Windows filesystems

[Matt_H]

I've got an oldish Win98 laptop here, the C drive is formatted as FAT. I want to use the Windows drive conversion tool to update the C drive to FAT32, but I don't know how safe this is. Will Windows overwrite all my data with a blank partition? I really don't want to have to backup 2GB of data to my Amiga over my network...

Also, what are the advantages of FAT32 to FAT?

Thanks

[vpcs]

Fat 32 allows for larger disk sizes and smaller cluster sizes..

[vpcs]

As far as safety never had a problem but it's VERY slow.

[mikeymike]

FAT32 uses smaller cluster sizes.  There's an upshot and a downside to this:  The upshot is that it makes more efficient use of disk space, the downside is that the filesystem tables are larger and consume a bit more memory.  I'm not sure whether in reality FAT32 is faster than FAT, but it is supposed to be.

I don't know how well the conversion tool works, sorry.  Regardless though, I would advise backing up the data first.

Reliability, in my experience is no different.  The stability of the OS is the problem there, not really the filesystem, practically speaking.

[seer]

The conversion tools works, but it is recommended to format the drive in FAT32 and not converting it (Same goes for FAT -> NTFS Conversion).. Offcourse, formatting the drive without a second hardrive or backup device might give a few problems.

Oh, some extra reading

M$ on FAT

comparing table