PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

@PCPRO FACEBOOK.COM/PCPRO NTFS

youcan downloadthecommand-
lineDiskshadowtoolfrompcpro.
link/ 326 shadow.
Formostof us,however,it’seasier
tousetheFile Historyfeature,which
you’llfindintheSettings appunder
Backup.Thisworks on disksofall
types,andwon’tautomaticallydelete
oldcopiesoffiles. Backupsmadewith
FileHistoryappearinthePrevious
versionstabalongsidethosecreated
bythe ShadowCopyservice,orthey
canbeviewedby selectinga filein
ExplorerandclickingtheHistory
buttonontheHometab.

NTFSCANHELP
ORGANISEYOURFILES
Onefinal featureofNTFSworth
mentioningislinks– a simpleidea
thatcanbeenormouslyusefulfor
organisingyourfilesandfolders.At
theirsimplest,linksworkjustlike
shortcutsinWindows:ifa particular
fileor folder is buried in an
inconvenientlocationonyourdisk,
youcan createa handydirectlinktoit
fromanywhereyoulike.
ThedifferenceisthatWindows
shortcutsonlyworkincontexts
whereyoucandouble-click on them.
NTFSlinks operateatthefilesystem
level,sothey’re transparentto
applications. Forexample,ifyou have
a programthatinsistsonlookingina
particularfolderfora largedatafile,
youcanmovethatfiletoa different
location– perhapsanexternaldrive

• andreplacetheoriginalwitha link.
  YoucancreateNTFSlinksfromthe
  CommandPromptusingthemklink
  command,orfromPowerShellby
  enteringNew-Item-Typefollowed
  bySymbolicLink,Junctionor
  HardLink. Thesethreetypesoflink
  havesubtlebutsignificant
  differences.A symboliclinkredirects
  allaccesstothetargetfile or folder,
  whichcanbelocated on anydiskor
  networkshare;a junctiondoesa very
  similarjob,butonlyworksfor
  directorieslocatedonthe same
  computer.Technicallyspeaking,a
  symboliclinkishandledbythe client,
  while a junction is processedbythe
  server– butona homenetwork the
  distinctionisnormally academic.
  A hardlinkisa slightlytrickier
  idea.Whenyoumakeahardlink,
  NTFSeffectivelycreatesa newfileon
  yourharddisk,withitsown
  attributesandpermissions,but
  pointingto thesameon-diskdataas
  theoriginalfile.Thismeansifyou
  deleteeitherfile,you’llstillbeableto
  accessthedatafromtheother,

whereas deletingthe targetofa

symboliclinkwilljustleave youwith

a brokenlink.Hardlinkingprovides

aneasywaytohavethesamefilein

twolocationsatoncewithoutwasting

spaceorworryingaboutdivergent

changes,thoughforobviousreasonsit

onlyworks forfilesonthesamedisk.

WHYNOTUSENTFS

FOREVERYTHING?

NTFShasclearadvantagesover

thefile systemthatprecededit,but

noteveryapplication needsthem.

Forexample,a microSDcardthat’s

usedto storeimagesfroma digital

camera,ortotransfersongsontoa

smartphone,doesn’t require

advancedaccesssecurity.Building

NTFSsupportintoconsumergadgets

likethiswouldaddunnecessary

complexity– anditwouldalsopush

upthecost,as NTFSisa proprietary

technologythatneedstobelicensed

fromMicrosoft.

Forthese roles, FATremainsan

attractive choice.It’ssimple,mature

andfreetoimplement.The32GBlimit

isnolongera deal-breakereither,as

modernimplementationscanwork

withpartitionsofupto2TBinsize.

AndbecauseFAT32hasbeenthe

defactostandardfordataexchange

sincetheearlydaysofdigital cameras

andMP3players,it’sfullysupported

byalmost everytypeofdevice,from

securitycamerasanddictaphones to

MacBooksandLinuxservers.

Bycontrast,theencumbrances of

NTFSmeanthat,nearly 30 yearsafter

itwasintroduced,cross-platform

supportisverylimited.Youcanplug

anNTFSvolumeintoa Macandit

willberecognised,butinread-only

mode:writeaccessis deemed

“experimental”andisenabledatyour

ownrisk. If youneeda production-

qualityread/write solution forNTFS,

you’llneedto pay£16for Paragon’s

third-partydriver (seepcpro.link/

326 par).Linux,meanwhile,allows

readandwrite accesstoNTFS

volumes throughthefreeNTFS-3G

driver,butit’smuchslowerthanFAT

orLinux’snativeext4filesystem.

Thisisthebestreasontoavoid

NTFS.Ifthere’s anychanceyou’ll

wantto sharefilesacrossplatforms,

FATis a more portableformat. If you

needto turnanNTFSvolumeintoFAT

(orviceversa),thenbyfartheeasiest

wayistoreformatit,butthereare

plentyoffreetoolsouttherethatcan

performan in-placeconversion.

Thereisoneremaininglimitation

ofFAT32tobearinmind: whilethe

filesystemnowsupportslargedisks,

individualfilesstillcan’tbeany

biggerthan4GB.Thisiswhy,when

you’reshootingvideo,yourfiles

sometimesgetinconvenientlysplit

intomultipleparts.Thankfully,

there’sa solution– if your devicesare

smartenough.Thelatestversionof

FAT,knownasexFAT, upsthe

maximumdrivesizeto128PB, with

nolimitonthesizeofindividual files.

(Strictlyspeaking,thereisa limit,

butat 16 exabytesit’smuchlarger

thanthemaximumdisksize,

renderingthemattermoot.)

AllWindowsandMacsystemscan

readandwriteexFAT volumes–and

thankstoMicrosoftopeningupthe

standardin 20 19,itworksona

growingnumberofthird-party

devices, too. If youneedaccess

controlsorotheradvancedfeatures

onWindowsthenNTFSremainsyour

bestbet,butforexternalstorage

exFAThasa lotgoingforit.

NTFShasclearadvantages

overthefilesystemthat

precededit,butnotevery

applicationneedsthem

BELOWEncrypted

filescanbeshownin

green,compressed

filesinblue

BOTTOMNTFS

wasintroducedin

WindowsNT3.1

backin 1993