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Hi, my sandisk cruzer crossfire flash drive uses a FAT file system. Everytime i format the flash drive it gives me an option to format to fat or fat32. I always select Fat since that is the original format. Im just wondering is fat32 better in a flash drive and should you change formats. could it mulfunction etc.
Thanks.
It really depends on the size of the flash drive and what you are using it for. The same criteria applies to flash drives as HDDs. The different file systems will not cause it to malfunction.
Stuart
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I would stay with whatever file system the flash drive come with for dependability. How often do you format it and for what reason? I yet have to format mine that I use every day.
i_XpUser
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'FAT' is an overall term for the FAT system. There is FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. The FAT system used depends upon the drive size. FAT12 is used for floppies. FAT16 is usually used for drives up to 2gb. FAT32 is used for large drives. It uses larger clusters, which can be wasteful if you have a lot of small files.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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That wasn't the best explanation in the world. I'm gonna find a web site with a better one for next time.
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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Hey ham -
Don't fret - To me it was the most logical explanation of why it's always FAT for the up-to-2GB solid-state storage devices.
i_XpUser
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Here's one
FAT16 drives approaching the 2Gb limit are pretty wasteful - the clusters are 32K, which can create a lot of 'slack'
FAT12 & FAT16 are also limited as to how many files & folders can be in the 'root' of the drive
Saying that XP is the most stable MS OS is like saying that asparagus is the most articulate vegetable
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That looks like a good one jboy, and I've made a note of it. And surprise of surprises, it's a Microsoft site. :-)
Do yourself a favor BACKUP!
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... sometimes they can get things right ; )
Saying that XP is the most stable MS OS is like saying that asparagus is the most articulate vegetable
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That was the one I was looking for but couldn't find it. I was using v instead of vs in the search criteria.
Just one thing to add on accessibility. It mentions that FAT32 is only accessible by Windows 96 OSR2 and Windows 98 as well as Windows 2000. You can also add Windows XP to that list.
This was probably written before Windows XP was released.
Stuart
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Sure, that was just the first one I'd hit, and focussed on 2K
For a (much) more detailed view, and a bit of history, Wiki has a pretty interesting writeup
Saying that XP is the most stable MS OS is like saying that asparagus is the most articulate vegetable
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