which is better? NTFS or FAT files?

NTSF

They are different file systems, used for different things. Fat file system is used togeather when a dual boot with two Windows Operating systems are being used that both dont support NTFS. IF you have a dual boot for 2000 and XP you wont need FAT because both OS's can use NTFS. NTFS offers greater security, more available space on file system (up to 2TB i think). FAT and FAT32 are used if you are dual booting with say like XP and Windows 98, because Windows 98 only supports either a FAT or FAT32 file system and NTFS and FAT can not see each other ( like if you are in my computer it will only show up with one hard drive or missing the partition for the other OS ). FAT and FAT32 do not have a huge amount of difference besides that FAT only supports Hard Drives up to 2 GB and will do away with whatever more you have and FAT32 is good up to 32GB, In some cases you can fix this by flashing BIOS to support a higher amount of space. NTFS is a huge step ahead of FAT for reliability, security, and speed and FAT is really only used still for backward compatibility with earlier OS's..

The Advantages of NTFS

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

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When to Use FAT or FAT32

If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer (see my earlier column Multibooting Made Easy), you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

FAt is a much older file allocation system than NTFS and more unstable.. If you are running Windows XP, you have NTFS, because that's what XP uses.

NTFS and FAT are two different file system formats. NTFS is newer and definitly safer than FAT.

NTFS is a more advanced format, but larger depends on what you mean by better?

NTFS defintely far better

NTFS is used for new OS, FAT was for win95 win98