NTFS, or as they call it, the New Technology File System, is a file system that the Windows NT operating system uses for the storage and retrieval of hard-disk drives and solid-state drives. NTFS provides many benefits over FAT and HPFS in terms of security and performance. The file system is created and managed by the operating system of a computer within a storage device. It is this file system that is responsible for organizing the data into files. The file system also manages the renaming of the data files, storing, retrieving, and updating the data files.

File systems are classified based on the storage device as well as the operating system. Most businesses nowadays use a distributed file system wherein the files can be stored across multiple servers but can be accessed easily as if the files have been stored locally. This type of distributed file system also allows more than one user to share the data and files on a network easily. Even though NTFS is designed to work with Windows, NTFS can be used with Mac using a third-party NTFS driver for Mac. If you are a Mac user, read on https://setapp.com/how-to/use-ntfs-for-mac to know more.

Features of NTFS

One of the key features of NTFS is its ability to facilitate file permissions and encryption while comparing it with FAT.

• It supports files of large sizes.
• NTFS has an access control list using which the server administrator can decide who needs to be permitted to access specific files.
• It features accessible data compared to FAT.
• NTFS helps increase organizational efficiency as it ensures seamless and hassle-free sorting and the organization of files.
• More storage space can be attained using NTFS with the help of the integrated file compression technique.
• NTFS also supports the Unicode file naming process.
• NTFS is secure as it assures data security in both removable as well as non-removable disks.
• Using NTFS, disk folders can be accessed in normal folders within the file system, thus allowing for easier volume access.

Advantages of NTFS

• NTFS gives organizations improved control over the storage space. For instance, using the disk quotas feature of NTFS, administrators can decide how much storage space needs to be allocated for a specific user to access.
• With its support for large file sizes, NTFS also comes with file compression techniques using which one can quickly reduce the file size and transfer the files.
• NTFS supports encryption and also comes with access control. This allows administrators to decide on which user should be given permissions for sensitive data.
• Using NTFS, administrators can easily identify the files that have been added, modified or deleted. NTFS also saves all the transactions within a file system journal since NTFS acts as a journaling file system.
• NTFS helps in the quick recovery of data and files whenever there is a system failure or error.

How does NTFS work?

A user will have to select a file system irrespective of whether they are installing an operating system or formatting an SSD or HDD. Even though the format procedure differs for both, they are still compatible with NTFS. The HDD is divided into partitions whenever it undergoes a format procedure. The division of the physical space within a hard drive disk is known as partition. The operating system keeps a log of the files stored in each of these partitions. The files are usually stored in one or more disk spaces of uniform sizes within the HDD. Each size of the cluster could range anywhere between 512 bytes to 64 KB. It has to be noted that there is a recommended default cluster size in Windows NT for each drive size.

A log about the file is created within the Master File Table whenever a file is created using NTFS. Scattered clusters of a file can be located using this record. In addition to each of the data content, each of the files will also have metadata that can be considered an illustration of its attributes.

NTFS like FAT32 comes with its benefits as well as drawbacks. NTFS has a wide range of applications in personal computing, enterprise computing and similar type of other computing contexts. Moreover, NTFS is popular compared to other competitors because of its connection with Windows operating system.