Why Is FAT32 less secure than NTFS?

Answer 1

FAT32 is an old file system that is simple, well-documented, readable from a large number of OSs, and supported by a wide range of tools.

NTFS is a newer file system that is feature-rich, proprietary, undocumented at the raw bytes level, and subject to change - even within Service Packs of the same OS version.

You are obliged to use FATxx if you need access from DOS mode or Win9x, e.g. in a dual-boot scenario.

You are obliged to use NTFS if you need support for files over 4G in size, hard drives over 137G in size, and/or you need to implement some of NT's security management that devolves down to NTFS.

NTFS may be safer...

- transaction rollback cleanly undoes interrupted operations

- file-level permissions can protect data against malware etc.

- automatically "fixes" failing clusters on the fly (controversial)

...or more at risk...

- no interactive file system checker (a la Scandisk) for NTFS

- no maintenance OS for NTFS

- malware can drill right through NTFS protection, e.g. Witty

- transaction rollback does not preserve user data

- transaction rollback does not help other causes of corruption

- more limited range of maintenance tools

- automatically "fixes" failing clusters on the fly (controversial)