The NTFS file system used by Windows NT is completely different from, and
incompatible with, the FAT file system that is used by DOS and the other Windows
varieties. NTFS can only be used by Windows NT--other operating systems do not have the
ability to use a disk formatted with NTFS.
NTFS is in virtually every way, far superior to FAT. It is a robust, full-featured
system that includes file-by-file compression, full permissions control and attribute
settings, transaction-based operation, and many more features. It also does not have the
problems with cluster sizes and hard disk size limitations that FAT does, and has other
performance-enhancing features such as RAID support.
The only way that NTFS is not superior to FAT is in compatibility with older software.
NTFS is not nearly as widely-used as FAT, for this reason. For now I am not including a
full examination of NTFS on the site, but I may add this at a later time if it seems
warranted.
Next: Major Disk Structures and the Boot Process
