HPFS avoided several MS DOS limitations, especially the eight-character computer file name restriction. The program runs on the same machine as the MS-DOS file system and file allocation table, or may run independently.

The advantages of HPFS include:

• Contiguous storage
• Separate date stamps for file creation and last access and modification
• Less file fragmentation
• Smaller cluster size
• Support for storage devices of up to 512 GB
• Faster disk operation and file access of the root directory at the midpoint of the disk rather than the beginning

The advantages of HPFS include:

• Requires more system memory
• Requires disk partitions not recognized by MS-DOS, which prevents a computer from booting from a floppy disk
• Requires a special utility (Partition Magic from PowerQuest) to access the HPFS partition