Definition of NTFS ( was Re: Related to usbdrive)

[Alma J Wetzker]

Chong Yu Meng wrote:
> David A. Bandel wrote:
> 
>> sure sounds like the description of a journaled filesystem.  Wonder why
>> the things continue to corrupt themselves then.
>>  
>>
> Actually, I've heard a lot of different things about NTFS, all from 
> Windows advocates -- some say that NTFS was developed primarily to 
> provide better security for user data. On the hardware side, I was told 
> that NTFS was developed to support hard disks larger than 2 GB.
> 
> I'm not advocating Microsoft by any means. But I keep hearing : yes, 
> Windows does that too, COM+ is better, etc. I used to get riled by these 
> comments, not least because they normally come from people who have 
> never had to maintain a Windows server, and people who have done no 
> programming beyond the requisite "Hello World" program to get their 
> degree in software engineering.
> 
> Unfortunately, since the IT meltdown the last couple of years, Microsoft 
> has actually gained strength in Singapore and parts of Southeast Asia. 
> Most jobs require administration of Windows servers. I'm not quite sure 
> where all the Solaris and Linux servers have disappeared to, though.
> 
> My gripe with NTFS is this : NTFS *may* be a journaled file system, but 
> you cannot recover from a server crash if certain critical components 
> are corrupted. For Linux, you can still recover the data by booting from 
> a recovery disk or Linux CD. For Windows on NTFS partitions, I have 
> never had any success. So, that to me is not a good journaled file 
> system. Maybe a good academic exercise, like "Hello World", and just as 
> useful.

Journaling was never a high priority for M$.  They were trying to do a better 
HPFS to show they were better than OS/2.  The main concerns were large HD 
support, Added flags for access control and Security, better performance than 
FAT, and, hopefully, a FS that could self recover after an unexpected power 
down.  (This from some old training material.)

     -- Alma