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NTFS is the recommended file system for computers running the Microsoft Windows XP and Windows .NET Server operating systems. Microsoft strongly encourages system manufacturers to manufacture single NTFS volumes on all systems where a 32-bit version of Windows XP is preinstalled.
Benefits for end users. Preinstallation of NTFS offers many end-user benefits related to functionality, security, stability, availability, reliability, and performance:
Support for large hard drives Hard-drive vendors expect to deliver drive-size capacities in excess of 127 GB in the near future. Windows XP and Windows 2000 provide native support for NTFS volumes on such large sizes, while a FAT32 volume is supported only for sizes up to 32 GB.
Support for large file sizes. Under Windows XP and Windows 2000, NTFS supports a maximum file size of up to the disk size, while FAT32 supports a maximum file size of only 4 GB. Windows XP delivers new features (such as support for acquiring and editing video files) that frequently result in creation of files that exceed 4 GB in size.
Simple management of single disk partitions. Feedback from customers and system manufacturers indicates that users want single volumes because they do not want to manage multiple volumes and do not understand multiple-volume usage scenarios.
Improved performance. Feedback from customers and manufacturers indicates that users want systems optimized for general performance and boot times. New file system features, boot time improvements, and other performance improvements in Windows XP have been implemented only for NTFS, as described later in this article.
Benefits for system manufacturers. In addition to delivering the benefits listed here for end users, preinstalling systems with NTFS offers these benefits for the system manufacturer:
No reboot is required between the volume creation and formatting steps in the preinstallation process.
Master File Table (MFT) size and location are optimal for the hard drive.
DISKPART and FORMAT take approximately 90 seconds for large hard drives.
Because NTFS can support volumes larger than 32 GB, the manufacturer can simplify disk formatting while ensuring customer satisfaction by delivering a single volume on disk drives that are larger than 32 GB.
To help manufacturers gain the benefits of NTFS and also deliver the performance, security, and other benefits for end users, Microsoft has provided manufacturing tools (described later in this article) that can be used to easily and correctly convert FAT32 volumes to NTFS as a late step in the preinstallation process.
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