S
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a FAT or FAT32 partition as the primary (or startup) partition
on the hard disk. Most earlier versions of Windows cannot
access a partition if it uses the latest version of NTFS. The
two exceptions are Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 with
Service Pack 4 or later. Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4
or later has access to partitions with the latest version of
NTFS, but with some limitations: It cannot access files that
have been stored using NTFS features that did not exist
when Windows NT 4.0 was released.
For anything other than a situation with multiple operating
systems, however, the recommended file system is NTFS.
 Important: Once you convert a drive or partition
to NTFS, you cannot simply convert it back to FAT
or FAT32. You will need to reformat the drive or
partition which will erase all data including programs
and personal files on the partition.
The following table describes the compatibility of each file
system with various operating systems.
NTFS FAT FAT32
A computer running
Windows XP or Windows
2000 can access files on
an NTFS partition. A
computer running Win-
dows NT 4.0 with Ser-
vice Pack 4 or later
might be able to access
some files. Other operat-
ing systems allow no
access.
Access is avail-
able through
MS-DOS, all
versions of Win-
dows, Windows
NT, Windows
2000, Windows
XP, and OS/2.
Access is avail-
able only
through Win-
dows 95 OSR2,
Windows 98,
Windows Millen-
nium Edition,
Windows 2000,
and Windows XP.
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