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Post by musik on Apr 20, 2021 9:43:16 GMT
FAT32 or NTFS - what's best?
I'm talking HDDs here.
I will buy one for backup.
I read somewhere when someone said NTFS is safer and more modern, but not if you want compatibility w both PC and Mac. Then you should use a FAT32 formatted disk. Is it true?
I'd like to you use it w my newer Win 10 PC mostly, but I'd like to possibly connect it to my friend's 10 year old Mac as well.
A-data, are they any good?
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Post by metalhead on Apr 20, 2021 12:56:35 GMT
I personally wouldn't touch FAT32 these days unless you want the absolute convenience of ultra-portability i.e. pen drive and you might need to plug into Windows, Linux, Mac and you don't want any faff. Anything where you need a dependable and reliable filesystem though, FAT32 probably isn't your answer. Yes it works, and yes you'll probably be fine, but it's limitations are staggering. FAT32 is a very old filesystem and is showing it's age. We were using FAT32 on Windows 98 and at the time, it was probably the best option. Even back then, it was unreliable. It was so widely adopted back then, it's continued to carry a legacy of being dependable old FAT.... No. Just no.
If you're intention is to go for portability between both PC and Mac, then make NTFS work on your Mac. There are lots of third party tools and also some native support in macOS. Do some Googling.
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Post by madstokie on Apr 20, 2021 14:06:20 GMT
go with ntfs you can't go wrong, metalhead is spot on with his advise
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Post by musik on Apr 20, 2021 14:54:56 GMT
Thanks M&M!
NTFS. I will.
It just surprises me a bit Verbatim and some other brands still hold on to FAT32 at they shop I've seen.
👍
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Post by metalhead on Apr 20, 2021 16:04:38 GMT
Thanks M&M! NTFS. I will. It just surprises me a bit Verbatim and some other brands still hold on to FAT32 at they shop I've seen. 👍 Because it's still widely supported and most people just want their new pen drive to work out the box. Really, it would be more sensible if the drive came unformatted as Windows and Linux both offer to format when you first plug in. You're then provided with your formatting options and FAT32 should always be at the bottom, as least desirable. I previously did some work for a volume car manufacturer and they opted to use FAT32 as the user storage filesystem for one of their flash modules for the internal Multimedia Player. The failure rate was staggering and because the OS was a very small Linux image with some basic BusyBox binaries and not much else, it would just keep ploughing on which would cause the most bizarre failures you've ever seen. They stuck with FAT32 for a little while. When I was pulled in, we had a number of discussions which usually involved talk of "so we've had another x hundred failures where the entire user data has been wiped, how are we going to solve this, as it's getting worse". Eventually, they put out an update (my idea) which converted the filesystem to ext3. User storage issues reduced to almost none. |
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Post by bucknall67 on Apr 20, 2021 16:56:07 GMT
Me (hopefully) like a lot of posters on here will be thinking 'What the fuck are they on about??'!
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Post by musik on Apr 20, 2021 20:09:04 GMT
Thanks M&M! NTFS. I will. It just surprises me a bit Verbatim and some other brands still hold on to FAT32 at they shop I've seen. 👍 Because it's still widely supported and most people just want their new pen drive to work out the box. Really, it would be more sensible if the drive came unformatted as Windows and Linux both offer to format when you first plug in. You're then provided with your formatting options and FAT32 should always be at the bottom, as least desirable. I previously did some work for a volume car manufacturer and they opted to use FAT32 as the user storage filesystem for one of their flash modules for the internal Multimedia Player. The failure rate was staggering and because the OS was a very small Linux image with some basic BusyBox binaries and not much else, it would just keep ploughing on which would cause the most bizarre failures you've ever seen. They stuck with FAT32 for a little while. When I was pulled in, we had a number of discussions which usually involved talk of "so we've had another x hundred failures where the entire user data has been wiped, how are we going to solve this, as it's getting worse". Eventually, they put out an update (my idea) which converted the filesystem to ext3. User storage issues reduced to almost none. Great!👍 I remember I used to format my external hard disk drives myself, but it's been many years since. Could have, must have, been NTFS. I think I'll go for some aluminium HDD again. They're quiet without any fan. |
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Post by musik on Apr 20, 2021 20:21:23 GMT
Me (hopefully) like a lot of posters on here will be thinking 'What the fuck are they on about??'! It's about different ways to store data files in a box, often made of metal or plastic. 🗄️ |
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Post by chigstoke on Apr 21, 2021 18:38:51 GMT
FAT32 died when XP came out, you needed NTFS drivers if you wanted to use it, but MS knew it was time to move on (so much so that NT for Workstations was a thing in like 1996)
FAT32 is slower, less safe and does not have the ability to handle large volumes, unlike NTFS and pretty much any file system that's come out since.
Now, the issue with flash drives is that some consoles, DVD players, TV's etc... don't support NTFS, only FAT32. Which is why it's released with it, the manufacturers sell to the widest market.
Nowadays though, Xbox and Playstation use their own filesystems (Xbox based off of NTFS, PS I think based off of UFS for FreeBSD)
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Post by Boothen on Apr 21, 2021 22:18:41 GMT
NTFS all the way, for a start FAT32 can't handle files over 4GB.
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Post by bucknall67 on Apr 21, 2021 23:43:33 GMT
Me (hopefully) like a lot of posters on here will be thinking 'What the fuck are they on about??'! It's about different ways to store data files in a box, often made of metal or plastic. 🗄️ Like a filing cabinet?? |
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Post by musik on Apr 22, 2021 0:13:02 GMT
It's about different ways to store data files in a box, often made of metal or plastic. 🗄️ Like a filing cabinet?? Sort of, but also involving a long arm - like the ones on turntables. Hard disk drives, HDDs in short. This thread is about the file system - how the data files, the information, is stored on the spinning hard disk inside the box made of plastic (or metal). FAT32 is one way, NTFS is another way. There are others as well, so it seems. Most disks are formatted already in advance, meaning have either a FAT32 or a NTFS file system ready. I've looked at the advantages and disadvantages of each file system now and made a decision: I'll stick with NTFS. Thanks everyone! 🧑 |
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