It's always preferred to use the NTFS file system as often as possible, except where you must make the Windows XP Professional volume available to other operating systems installed on the same computer. NTFS file system has many many advantages. Should you decide against using NTFS, you will miss the following features, just to name a few:

• Advantage1: NTFS file and folder permissions Using NTFS permissions you can control access to every file on an NTFS volume. You can configure permissions at each level of the directory structure to meet your needs for allowing and/or preventing access to files and folders. However, don't get NTFS permissions confused with share permissionsthey are two entirely different items, each requiring consideration both individually and as a pair.

• Advantage 2: The Encrypting File System Using a public/private key pair, EFS provides strong cryptographic encryption of files and folders that is extremely resistant to attack and compromise. EFS is completely transparent to the user, and in Windows XP supports multiple user access to an encrypted file. The only down side to using EFS is that its usage is mutually exclusive with NTFS compression.

• Advantage 3: File compression The NTFS file system supports encryption on both files and folders. NTFS uses a lossless compression algorithm, which ensures that no data is lost when compressing and decompressing data. Lossy compression, such as that used in many video and audio file formats, cannot be used with files that require exact data, such as spreadsheets or document files where data losses due to compression will render the file corrupt and unusable. As previously mentioned, compression is mutually exclusive with EFS encryption.

• Advantage 4: Disk space quota management Using disk quotas enables you to control the amount of data that users can store on your NTFS volumes. Quota control is on a per-volume basis and can be configured with custom quotas for select users as desired. The disk quota system enables you to determine when users are nearing their limits and automatically prevent usage after a user has reached his defined quota limitation.

• Advantage 5: Volume mount points You can finally escape the 26 volume limit on a computer by using volume mount points. Think of it as mapping a path to a hard drive or CD-ROM to a folder on an NTFS volume; thus a new hard drive you've installed to hold user data can be mounted as C:\UserDocs or whatever name you choose.

When you've made your file system choice, you are ready to move onto the next item of consideration: the decision about what type of installation to perform