FAT32 stands for File Allocation Table of 32 Bit. It is an enhanced version of FAT. That is a standard on all windows operating systems. FAT 32 is use in all operating system after WINDOWS 95. Windows 95 works on FAT16. FAT32 system can be used on hard disk which contain space between 512 Mega Bytes(MB) to 32 Giga Bytes (GB).It is beneficial for us to use FAT32 if we use more than one operating system.

 

NTFS stands for New Technology File System. NTFS is used with operating systems like Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP,  LINUX. It works on disk space larger up to 2 Terabytes.(TB).  It provide enhanced reliability, security and better stability. Speed is also fast than FAT. If you want better disk compression feature use NTFS. We can convert FAT32 to NTFS without losing our data. NTFS uses a binary tree structure for all disk directories, which reduces the number of times the system has to access the disk to locate files. This system is best for large directories, and NTFS easily outperforms FAT32 in these situations. NTFS is a reliable file system. When storing data to disk, NTFS records file I/O events to a special transaction log. If the system crashes or encounters an interruption, NTFS can use this log to restore the volume and prevent corruption from an abnormal program termination or system shutdown. NTFS doesn't commit an action to disk until it verifies the successful completion of the action. This precaution helps prevent corruption of an NTFS volume. NTFS also supports hot-fixing disk sectors, where the OS automatically blocks out bad disk sectors and relocates data from these sectors. This housecleaning happens in the background. An application attempting to read or write data on a hot-fixed area will never know the disk had a problem.

 

NTFS is generally believed to be slower than FAT. However, with a correctly created NTFS volume, NTFS performance optimizations, and improved disk dEfragmentation, NTFS performance (including the extra "journaling") is equivalent to FAT on small disks and is faster than FAT on large disks.

 

            The NTFS File system does not get fragmented and Defragmenters are unnecessary. Even though NTFS is more resistant to fragmentation than FAT, it can and does still fragment. The reason NTFS is less prone to fragmentation is that it makes intelligent choices about where to store file data on the disk. NTFS reserves space for the expansion of the Master File Table, reducing fragmentation of its structures. In contrast to FAT's first-come, first-served method, NTFS's method of writing files minimizes, but does not eliminate, the problem of file fragmentation on NTFS volumes.

 

NTFS - Maximum files per volume: 4,294,967,295
NTFS - Maximum files and subfolders within a single folder: 4,294,967,295
FAT32 - Maximum files per volume: 4,177,920
FAT32 - Maximum files and subfolders within a single folder: 65,534*