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    USB Flash Drive - format to FAT, FAT32 or NTFS?

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by anteis24, Nov 5, 2007.

  1. anteis24

    anteis24 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Which format is recommended? Are there any advantages to one over another? I just purchased a Sandisk cruzer micro 2GB USB 2.0 flash drive.
     
    anteis24, Nov 5, 2007
    #1
  2. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    I recommend FAT16 for a 2GB drive. This should give the best overall performance and most efficient usage of available space.
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 5, 2007
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  3. yuio

    yuio NBR Assistive Tec. Tec.

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    I recommend just FAT, do not use NTFS, heard bad things...
     
    yuio, Nov 5, 2007
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  4. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    It depends on your needs.

    If compatibility between different OSes is important, use FAT32. Pretty much everything can read and write to it: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X.

    If it's just Windows XP and/or Vista, you may want to use NTFS. It's more sophisticated and keeps track of owner and group, and file permissions, etc. (Other OSes can often read NTFS volumes, but usually can't write to them.)

    But if it's just a bunch of media files or something and you don't care about permissions, then I'd use FAT32.

    Here's a decent summary of the advantages of NTFS:
    http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm

    Other than compatibility, and advantage of FAT32 is simplicity. Without any file permissions, there's no chance that you could inadvertently deny yourself permission to access a file. The ownership/permissions thing could maybe complicate things when connecting the drive to a different computer (with a different user account) -- although I don't really know how that works in any detail.
     
    swarmer, Nov 5, 2007
    #4
  5. lokster

    lokster Notebook Deity

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    No no no. ONLY USE FAT. fat32 and ntfs MAKES your USB drive much smaller.

    once you format into fat32 or ntfs whichever higher you cannot format down.

    ONLY USE FAT!
     
    lokster, Nov 6, 2007
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  6. Metamorphical

    Metamorphical Good computer user

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    Always use Fat23.

    You will never see the full size on a flashdrive no matter what because even they have firmware which takes up a tiny portion of the drive.
     
    Metamorphical, Nov 6, 2007
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  7. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    Fat 23 huh?

    Must be some new tech I've never heard of before! :p
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 6, 2007
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  8. times

    times Notebook Evangelist

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    ive been using ntfs.owell lol
     
    times, Nov 10, 2007
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  9. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    Just transfer your files to your HD, reformat your flash drive, and then return the files, no big deal.
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 10, 2007
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  10. KnightUnit

    KnightUnit Notebook Evangelist

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    Really, not with all that reading :p
     
    KnightUnit, Nov 11, 2007
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  11. Gintoki

    Gintoki Notebook Prophet

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    Just use the default which is FAT. Also i think Metamorphical meant FAT 32 scoober.
     
    Gintoki, Nov 11, 2007
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  12. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    lol! :p ;) :D
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 11, 2007
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  13. Lite

    Lite Notebook Deity

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    You can always revert back from any Partition format to any other one so i dunno where that other guy heard that from..
     
    Lite, Nov 11, 2007
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  14. Gintoki

    Gintoki Notebook Prophet

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    What? What are you talking about?
     
    Gintoki, Nov 12, 2007
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  15. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    I know that brutha Calvin, it was just a silly joke, you should know me better than that by now. I'm very saddened and disappointed by this. :( :p :D
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 12, 2007
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  16. lua

    lua Notebook Consultant

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    best bet is FAT. not all devices or OS platforms have consistent support for NTFS or FAT32.
     
    lua, Nov 12, 2007
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  17. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    This thread should have been closed after my first post. :cool:
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 12, 2007
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  18. Gintoki

    Gintoki Notebook Prophet

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    You may not have got ti but i was kidding that time too. :D
     
    Gintoki, Nov 12, 2007
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  19. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    You get me every time! :p :D
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 12, 2007
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  20. Gintoki

    Gintoki Notebook Prophet

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    Because your easier than pie. :D
     
    Gintoki, Nov 13, 2007
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  21. scooberdoober

    scooberdoober Penguins FTW!

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    :p ;) :D :)
     
    scooberdoober, Nov 14, 2007
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  22. scythie

    scythie I died for your sins.

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    LOL, know this is an old thread, but when I googled about which to format a USB drive to, this is the first result :D

    From [very recent] experience, FAT32 is the best. Had so much troubles with FAT! I'm not sure why, but an error message ["Cannot create directory blahblah"] appears out of nowhere then I have to format again! After a few more formats, decided to go with FAT32. With FAT32, transferring files is a breeze.

    Hope this helps, uhm, future USB flash drive users out there lol
     
    scythie, Dec 11, 2007
    #22