NTFS stands for New Technology File System and it is the preferred filesystem for Microsoft Windows OS since Windows NT 3.1 in 19931. NTFS replaced FAT (File Allocation Table) as the default filesystem for Windows because it offers many advantages over FAT, such as:
Support for larger volumes and files (up to 16 exabytes)2
Support for file compression, encryption, and permissions2
Support for journaling, which records changes to the filesystem and helps recover from errors2 Support for hard links, symbolic links, and mount points2 Support for long filenames and Unicode characters2 FAT32 is an improved version of FAT that supports larger volumes and files (up to 32 GB and 4 GB respectively) and is compatible with older versions of Windows and other operating systems3. However, FAT32 still has many limitations and drawbacks compared to NTFS, such as:
No support for file compression, encryption, and permissions3
No support for journaling, which makes it vulnerable to corruption and data loss3 No support for hard links, symbolic links, and mount points3 No support for long filenames and Unicode characters3 APFS (Apple File System) is the default filesystem for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS since 20174. APFS replaced HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus) as the preferred filesystem for Apple devices because it offers many advantages over HFS+, such as:
Support for larger volumes and files (up to 8 zettabytes)4
Support for file cloning, snapshots, and encryption4
Support for space sharing, which allows multiple volumes to share the same storage pool4 Support for fast directory sizing, which improves performance and efficiency4 ext4 (Fourth Extended Filesystem) is the default filesystem for most Linux distributions since 20085. ext4 replaced ext3 as the preferred filesystem for Linux because it offers many advantages over ext3, such as:
Support for larger volumes and files (up to 1 exabyte and 16 terabytes respectively)5 Support for extents, which reduce fragmentation and improve performance5 Support for journal checksumming, which improves reliability and reduces recovery time5 Support for delayed allocation, which improves efficiency and reduces metadata overhead5 Reference:
1: NTFS - Wikipedia 2: [NTFS vs FAT32 vs exFAT: What's the Difference?] 3: [FAT32 - Wikipedia] 4: [Apple File System - Wikipedia] 5: [ext4 - Wikipedia] : NTFS vs FAT32 vs exFAT: What's the Difference? : FAT32 - Wikipedia : Apple File System - Wikipedia : ext4 - Wikipedia