file system type versus

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