So many ?s regarding the benefits of NTFS -> sum up

The NTFS file system is the recommended file system for use with Windows 2000. NTFS has all of the basic capabilities of FAT, and it provides the following advantages over the FAT and FAT 32 file systems:

1) Better file security and auditing. 2) Better disk compression. 3) Support for large hard disks, up to 2 terabytes (TB). {The maximum drive size for NTFS is much greater than that for FAT, and as drive size increases, performance with NTFS doesn't degrade as it does with FAT.} 4) As well as various features for POSIX subsystem.

FAT and FAT32
FAT32 is an enhanced version of the FAT file system that can be used on drives from 512 megabytes (MB) to 2 TB in size. FAT and FAT32 offer compatibility with operating systems other than Windows 2000. If you're setting up a dual-boot configuration, you should probably use FAT or FAT32.

If you're dual booting Windows 2000 and another operating system, choose a file system based on the other operating system, using the following criteria:

Format the partition as FAT if the installation partition is smaller than 2 gigabytes (GB), or if you're dual booting Windows 2000 with MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT.

Use FAT32 for use on partitions that are 2 GB or larger. If you choose to format using FAT during Windows 2000 Setup and your partition is greater than 2 GB, Setup automatically formats it as FAT32.

It's recommended that you use NTFS rather than FAT32 for partitions larger than 32 GB.