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    just got my 250gb WD ext HD and need advice

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by chaingreyiv, Aug 23, 2006.

  1. chaingreyiv

    chaingreyiv Notebook Guru

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    Hey,

    I just got a WD ext. 250gb hard drive. It's formatted in fat 32. Should I reformat it with ntfs???? Would there be any negatives to that?
     
    chaingreyiv, Aug 23, 2006
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  2. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    If you're only goint to be using it in Windows, then no, no negatives to that. ntfs is a more robust filesystem in general than FAT32. If you ever need to use it with a Mac or Linux or some other system, then you'll only be able to read the info, if that.
     
    Pitabred, Aug 23, 2006
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  3. chaingreyiv

    chaingreyiv Notebook Guru

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    so putting it into ntfs would be a better bet for cross OS?
     
    chaingreyiv, Aug 23, 2006
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  4. qwester

    qwester Notebook Virtuoso

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    No FAT32 is better for cross OS.

    But NTFS allows files larger than 4GB, FAT32 doesn't.
     
    qwester, Aug 23, 2006
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  5. chaingreyiv

    chaingreyiv Notebook Guru

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    may seem like a stupid question but does the size stay the same with either format?
     
    chaingreyiv, Aug 23, 2006
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  6. qwester

    qwester Notebook Virtuoso

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    it differs slightly due to cluster size and the fact that NTFS reserves 8MB of the total disc space. Nothing major, just a few MBs (probably around 10MBs)
     
    qwester, Aug 23, 2006
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