File Systems

Server performance is not affected by the file system used (FAT or NTFS). Your choice of file system should be decided by factors other than performance.

• The FAT file system allows dual booting with computers running MS-DOS.
• The NTFS file system has security and recovery advantages. If you do not need to dual boot Windows NT with MS-DOS, NTFS is recommended.

  SQL Server can be installed on a compressed NTFS volume, but at a performance penalty.

For information about choosing the appropriate file system, see your documentation for Windows NT.