What is the best file system?

[Annuit Coeptis]

I recently had to repair a HDD the old fashioned way by moving all the data and reformatting which takes forever when you have 300+ GB of data.
I used to use the exFAT file system on the hard drive because my hard drive is really large and I hear that exFAT does fast file transfers. But it is not compatible with a lot of computers that still run XP and all the comps in my school still run XP.
I reformatted to NTFS for the sake of compatibility but I haven't transferred the data on yet. I am wondering if I made the right decision to use NTFS. I hear good arguments for many filesystems but I haven't decided which to choose.
I wanted to get some feedback from users here about which file system you would use for your external HD.
My external HDD is 930GB.

Let me know what file system is your favourite.
Thanks!

[igennie]

hey,

NTFS is by far the best File system..both in terms of security and usage...

[Telhast]

NTFS is by far the best . I'll tell you why -
1) Boot time with FAT32 is increased in hard drives larger then 32 GB because of the time required to read all of the FAT structure.
2) Read/write performance with FAT32 is affected because the file system must determine the free space on the disk through the small views of the massive FAT structure.

You can check comparisons here -http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

[Sam]

NTFS no question about it.

[mrnapolean1]

Depends on the size of the drive and what you are going to use it for.
For Example: I have a 30 GB External HDD What is the best use for this?
Well you can format it as FAT32 and use it with the PS3 for game save backups

Now on the other hand...
For example: I have a 320 GB External HDD What is the best use for it?
You cannot format it as FAT32 Because FAT32 had a 32GB Limit on it.
You can format it with NTFS and use it for a backup for your desktop or laptop.

Overall External HDDs are coming in bigger capacity's nowadays so formatting it as NTFS would be your best option. Especially for huge drives 500 GB and up

[spark™]

Quoted for the truth, very simple but effective explanation.

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Quoted for the trust, very simple but effective explanation.

NTFS is by far the best . I'll tell you why -
1) Boot time with FAT32 is increased in hard drives larger then 32 GB because of the time required to read all of the FAT structure.
2) Read/write performance with FAT32 is affected because the file system must determine the free space on the disk through the small views of the massive FAT structure.

You can check comparisons here -http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

[peter12321a]

I think FAT32 because it is compatibly with alot more things.

[Sam]

I think FAT32 because it is compatibly with alot more things.

? Compatibility with FAT32? Not really.

[Modestep]

NTFS, its more secure(you can encrypt your data), it supports bigger files, its just better

[harris21]

I choose NTFS, because i can transfer any big size file i want