Differentiate between NTFS & FAT?

FAT : File Allocation Table (FAT) is a computer file system architecture were widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards.The File Allocation Table of contents of a computer disk which tells what sectors are used for what file. The File Allocation Table ( also know as FAT, FAT, and FAT ), is located in the master boot sector (first) of a bootable disk, floppy or hard. You visually cannot see this. 

FAT (FAT and FAT) and NTFS are two methods for storing data on a hard drive. The hard drive has to either be formatted using one or the other, or can be converted from one to the other (usually FAT to NTFS) using a system tool

NTFS : New Technology File System" is the Microsoft proprietary file system started with the Windows NT family. It is an improved version of the FAT file system and nowadays preferred in most of the modern operating systems, including: Windows XP, Vista, Windows7,8 and. NTFS is a high-performance and self-healing file system proprietary to Windows XP NT,7, which supports file-level security, compression and auditing. It also supports large volumes and powerful storage solution such as RAID. The most important new feature of NTFS is the ability to encrypt files and folders to protect your sensitive data

SOME BASIC DIFFERENCES FAT VS NTFS

FAT

1)Fat Allows access to win,,win millenium,win2k,xp on local partition.

2)Maximum size of partition is upto2 TB.

3)Maximum File size is upto4 GB.

4)File & folder Encryption is not possible.

5.FAT support8.3 character file name

NTFS

1)allows access local to w2k,w2k3,XP,win NT4 with SP4 & later may get access for somefile.

2)Maximum size of partition is2 Terabytes & more.

3)Maximum File size is uptoTB.

4)File & folder Encryption is possible only in NTFS.

5.NTFS it support characters long file name. 

Origins of FAT and NTFS

FAT (File Allocation Table) was created by Bill Gates and Marc McDonald in the year 1977. It has undergone many changes since then. The number "32" in FAT32 denotes the number of bits needed to keep track of the files. FAT16 was popular until the arrival of 4GB hard disks. NTFS was born from HPFS file system in collaboration of Microsoft and IBM. NTFS appeared initially for Windows NT platform. Since then it has developed and appears in recent versions of Windows like Vista, XP. Microsoft continues to hold on to NTFS patent.

FAT32 is one of the most commonly used file systems around. Most Operating systems, including Windows 98+, OS X, Linux, support the FAT32 file system. NTFS has lower support and has only read support in OS X. 

FAT32 does not support file compression, encryption and other functions supported by NTFS. Probably the difference that will be most noticed by users is NTFS's support for large Hard drive and file sizes. FAT32 has a upper limit of 2TB on Hard drives and a limit of 4GB on single files. NTFS on the other hand, has a limit of 16EB for both hard drives and single files. And just for clarification, an EB or an Exabyte is 1024 Petabytes, and each Petabyte is 1024 Terabytes.  Thats a ridiculously large upper limit (for now) for data storage. 

Also, with respect to speed, Microsoft has a surprisingly useful page that gives you a good idea about NTFS's performance over FAT32.

For small volumes, FAT16 or FAT32 usually provide faster access to files than NTFS because:

The FAT structure is simpler.

The FAT folder size is smaller for an equal number of files.

FAT has no controls regulating whether a user can access a file or a folder; therefore, the system does not have to check permissions for an individual file or whether a specific user has access to the file or folder. This advantage is minimal because Windows 2000 still has to determine if the file is read-only, or whether the file is on a FAT or NTFS volume.

NTFS minimizes the number of disk accesses and time needed to find a file. In addition, if a folder is small enough to fit in the MFT record, NTFS reads the entire folder when it reads its MFT record.

A FAT folder entry contains an index of the file allocation table, which identifies the cluster number for the first cluster of the folder. To view a file, FAT has to search the folder structure.

In comparing the speed of operations performed on large folders containing both long and short file names, the speed of a FAT operation depends on the operation itself and the size of the folder. If FAT searches for a file that does not exist, it has to search the entire folder— an operation that takes longer on a FAT structure than on the B-tree structure used by NTFS. In mathematical terms, the average time to find a file on a FAT folder is a function of N /2, where N is the number of files. On an NTFS folder, the average time is a function of Log N .

Several factors affect the speed with which Windows 2000 reads or writes a file:

• Fragmentation of the file. If a file is badly fragmented, NTFS usually requires fewer disk accesses than FAT to find all of the fragments.
• Cluster size. For both file systems, the default cluster size depends on the volume size, and is always a power of 2. FAT16 addresses are 16 bits, FAT32 addresses are 32 bits, and NTFS addresses are 64 bits.
• The default FAT cluster size is based upon the fact that the file allocation table can have at most 65,535 entries, so the cluster size is a function of the volume size divided by 65,535. Therefore, the default cluster size for a FAT volume is almost always larger than the default cluster size for an NTFS volume of the same size. The larger cluster size for a FAT volume means that there might be less fragmentation in files on a FAT volume.
• Location of small files. With NTFS, small files are entirely contained within the MFT record. The file size that fits in the MFT record depends upon the the number of attributes for the file.

PS: MFT is the Master File Table, which stores meta data about files, such as size, type, media length, duration etc. A B+ tree is a sort of n-ary tree that allows for easier search and retrieval of data in a file system, through block based access.