Which File System to Use on Which Volumes

This is a general recommendation for determining which file systems to use for which volumes:

• Use a small FAT primary partition (between 250 and 500 MB, depending on the total disk space and page file size) as the C drive. Use this partition for both your system and boot partition.
• Format the rest of your disk space as NTFS, and use the NTFS volumes for application programs and data. You might want to create more than one NTFS volume.

This arrangement gives you the following benefits:

• You have the recoverability of the NTFS file system for the most important information, your data. (You should always maintain your system and boot partitions by using backup tapes and creating an Emergency Repair Disk, as described in Chapter 5, "Preparing for and Performing Recovery.")
• FAT is more efficient for smaller volumes and NTFS is more efficient for larger volumes.
• NTFS provides file and folder security for your application programs and data.
• If you have a startup failure on an x86-based computer, this means that you can start up the computer with an MS-DOS bootable floppy disk to troubleshoot and recover from the problem.

These additional guidelines might affect your decision as to which file system(s) to use on your computers:

• For an x86-based computer, when Windows NT starts up, it looks for certain files in the root folder of the hard disk that contains the system partition. This partition can be formatted with either the NTFS or FAT file system. This partition should be large enough to accommodate all the files you need to access under that file system.
• For a RISC-based computer, the system partition must be formatted with the FAT file system. You can use the NTFS file system on your boot partition, which needs to be large enough for all Windows NT system components. If you configure your partitions in this way, your system partition should be 5-10 MB, and your boot partition should be at least 160 MB, 250-500 MB to allow for growth.
• Because you must format your system partition with the FAT file system on RISC-based computers, you can use Disk Administrator to secure the system partition. This prevents anyone who does not have administrative privileges from accessing the system partition in spite of the fact that it is formatted as FAT. See online Help for the Disk Administrator for more information.

Note

The system partition contains the Partition Boot Sector and other files needed to load the operating system, such as NTLDR (for x86-based computers) and OSLOADER (for RISC-based computers). The boot partition needs to include the folder with the operating system. The boot partition and the system partition can be a single partition with other folders in it.