You probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how files and data are organised on your hard disk. You don’t need to: when you buy a new PC, its system drive will invariably come formatted as NTFS. This is Windows’ native file system, and using it ensures that you get the full performance and storage features supported by the platform.
NTFS isn’t your only option, however. For example, if you buy a second hard disk for your desktop PC, or an external SSD to connect to a laptop, you have several options for formatting it. That also applies when you divide a hard disk into separate partitions, perhaps so you can dual-boot a PC into Linux. NTFS may be the default choice, but it could be that a different file system suits your needs – or you might find that NTFS works even better than you realised.
Why do we need NTFs?
NTFS was introduced as part of Windows NT 3.1 back in 1993. This was the first edition of Windows to be designed specifically for businesses; in everyday use it looked and worked almost identically to Windows 3.1 (the version number was chosen to emphasise that), but beneath the surface NT offered powerful new security and management features.
The file system was a big part of that. Windows 3.1 had
