NTFS File systems in windows vista
If you are not an IT professional and if I ask you
what is file system, you will probably answer it as
a systematic approach for organizing files in the office.
You are right, but, only by 50%, if I look the answer
to be from computer science point of view. A file in
computer referred as file in office. A file contains
a set of papers in an office. Like wise, in computer,
a file is a set of related information.
File system - a way to organize files in a computer
system
A file system provides a way to organize files in a
computer system. A well organized file system helps
the computer to manage files in an efficient way. It
also makes searching for files faster. The file system
stores various file names and associated file properties
in to a table, in a specialized database form. The table
which is used to store various file properties including
file names is called FAT (File Allocation Table). Each
row in the table consists of name of the file and its
associated attributes. The computer system allots a
portion of hard disk, for maintaining these entries.
Each partition has got its own file allocation table.
When the user needs some information he informs computer
with a filename. The computer looks for entries in the
file allocation table, for a matching filename in it.
If it is not found, then it returns error. However,
if it is found, the computer retrieves the contents,
by using programs meant for that, by accessing additional
information provided for the filename in the file allocation
table.
File allocation table
The file system in a computer is classified into many
types, depending on the file allocation table. In Microsoft
family of operating systems, we see mostly FAT16, FAT32,
and NTFS as file systems. We today, make use of FAT32
as a standard file system. Prior to FAT32, FAT16 was
the standard. FAT16 still used in case of Floppy disks
and still remains alive for backward compatibility in
the latest operating system releases. NTFS - New Technology
File System was first implemented in Server operating
systems. Started from mid 1993, the file system provides
a better way of securing the contents of the file. It
also introduced many additional properties, which the
FAT did not have.
Windows 95 was perhaps the first OS to implement the
FAT32. This operating system wrote perhaps a new book
in history of computers for many reasons. Apart from
implementing FAT32, this introduced many new features
which were not existed in earlier systems, including
changes in GUI design. But, before 1995, Microsoft as
said above, during 1993, released NTFS, only for server
side operating system Windows NT 3.1.
One can install Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP in
FAT32 partition also, but, without NTFS features. The
NTFS features include read permission which was not
there with FAT. Don’t get confused with Read Only
attribute in FAT. The Read Only attribute tells the
computer to deny write capability for the file. But,
of course, any who logs into the computer can read the
file. Therefore, it was decided to introduce Read permission
settings. The creator of the file or administrator can
decide whether to permit or deny the file for viewing.
This is one of the significant features which were introduced
in NTFS. Other features in NTFS include active directory,
file indexing, disk quotas, compression, encryption
and many more. The drawback of NTFS is, one cannot go
back to FAT32 or FAT later, without loosing the data.
File Indexing and Active directory enable to search
the required file as quick as possible. Data compression
enables one to store data more than the actual available
space. Data encryption ensures that the files are safe.
Disk quotas will allot each user, his share of disk
space. If disk quota is not implemented, then any user
can use all available space on the system, if he can
log into the system. Disk quota will help server systems
in keeping track of used space. Earlier, one was needed
to write separate programs to manage available disk
space in the server.
Windows Vista & NTFS
Windows Vista, the new operating system makes use of
NTFS as a default file system. This means, one cannot
install Windows Vista, to a non-NTFS partition. The
setup program will show only the NTFS partitions. So,
use convert.exe from the command prompt from Windows
XP, to convert the existing partition to NTFS. Before
converting, it is advisable to take data backup from
the system, because, any error could corrupt the existing
data, beyond recoverable limit. Some earlier versions
of Windows, especially Windows 95, 98 cannot read the
NTFS partitions created on local system (Local system
is referred to as your computer). Therefore, you should
keep other partitions as FAT if you have already installed
Windows 95, 98 and ME and want to use the same. They
may be designed to read NTFS from a network server which
is a different case. After converting the partition
into NTFS from FAT32 or FAT, one should be able to install
Windows Vista on that partition. One should format the
partition after that process to ensure the partition
is empty. It is better to have an empty partition on
the hard drive to install Windows Vista, as the required
amount of free space is quite high.
FAT32 or FAT16 has got several disadvantages, when
compared to NTFS. Apart from non-availability of new
features of NTFS, FAT32 also has got limitations on
file and partition sizes. One cannot store a file greater
than 4 GB. Also, one cannot have partitions of greater
size of 32 GB.
Easy steps for converting FAT partition to NTFS partition
The following steps convert FAT32 or FAT partition
into a more secured NTFS partition by using the convert
program.
- Click start > All Programs > Accessories.
Right click on Command Prompt, and click on “Run
as administrator”. Provide administrator password
if asked.
- In the command prompt window, type the command as
“convert driveletter: /fs:ntfs”
and press enter. The driveletter is the letter of
the drive which one wishes to convert. For example,
“convert h: /fs:ntfs” would convert drive
h to NTFS format.
- Type the name of the volume which you want to convert
and press enter to continue. To view available volumes,
click start > computer. The volumes are listed
under section named “Hard Disk Drives”.
You will need to restart the computer especially if
there is system files exist in the partition which you
want to convert. If the free space in the partition
is full, then you may be able to convert. You can try
to convert in such cases, but, there is no guarantee
of successful conversion from FAT to NTFS. Although
the chance of data getting corrupted is minimal, you
need to be fully aware of the situation, taking back
up of every partition. Also, it is advised not to try
this command, if you are a beginner. Ask your hardware
engineer to do this for you, if you are concerned about
providing security and as well as more concerned about
data in the system. Take precautions, especially against
power failures, while converting, as power failures
may cause problems such as situations resulting in corrupt
data.
Precautions for repartioning
In Windows Vista, one can repartition the hard disk
by using the shrink feature which is available in Disk
Management. One can shrink a partition and create another
partition from the unallocated area. Shrinking could
cause data loss. Therefore, it is not advisable to use
shrink feature on your own. There are chances of hard
disk becoming unusable, if convert and shrink features
are not used correctly. One can also repartition the
hard disk by using the third party tools. Several third
party tools are available on the internet. You can search,
download and install the third party tools for disk
management. Some of them allow repartitioning the hard
disk without causing any loss in data.
There is a tool in old version of Windows, called FDISK.
This tool is used to create new partitions, delete partitions
etc. But, FDISK erases data stored in partitions or
in hard drives, before creating partitions. Also, you
should delete partitions before creating new partitions.
It is not advisable to use FDISK for repartitioning,
if you are an ordinary user. Only system administrators,
experienced users will be able to use the tool efficiently.
It is advised, better to take a decision on the File
System at the beginning itself, especially while purchasing
a computer itself, there by, avoiding problems such
as data loss, data corruption, and other partition related
problems.
Disk management tools in Windows Vista
Disk management tools in Windows Vista help one to
manage storage media, as smoothly as possible. But,
they can also cause problems, if used without much knowledge
about them, for try and error methods. It is important
to keep a backup of all important data in the removable
media such as CD’s, DVD’s, external hard
disks, or even in separate hard disks. In case, you
use a separate internal hard disk for backup, unplug
all connections to hard disk on which the data is kept
separately, and then use the disk management tools.
It is advised to keep separate hard disk of high capacity,
from the beginning to protect your valuable data.
The NTFS partitions are more secure compared to FAT32.
Windows Vista will offer a good layer of options to
maintain hard disks, efficiently using disk management
tools. One need to wait and see, till its final release,
that, how far it will work. |
