Technology Notebook

NTFS5 vs. FAT32 One somewhat dated argument for using FAT (or FAT32, in the case of Win2K) on server volumes relates to the boot partition. Before Win2K's release, many administrators used FAT on boot partitions because a DOS or Win9x boot disk can easily access and recover FAT volumes in the event of disaster. However, the addition of the Win2K Recovery Console (RC) invalidates this argument. The RC is a special alternative boot selection that you can install on a Win2K system. (To install this option, run winnt32/cmdcons from the Win2K CD-ROM.) You can use the RC to carry out several recovery-related operations on NTFS volumes, such as file copying and renaming. Now that Win2K includes the RC, your best choice of file systems for all Win2K server volumes is NTFS.