I currently have two external harddrives Seagate 160G. Is there a compelling reason to change it from FAT32 to the NTFS system for use with the DVDFab program. Is it preferrable to not have a MDS file or whatever created because of using the DVDFab Platinum for movies.. When I first hooked them up I just went plug and play. They kept my files o.k.

But since I have read about the MDS file being created by either DVDFab or IMgBurn. So I began wondering whether there would be a compelling reason to change to NTFS.

I am running XP Home sp2. I don't run anything older, however my son does have an old 98' system and might occasionally need a file here and there.

Your thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated

snagel

The best reason to use NTFS is the 4GB hard file size limit on FAT32. If you are going to do video editing and such NTFS is a must.

Here is a site to compare the two: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm

For some reason, I thought the MDS took care of some of that? But I wasn't too sure how well it did work.

NTFS has better error recovery - but if you 're feeling confident, stay with FAT 32 :-)

Works very well.

If ISO image files is all you are ever going to use for video editing and it works good for you, then stay with it.

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Well I am not sure whether they are all ISO, VOB or what for sure.

I mainly use Nero, Shrink, DVD Decrypter, ImgBurn, DVD Fab Platinum and RipIt4me in the past. So I am not sure what category ( i.e. ISO, VOB, VTS)each one of these programs put them under.


I wished someone would expand my knowledge there too, and explain which ones do what. And which ones are supposed to be the best.

I agree with 90312. The only MAJOR advantage of NTFS is the Fat32 4gb file size limit.

One downside of NTFS is it isn't as usable with a Mac or Linux. If you plan to only use the drive with Windows, I'd go NTFS. It allows you to store image files (they're as big as the DVD they come from, typically).

As said before, you can store an image file as big as a DVD, even if it's in smaller parts on a FAT32 HD.

You are forgetting about the security advantages NTFS has over FAT32.

Ok now I have to bring out my geekness. One thing that no one mentioned is that Fat32 has a 32k cluster where NTFS normally has a 4k cluster size. That means that for Fat32 any file that is created on that partition is taking up 32K of disk space (even if the actual file size on only 1 byte in size) where in NTFS wuold only take up 4k of space for the same size file. It is also possible to run out of directory space with Fat32 and still have free space on the disk (the file allocation table is limited in space) where NTFS does not have that problem.

Is there any advantages of copying a video from files that have already been saved? To the external harddrive (Either way NTFS or FAT32)

I have some put on the harddrive but have never had to go and re copy any one of them.

So would titles or chapters be considered as one file or is the whole DVD image considered as a file.

Would a DVD under FAT 32 automatically have a MDS file created even if the version is compressed down to put on a DVD5 disc?

Depends on how you've saved it previously. DVDR's eventually go bad. So far, I haven't seen any Tayios or Verbatims die from age, but I've only been using them for 3 years or so. I've seen just about all of the cheaply made brand name discs go bad just sitting on the shelf in cases. The die fades. In my experience CMC. Ricoh & Ritech are the worst. I had several cakes of Maxell' branded discs become completely unreadable after about 6 months just sitting in cases. The die was visibly discolored on the outside half of the disc.

I do remember when i was new at this (4-5 years ago?) reading that the conventional wisdom at that time was that we should reburn our entire dvdr collection every 4 years or so. I have no idea if that's still considered the case. Again, so far I haven't had any Tayios or Verbs go bad from time.

If your video files are already on an internal hard drive, I'd only bother withy multiple backups if they're super important to you.

Agreed, that's why I used the phrase the only MAJOR advantage....

[quote=
If your video files are already on an internal hard drive, I'd only bother withy multiple backups if they're super important to you.[/QUOTE]

if the film is not out-of -print , or obscure- it's often almost cheaper to pick up another copy of the original, than to invest in all the disc space needed for multiple backup copies!

Many films can now be found on ebay or amazon marketplace priced as cheaply as blank media!