Comparison of NTFS and FAT File Systems
| Subject of Comparison | NTFS | FAT16 | FAT32 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Operating system compatibility |
A computer running Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows XP can access files on an NTFS partition. A computer running Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later can access files on the partition, but some NTFS features, such as Disk Quotas, are not available. Other operating systems allow no access. |
File access is available to computers running Microsoft® MS-DOS®, all versions of Windows, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and OS/2. |
File access is available only to computers running Microsoft® Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. |
|
Volume size |
Recommended minimum volume size is approximately 10 MB. Recommended practical maximum for volumes is 2 terabytes. Much larger sizes are possible. Cannot be used on floppy disks. |
Volumes up to 4 GB. Cannot be used on floppy disks. |
Volumes from 512 MB to 2 terabytes. In Windows Vista, you can format a FAT32 volume only up to 32 GB. Cannot be used on floppy disks. |
|
File size |
Maximum file size 16 terabytes minus 64 KB (244 minus 64 KB) |
Maximum file size 4 GB |
Maximum file size 4 GB |
|
Files per volume |
4,294,967,295 (232 minus 1 files) |
65,536 (216 files) |
Approximately 4,177,920 |