File Systems - NTFS FAT FAT32 exFAT | Formatting USB Drives

File Systems - NTFS FAT FAT32 exFAT | Formatting USB Drives

FILE SYSTEMS

In windows 7, there are four different file systems. They are :

• ·        NTFS
• ·        FAT
• ·        FAT32
• ·        exFAT

If your drive is larger than 32GB, FAT and FAT32 will not be available. Lets look at the benefits of each file systems.

NTFS as compared to FAT AND FAT32

·        create partitions larger than 32GB  

·         compress files and save disk space.

·        better space management = less fragmentation.

·        allows more clusters on larger drives = less wasted space.

·        add user permissions to individual files and folders (Windows Professional).

·        on-the-fly file encryption using EFS (Encrypting File System; Windows Professional).

FAT AND FAT32 COMPARED TO NTFS

·        Compatible with all operating systems.

·        Takes up less space on USB drive.

·        Faster and less memory usage.

exFAT COMPARED TO FAT AND FAT32

·        Read/write files larger than 4 GB.

·        Creates drive partitions larger than 32 GB.

·        Better space management.

·        Less fragmentation.

WHICH IS THE BEST?

Hard drives are organized in clusters and the allocation unit size describes the size of a single cluster. The file system records the state of each cluster, i.e. free or occupied. Hence, larger clusters can lead to more wasted or slack space. With smaller clusters, however, the drive becomes slower as each file is broken up into smaller pieces and it takes much longer to draw them all together when the file is accessed. Hence, larger clusters can lead to more wasted or slack space. With smaller clusters, however, the drive becomes slower as each file is broken up into smaller pieces and it takes much longer to draw them all together when the file is accessed.  The thing you had to keep in mind is that :

Large drive / large files = large allocation size

If you are having a low size flashdrive, suppose 500MB, use FAT32 [ 512 bytes ] or FAT [ 32 KB ]. If you are having a large sized flashdrive, suppose 1 TB, use NTFS [ 64 KB ].

WHAT IS VOLUME LABEL?

Volume Label is just the name that we gives to our drive. You can give any name to your drive. But your volume label depends upon the filesystem that you are formatting with. That is given below:

NTFS

·        Supports upto 32 characters.

·        No tabs

·        Uppercase and lowercase support, display as we enter.

FAT

·        Supports upto 11 characters.

·        No tabs

·        Only uppercase.

·        * ? . , ; : / \ | + = < > [ ], these characters are not supported.

source:netinfoz