Windows NT supports multiple active file systems including the existing FAT and HPFS file systems. It also includes a new file system called NTFS, designed to take advantage of the very large disks and fast processors on current and future computers.
As noted in Chapter 1, "Windows NT Architecture," Windows NT also implements redirectors and servers as file systems. In addition, Windows NT supports the CD file system for use on CD-ROM drives. It also supports the Named Piles File System (NPFS) and the Mailslot File System (MSFS), both used for communication between processes.
These nontraditional file systems are not included in the discussion of this chapter. Instead, this chapter focuses on FAT, HPFS, and NTFS, the three file systems that can be used on read/write hard drives.
This chapter describes FAT and HPFS both as progenitors to NTFS and as file systems that can be used with Windows NT. It also details the features of NTFS and compares features of NTFS, FAT, and HPFS.
This chapter also describes the disk management techniques offered by Windows NT that you can use to organize and safeguard data on your disks.