I used to prefer FAT32, but recently I changed my mind. FAT32 lacks Access Control List (ACL) feature, so it's less secure. FAT32 lacks filesystem journaling, so it's less secure. FAT32 lacks filesystem level compression of files. NT-based systems use a %windir%\system32\dllcache folder to save clean and checked system files, and will restore them from cache if the system copy is corrupt, e.g. in the wake of a possible virus contamination. Because this feature requires more storage, and because the files are seldom accessed, the dllcache folder can be compressed. FAT32 cannot do that. Sometimes FAT32 is used for compatibility across operating systems, but NEVER use FAT32 on any production computers, esp. servers. The NTFS-3g for Linux and FreeBSD is freely available out there. If you prefer MS-DOS, try NTFSDOS, a utility from Winternals (later acquired by Microsoft, though). Both tools can access NTFS (NT4~NT5.2) volumes without a problem, provided the volumes are clean, i.e. CHKDSK'ed, and that the system was shut down properly. And: Remember to back up sensitive or important data to secure places, whether you are using FAT16/32 or NTFS. Hope you'll make your decision. Edit: FAT32 doesn't support large volumes. The FORMAT.COM in NT5 and later does not create FAT32 volumes larger than 32G. I had created a 40G FAT32 partition using a third-party tool, then Windows 2000 (SP4) booted, but crashed with a Blue Screen of Death. OK when it was reformatted into NTFS.
