NTFS vs FAT
| Criteria | NTFS5 | NTFS | exFAT/FAT64 | FAT32 | FAT16 | FAT12 |
| Operating System | Windows 2000 | Windows NT | Windows CE 6.0 | DOS v7 and higher | DOS | DOS |
| Limitations | ||||||
| Max Volume Size | 2TB | 2TB | 64ZB | 32GB for all OS. | 2GB for all OS. | 16MB |
| Max Files on Volume | Nearly Unlimited | Nearly Unlimited | Nearly Unlimited | 4194304 | 65536 | |
| Max File Size | Limit Only by | Limit Only by | 16ZB | 4GB minus 2 Bytes | 2GB (Limit Only | 16MB (Limit Only |
| Max Clusters Number | Nearly Unlimited | Nearly Unlimited | 4294967295 | 4177918 | 65520 | 4080 |
| Max File Name Length | Up to 255 | Up to 255 | Up to 255 | Up to 255 | Standard - 8.3 | Up to 254 |
| | ||||||
| File System Features | ||||||
| Unicode File Names | Unicode | Unicode | Unicode | System | System | System |
| 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 | First Sector and | 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 | No | No | No |
| Recoverability | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Performance | Low on small volumes | Low on small volumes | High | High on small volumes | Highest on small volumes | High |
| Disk Space Economy | Max | Max | Max | Average | Minimal on large volumes | Max |
| Fault Tolerance | Max | Max | Yes | Minimal | Average | Average |