if you want to use a 4TB drive. Look for NTFS-3G driver support on your Linux support page to see if it's built in.įAT32 file size support tops out at 4GB and volume size tops out at 2TB. NTFS on Linux systems is spotty for both read and write operations. There are other hacks and workarounds for NTFS on the Mac, but in any case NTFS is only semi-compatible with OS X. Mac OS X 10.3 and beyond have NFTS read capabilities, but writing to a NTFS volume requires a third party software utility like Paragon NTFS for Mac. NTFS, on the other hand, is fully read/write compatible with Windows from Windows NT 3.1 and Windows XP up to and including Windows 8. Windows 7 and 8 default to NTFS format on new PCs.įAT32 is read/write compatible with a majority of recent and recently obsolete operating systems, including DOS, most flavors of Windows (up to and including 8), Mac OS X, and many flavors of UNIX-descended operating systems, including Linux and FreeBSD.

Microsoft introduced NTFS in 1993, as a component of the corporate-oriented Windows NT 3.1 and then Windows 2000, though it didn't become common on consumer PCs until Windows XP in 2001. NTFS (New Technology Files System) is the newer drive format. FAT had been the standard format for floppy disks and hard drives all through the DOS years, and versions of Windows up to and including Windows 8. It eventually found its way on the IBM PC's PC-DOS in 1981, and carried over to MS-DOS when that became a standalone product. FAT32 is the most common version of the FAT (File Allocation Table) file system created back in 1977 by Microsoft. NTFS.įAT32 is the older of the two drive formats. But what are those, and why would you choose one over the other? We break down the differences between FAT32 vs. If given a choice, the two common modes are NTFS and FAT32.

When you have a new hard drive, or when you're reinstalling Windows, the OS may ask you to format the drive.

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