fat vs fat32 for usb flash drive

M

mmv

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
Messages
169
does it make any difference for a 256mb usb flash drive?
 
IIRC, Windows XP formats volumes smaller than 2GB as FAT by default, then goes to FAT32 for volumes up to 32GB. Although Windows 2000 and XP can read FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB, Microsoft believes htat nay volume larger than 32GB should be NTFS, so they do not allow the 2K or XP Disk Management Console to create FAT32 volumes larger than 32GB. This limitation is by design, and is one I agree with.
 
JediFonger said:
i've read that you format the flash drive as NTFS.
Click to expand...

i cant use ntfs since i still work around computers that are win98 :rolleyes:

from the link davidlem posted, it says to keep it fat. :eek:
 
When did fat16 start being called fat? :confused: I missed that one, and it was quite confusing until I figured out what you guys were talking about(since fat32 is also fat-based).
 
P3N1X0R said:
my 1GB drive always formats as FAT, i cant even get it to NTFS...
Click to expand...

go to My Computer, right click the flash drive and choose properties. click the hardware tab. click on the flash drive, hit properties. click on the policies tab, then select optimize for performance. now you can format it NTFS... just remember to use the safely remove hardware icon in the system tray before detaching the drive from your computer.
 
hey thanks!!!!! ill give it a whirl when i get home....

much thanks! but ok...now...how much of a performance incrase would i see...would it be worth it? and would i gain any more space available on the drive by goin from fat16 to ntfs?

either way, MUCH THANKS!
 
One problem with using fat is the file allocation table limit. Today I was copying a large number of documents on a usb drive and it would stop before copying all the files. We had to create directories and reduce the number of entries on the root of the drive.
 
I would think that NTFS would be worse for the life of the drive due to all of the journaling writes
 
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