NTFS or FAT32

[devenprasad]

Ok so i need my drive for a backup now and then and download torrents of movies and tv shows do u think i should leave the drive as ntfs or format to fat32?

 

[Qdos]

If you're going to put the drive behind a USB interface then choose FAT32, but otherwise choose NTFS

 

[ickymay]

It depends what your sharing your drive with ?

If you are using it purely in windows I would go ntfs, if your sharing it with leopard then I would go fat32 but you can go ntfs if your confident you can get read/write working with the console or ntfs-3g + macfusion or pacifist, if your sharing it with a PS3 then you will need fat32, if your sharing with an xbox fat32 ..................

you may come up against issues with the file limit size if you use fat32 though :shock:

 

[mpcrsc562]

you may come up against issues with the file limit size if you use fat32 though :shock:

File Allocation Table - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FAT32

In order to overcome the volume size limit of FAT16, while still allowing DOS real mode code to handle the format without unnecessarily reducing the available conventional memory, Microsoft implemented a newer generation of FAT, known as FAT32, with cluster values held in a 32-bit field, of which 28 bits are used to hold the cluster number, for a maximum of approximately 268 million (228) clusters. This allows for drive sizes of up to 8 terabytes with 32KB clusters, but the boot sector uses a 32-bit field for the sector count, limiting volume size to 2 TB on a hard disk with 512 byte sectors.
On Windows 95/98, due to the version of Microsoft's SCANDISK utility included with these operating systems being a 16-bit application, the FAT structure is not allowed to grow beyond around 4.2 million (< 222) clusters, placing the volume limit at 127.53 GB.[14] A limitation in original versions of Windows 98/98SE's Fdisk utility causes it to incorrectly report disk sizes over 64 GB.[15] A corrected version is available from Microsoft, but it cannot partition drives larger than 512GB [16]. The Windows 2000/XP installation program and filesystem creation tool imposes a limitation of 32 GB [17]. However, both systems can read and write to FAT32 file systems of any size. This limitation is by design and according to Microsoft was imposed because many tasks on a very large FAT32 file system become slow and inefficient.[14][18] This limitation can be bypassed by using third-party formatting utilities.[19] Windows Me supports the FAT32 file system without any limits.[20] However, similarly to Windows 95/98/98SE there is no native support for 48-bit LBA in Windows ME, meaning that the maximum disk size for ATA disks is 127.6 GB, the maximum size of an ATA disk using the previous long-standard 28-bit LBA.
FAT32 was introduced with Windows 95 OSR2, although reformatting was needed to use it, and DriveSpace 3 (the version that came with Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98) never supported it. Windows 98 introduced a utility to convert existing hard disks from FAT16 to FAT32 without loss of data. In the NT line, native support for FAT32 arrived in Windows 2000. A free FAT32 driver for Windows NT 4.0 was available from Winternals, a company later acquired by Microsoft. Since the acquisition the driver is no longer officially available.
The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte (232−1 bytes). Video applications, large databases, and some other software easily exceed this limit. Larger files require another formatting type such as NTFS.

 

[seekermeister]

Not a recommendation, just an alternative to consider...Exfat. I know next to nothing about it, but according to what I read here:

exFAT - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is especially adapted for USB flash drives, but I'm wondering how well it would work on an external drive interfaced via USB?

 

[ickymay]

you may come up against issues with the file limit size if you use fat32 though :shock:

The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte (232−1 bytes). Video applications, large databases, and some other software easily exceed this limit. Larger files require another formatting type such as NTFS.

using a third party tool such as partition wizard you can format drives larger than 4gb using fat32 , I use it to format a 60gb drive for using file transfer between my main pc and my daughters mac and my PS3

I have had some bad issues with EXFAT

 

[Dom]

using a third party tool such as partition wizard you can format drives larger than 4gb using fat32 , I use it to format a 60gb drive for using file transfer between my main pc and my daughters mac and my PS3

I have had some bad issues with EXFAT

FAT32 formatting doesn't decrease drive space, file space.
E.G. 60gb hard drive, but the largest file cannot exceed 4gb.

 

[ickymay]

using a third party tool such as partition wizard you can format drives larger than 4gb using fat32 , I use it to format a 60gb drive for using file transfer between my main pc and my daughters mac and my PS3

I have had some bad issues with EXFAT

FAT32 formatting doesn't decrease drive space, file space.
E.G. 60gb hard drive, but the largest file cannot exceed 4gb.

yes thanks for that my bad i stand corrected and didn't think it through, the false limit set by windows is 32gb but the actual allowable partition limit for fat32 is actually 2TB

 

[Dom]

using a third party tool such as partition wizard you can format drives larger than 4gb using fat32 , I use it to format a 60gb drive for using file transfer between my main pc and my daughters mac and my PS3

I have had some bad issues with EXFAT

FAT32 formatting doesn't decrease drive space, file space.
E.G. 60gb hard drive, but the largest file cannot exceed 4gb.

yes thanks for that my bad i stand corrected and didn't think it through, the partition limit for fat32 is actually 2TB

lol, no worries!

 

[devenprasad]

you may come up against issues with the file limit size if you use fat32 though :shock:

The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte (232−1 bytes). Video applications, large databases, and some other software easily exceed this limit. Larger files require another formatting type such as NTFS.

using a third party tool such as partition wizard you can format drives larger than 4gb using fat32 , I use it to format a 60gb drive for using file transfer between my main pc and my daughters mac and my PS3

I have had some bad issues with EXFAT

Western Digital Has a format to fat32 tool on there site so thats what im going to use

 

[Tepid]

Western Digital Has a format to fat32 tool on there site so that is what im going to use

This needs to be stressed,,,, If you have any file larger than 4G, it will not be usable, savable, anything-able on FAT32 partition.

ie. Movie, Game ISO's, etc.

 

[antt]

Windows 7 won't make system image backups to FAT32. Has to be NTFS for an image backup. (Saw you mentioned backups in the original post).

 

[Frostmourne]

No one has mentioned AUS or the effect fo cluster size. For a big drive go for NTFS.

 

[Tepid]

Was thinking more about this.

it's a good idea to stick with NTFS
Fat32 is only good for certain scenarios and should not be used as a main format for Windows 7.

Example: If using it for data transfer between different OS's ,, you are better off using an external HDD formatted as fat32 rather than making your OS format Fat32.