LaCie Big Disk User Manual

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LaCie Big Disk User Manual Manual pdf 27 page image

Technical Informationpage 26LaCie Big Disk User’s Manual5.4. Available Storage CapacityA gigabyte (GB) means 1,000,000,000 bytes. In order to utilize a hard disk drive, it has to be formatted first. Formatting adisk consists of the following: the operating system erases all of the bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk tomake sure that all of the sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (i.e., those that are scratched) and creates internal addresstables that it later uses to locate information. Once formatted, the actual available storage capacity varies, depending onoperating environment, and is generally about 10% less than the non-formatted capacity.5.5. FAT 32 vs. NTFSThere are basically two file system formats for PCs: FAT 32 and NTFS. Performance is very similar between the two systems,and the following information will hopefully make choosing one or the other a little easier.FAT 32FAT is an acronym for File Allocation Table, which dates back to the beginnings of DOS programming. Originally, FAT wasonly 16 bits, but after the second release of Windows 95 it was upgraded to 32 bits, hence the name FAT 32. In theory, FAT32 volume sizes can range from less than 1MB all the way to 2TB. It is the native file system of Windows 98 and WindowsMe, and is supported by Windows 2000 and XP. When FAT 32 is used with Windows 2000 and XP, though, volume size islimited to 32GB (by the Windows partition utility, i.e. Disk Manager), and the individual file size is limited to 4GB.NTFSThis acronym stands for New Technology Filing System, and it is the native file system for Windows NT, Windows 2000 andXP. NTFS offers several features that are not available with FAT 32; i.e. file compression, encryption, permissions, and audit-ing, as well as the ability to mirror drives and RAID 5 capabilities. The minimum supported volume size for NTFS is 10MB,with a maximum of 2TB, with no limit to file size. Volumes created in NTFS can only be directly accessed (not through shares)by Windows NT, Windows 2000 and XP, without resorting to help from third-party products.Guidelines for Choosing FAT 32 Or NTFSUse FAT 32 if:• You will be dual booting with an Operating System otherthan Windows NT or Windows 2000.• You want to access the stored volumes on any OperatingSystem other than Windows NT, Windows 2000 or XP.• You may need the ability to dual boot down the line. Onceyou have converted a volume from NTFS to FAT 32, there isno going back. You can convert from FAT 32 to NTFS, but notthe other way around.• You want to connect to a Mac and have access to the data.Use NTFS if:• You want to encrypt files, assign permissions to files, orwant to audit files for access.• You will be formatting partitions larger than 32GB.• You need to store individual files that are larger than 4GB.• You need a filing system that can be mirrored or structuredlike a RAID 5 configuration.BigDiskFW800_UG_030311_4.0 3/11/03 4:50 PM Page 26