http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm
NTFS vs FAT vs exFAT
|
Criteria
|
NTFS5
|
NTFS
|
exFAT
|
FAT32
|
FAT16
|
FAT12
|
|
Operating System
|
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Windows 2008
Windows Vista
Windows 7
|
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Windows 2008Windows Vista
Windows 7
|
Windows CE 6.0
Windows Vista SP1
Windows 7
|
DOS v7 and higher
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows 2003 Server
Windows Vista
Windows 7
|
DOS All versions of Microsoft Windows
|
DOS All versions of Microsoft Windows
|
|
Limitations
|
||||||
|
Max Volume Size
|
2 ^ 64 clusters – 1 cluster
|
2 ^ 32 clusters – 1 cluster
|
128PB
|
32GB for all OS. 2TB for some OS
|
2GB for all OS. 4GB for some OS
|
16MB
|
|
Max Files on Volume
|
4,294,967,295
2 ^ 32 -1
|
4,294,967,295
2 ^ 32 -1
|
Nearly Unlimited
|
4194304
|
65536
|
|
|
Max File Size
|
2 ^ 64 bytes
(16 ExaBytes) minus 1KB
|
2 ^ 44 bytes
(16 TeraBytes) minus 64KB
|
16EB
|
4GB minus 2 Bytes
|
2GB (Limit Only by Volume Size)
|
16MB (Limit Only by Volume Size)
|
|
Max Clusters Number
|
2 ^ 64 clusters – 1 cluster
|
2 ^ 32 clusters – 1 cluster
|
4294967295
|
4177918
|
65520
|
4080
|
|
Max File Name Length
|
Up to 255
|
Up to 255
|
Up to 255
|
Up to 255
|
Standard – 8.3
Extended – up to 255
|
Up to 254
|
|
File System Features
|
||||||
|
Unicode File Names
|
Unicode Character Set
|
Unicode Character Set
|
Unicode Character Set
|
System Character Set
|
System Character Set
|
System Character Set
|
|
System Records Mirror
|
MFT Mirror File
|
MFT Mirror File
|
No
|
Second Copy of FAT
|
Second Copy of FAT
|
Second Copy of FAT
|
|
Boot Sector Location
|
First and Last Sectors
|
First and Last Sectors
|
Sectors 0 to 11 Copy in 12 to 23
|
First Sector and Copy in Sector #6
|
First Sector
|
First Sector
|
|
File Attributes
|
Standard and Custom
|
Standard and Custom
|
Standard Set
|
Standard Set
|
Standard Set
|
Standard Set
|
|
Alternate Streams
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Compression
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Encryption
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Object Permissions
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Disk Quotas
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Sparse Files
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Reparse Points
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Volume Mount Points
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Overall Performance
|
||||||
|
Built-In Security
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes minimal ACL only
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Recoverability
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes if TFAT activated
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
|
Performance
|
Low on small volumes High on Large
|
Low on small volumes High on Large
|
High
|
High on small volumes Low on large
|
Highest on small volumes Low on large
|
High
|
|
Disk Space Economy
|
Max
|
Max
|
Max
|
Average
|
Minimal on large volumes
|
Max
|
|
Fault Tolerance
|
Max
|
Max
|
Yes if TFAT activated
|
Minimal
|
Average
|
Average
|