When you open a drive in Windows 10, the first thing you’ll see is the file system. This is a collection of files and folders that your computer uses to store data. You can see the file system by right-clicking on the drive and choosing “Open.” If you’re using a Windows 8 or 8.1 device, you might not see the file system at all because it’s hidden by default. The file system is divided into two parts: your operating system’s storage and your user’s storage. Your operating system stores your files in your user’s storage, which means that anyone can access them. Your user’s storage is only used by people who have permission to access it. Your computer uses two types of files to store data: primary and secondary files. A primary file is a big, important document that needs to be stored in one place so that it can be accessed quickly. Secondary files are smaller, more common documents that are stored in other places on your computer (like on your desktop). To view the file system of a drive on Windows 10, right-click on the drive and choose “Open.” In most cases, you’ll see something like this when you open the drive: The first thing you’ll notice is that there are three folders inside of “My Documents” - “My Pictures,” “My Videos,” and “My Music.” These are all part of your user’s storage - anyone can access them any time they want. The second thing you’ll notice is that there are four folders inside of “C:\Users\username\AppData\Local” - “Desktop,” “Documents,” “Etc.” These are all part of your operating system’s storage - they’re always accessible even if someone doesn’t have permission to access them (like if someone has turned off write permissions for their account).
When you’re elbow-deep in drive configuration or troubleshooting, you often need to know what file system a certain drive on your Windows 10 PC uses. For example, if you’re using the new Windows File Recovery tool, it’s essential info. Here’s how to find it.
RELATED: How to Use Microsoft’s “Windows File Recovery” on Windows 10 and Windows 11
First, open “File Explorer.” Locate the drive whose file system you’d like to determine and right-click on it. In the menu that pops up, select “Properties.”
In the “Properties” window that appears, you’ll see the file system type in the “General” tab just below the drive name and type. It’s listed just after the “File system:” label.
Usually, Windows 10 uses NTFS (short for “NT File System”) as its default file system, but sometimes you’ll see other file systems, such as FAT32 (a legacy Windows 9x-era file system) or exFAT, which USB removable drives often use for maximum compatibility between platforms, such as Macs and PCs.
RELATED: What’s the Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS?
