FAT and FAT32

FAT32 is an enhanced version of the FAT file system that can be used on drives from 512 megabytes (MB) to 2 TB in size. FAT and FAT32 offer compatibility with operating systems other than Windows 2000. If you're setting up a dual-boot configuration, you should probably use FAT or FAT32.

If you're dual booting Windows 2000 and another operating system, choose a file system based on the other operating system, using the following criteria:

Format the partition as FAT if the installation partition is smaller than 2 gigabytes (GB), or if you're dual booting Windows 2000 with MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT.

Use FAT32 for use on partitions that are 2 GB or larger. If you choose to format using FAT during Windows 2000 Setup and your partition is greater than 2 GB, Setup automatically formats it as FAT32.

Note

It's recommended that you use NTFS rather than FAT32 for partitions larger than 32 GB.

For more information about file systems and dual booting, see Dual-Boot Configuration, later in this chapter.