FAT, FAT32, NTFS
So we’ve heard about these terms all the time (well, sometimes…), but what do they mean to the normal user?
FAT
FAT is also known as FAT16. This is one of the older format used for smaller disk drives, or storage medium. It is recommended that storage mediums smaller then or equals 256MB stick to this format. The reason being FAT16 is more efficient in terms of speed and space on volumes smaller then 256MB, as compared to FAT32 or NTFS.
Of course, it also depends on the device you wish to use the storage medium on. FAT16 is supported by operating systems (OS) MS-DOS and above, and thus, is useful for recovery thumbdrives of sizes up to 2GB, being the maximum limit of FAT16.
FAT32
FAT32 is the 32bit version of FAT. The advantage it has over FAT is that it allows for smaller file clusters (4kb up to 8GB storage), as compared to FAT16 (32kb up to 2GB storage).
The biggest problem that FAT32 has, is that the maximum individual file size must not exceed 4GB. This is bad for folks doing video editing, as files often exceed 4GB in size. It is highly recommended that a partition dedicated to video editing be converted to NTFS, if the user does not require the use of older OS’s like Windows95 or Windows98, and some older Linux distros.
Its is recommended for storage mediums exceeded 2GB and smaller then 32GB be formatted in FAT32, for efficiency reasons. FAT32 is supported by OS Windowns95-R2 and above.
NTFS
The most recent format that every windows user probably has, NTFS contains useful features like disk compression as well as security features like encryption, both of which FAT16 and FAT32 does not support. Also, NTFS volumes support files with filesize bigger then 4GB!
If you have storage mediums with huge capacities (>32GB), or require sensitive files to be stored on them, it is highly recommended that the storage medium be in NTFS format.
NTFS is supported by Windows2000-SP4, WindowsXP and above, along with the latest Linux distros.
Conclusion
Which format should you use? It really does boil down to the storage medium’s size, usage, and OS available to you.
In general, thumbdrives <2GB should be in FAT16, and can be used for recovery purposes. Thumbdrives <16GB should be in FAT32, and used in conjunction with encryption software if you are required to store sensitive information on them. Portable harddrives should be in NTFS or FAT32, depending on your usage of them. For example, avid Windows users can safely use NTFS volumes, while folks looking to making portable booting drives with Linux distros should stick to FAT32, until all the distros provide native NTFS support.