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NTFS Technical Reference

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

NTFS Technical Reference

A file system is a part of the operating system that determines how files are named, stored, and organized on a volume. A file system manages files and folders, and the information needed to locate and access these items by local and remote users. The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system supports both the FAT and NTFS file systems.

NTFS provides performance, reliability, and advanced features not found in FAT. For example, NTFS includes built-in security features such as file and folder permissions and the Encrypting File System (EFS), which is the technology used to store encrypted files on NTFS volumes. NTFS also provides support for volumes up to 256 terabytes in size, support for disk quotas and compression, and support for mounted drives.

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