File System check

Applies To: Forefront Client Security

The File System SSA check determines the file system of each local hard drive on the scanned computer, to ensure that the NTFS file system is being used. NTFS is a secured file system that allows you to control or restrict access to individual files or directories. For example, if a user would like other users to be able to view files, but not change them, this can be done by using the access control lists (ACLs) provided by NTFS.

For this check to succeed, the drive must be shared using administrative drive shares. This check only supports the FAT file system or NTFS formatting. Other types of disk formatting (for example, Linux or UNIX) are not supported.

Secured file systems, such as NTFS, are a key component of security, because they restrict user access to data. By using file system security, you can specify which users are allowed to access individual files and what type of access they are allowed (for example, read or modify). NTFS protects your data by preventing unwanted user access to it.

Resolutions for potentially unacceptable scores

If a scanned computer is running the FAT file system, which is not a secured file system, it is recommended that you convert the file system to NTFS. FAT and FAT32 do not have the ACL and discretionary access control list (DACL) support provided by NTFS.

Scoring and results

This check generates scores on two levels:

  • Overall

  • Per local drive

Overall scoring

The following table shows how Client Security determines the overall score resulting from assessing file systems on local drives of the scanned computer.

Score Number of local drives with high score Number of local drives with low score Number of local drives detected Results message

High

At least 1

0 or more

At least 1

Number of local drives that are not using the NTFS file system: number.

Low

0

1 or more

At least 1

All local drives are using the NTFS file system.

  

0

0

0

No local drives were found on this computer.

Per local drive scoring

The following table shows how Client Security determines the score resulting from assessing the file system of a specific local drive.

Score Local drive is formatted using NTFS Results message

High

No

This local drive is not formatted using the NTFS file system: DeviceID.

Low

Yes

This local drive is formatted using the NTFS file system: DeviceID.

Other Resources

How NTFS Works
How to Convert FAT Disks to NTFS
How to restore the default NTFS permissions for Windows 2000