Best file system to use for backups

A little background:

I have two hard drives configured in a raid array with three individual partitions. I have a 3rd hard drive for backing up all 3 partitions in their entirety.

What is the best file system to use on the back up hard drive?

 

For Windows 2000 or XP, NTFS is the choice. If you need to see the files on the drive from Windows 9x or a Mac, then use FAT32.

 

From the point of view of robustness and data integrity NTFS is king. FAT32 is useful in that it is more compatable with multiple OSs, however it has a 4GB filesize limit which means that once your image size exceeds this you will have to worry about multiple files.

F.

 

So you're suggesting I should format the back-up hard drive NTFS and back my three partitions up to it?

 

Yes, unless some of the other issues mentioned such as compatibility with Win9x are important.

 

seekforever,
You answer would apply to me too.
My internal HD is NTFS, the external is FAT32.
My question is, how do I convert the external HD to NTFS.
Your answer will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

I'm using Win XP 64-bit, so I'm not really concerned about compatability with what are typically FAT based OS's. I thought access from a DOS based boot vehicle might be important. This concern is based mostly from my lack of exposure to TI.

For years I used PowerQuest Drive Image. It was a wonderful product. Just before being bought out by Symantec, it had evolved into what I thought was a perfect back up solution.

With the advent of Windows 2K and XP, I, as well as many others I'm sure, forgot why we had to make back ups.

Recently though I had a scare. One of my partitions is what I call the Data partition. It holds all files relating to finances, work, my *.pst file, basically many years of personal and work related information.

I was unable to start my machine, and since it is a RAID array, I didn't think I would ever be able to access my info. I managed to work it out, but needless to say, now I will do regular back ups onto a single hard drive to prevent loss of this data.

Any input you guys are willing to make would be greatly appreciated.

 

Microsoft has a convert utility which will do it but IIRC it is one way, once you are converted to NTFS you can't go back. The issue with it is that it converts to 512 byte clusters and that is considered too small. 4096 is the typical recommended value but some people prefer even larger values.

The easiest way to get around the problem is to copy anything you want to keep off the drive, reformat it NTFS with XP and then copy the files back.

Partitioning software like Acronis Disk Director, Partition Magic, etc may convert partitions as well. I used Partition Magic to change the cluster size. You'll have to read the info to decide if the product will do the job for you.