XP home v Pro

[mb26]

1. what is the difference between the amount of resources windows XP pro and home use?

2. how much space does the NTFS (?) file system take up?

are there any advantages other than security? (NTFS over FAT32)

[doctorgonzo]

1. I don't think there is any sizeable difference between Home and Pro in terms of resources. Pro has some more features and finer control of things, but since both systems are based on the same kernel, there is little different between the two.

2. File systems don't really "take up" space. A file system is how files are stored. NTFS has some more control and metadata files than FAT32, but with them come more features.

Aside from security, NTFS also supports built-in compression and encryption, as well as better support for sparse files and support for reparse points.

[mairving]

Both can be run with NTFS, which is more secure for several reasons, the main one is that you can't boot off a W9x boot disk and view/delete/edit files.

The security is different on XP home and Pro. Home takes a Full/None approach where Pro can be tailored down several levels.

Should be no noticeable difference in the amount of resources that Pro uses vs. Home.

Full differences between XP Pro vs. Home (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.asp)

[mb26]

sorry for my ignorance but what are sparse files and reparse points?

and when i say 'take up space' i mean like how a partition takes up space on a hard drive.. because i am sure when my brother converted his HDD from FAT32 to NTFS it lost him some space?

[doctorgonzo]

Sparse files are files with lots of empty space. Reparse points are a way of allowing symbolic links and volume mount points: for example, you could have a file at C:\SomeDirectory that actually points to a file at C:\OtherDirectory. It is a feature found in most *nix file systems.

It is hard to say how much more space NTFS takes up as opposed to NTFS. NTFS does have more metadata and control files than FAT32, which has none; this allows things like file security permissions and encryption. This takes up more space. On the other hand, NTFS is more efficient than FAT32 for certain files like sparse files. It depends a lot on the actual files you have. Personally, I think that the benefits of NTFS far outweigh the tiny amount of space you may lose.