Use For NTFS Instead of FAT on Pendrives Format.

Any data that you store on a pendrive, harddisk, or storage card is organized and formatted based on the file-system you choose. Since all this happens transparently, we are usually not aware of it, although in some situations, choosing the right file system can be quite beneficial.

Since Windows XP, NTFS has become the standard default file system replacing FAT32. NTFS is more robust, secure and offers many more options than FAT32. Yet when it comes to portable devices such as pendrives, FAT32 continues to be used. While FAT32 gives better performance on pendrives, often it can be useful for you rather than using NTFS.

So when and how should you use NTFS?

NTFS allows you to assign permissions to files, such that only specific users can access / modify / delete / run them. This can give you much better control of what people can do with the contents of your pendrive. Although any sufficiently advanced computer user will be able to overcome these limitations, most people will leave a file alone, which is not opening.

NTFS also allows you to encrypt your data, in which case it is difficult for an advanced computer user to open a file. Encrypted data can only be opened by the same user who encrypted the file, and on the same computer.

In NTFS you can transparently compress files. This means that although files will take up less space on your computer, they will open up like normal files, and most applications do not have to bother with the fact that they are compressed. This can be quite useful with the limited capabilities of Pendrives. Here, it is to be noted that you will not get much benefit by reviewing already compressed files such as JPG pictures, music files or videos

To use NTFS of your pendrive, first, back up all the data on it, as it will be lost while formatting. On Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can just right click on your pendrive and use the format option, which allows you to select the NTFS file system to format your pendrive.

On Windows XP systems, NTFS On Pendrive is supported, although it does not provide you with a clear way to format it. Here, you can use the commandline tool "format" to achieve the same effect. Here's how you can create your pen drive in NTFS in Windows XP:

Find your Pendrive's drive letter.

Click on Start-> Run ...

oType "cmd"

o At the command prompt that opens, type "format / FS: NTFS X:" where "X:" is the drive letter for the pendrive.

Now after confirming that you really want to format your drive, you'll end up with an NTFS pendrive