Benefits of FAT / FAT32 file system. Note: For USB flash drives with capacity larger than 32GB, FAT / FAT32 formatting option is not available. If you select FAT or FAT32 file system: Faster performing USB owing to write operations lesser. Less memory usage. Quick disk scanning. Compatibility with almost all operating systems. The standard formatting tools built into these operating systems are able to create FAT32 partitions; they might also be labelled as FAT or MS-DOS. Simply delete the existing exFAT partition and create and format a new FAT32 primary partition, before proceeding with the rest of the NOOBS instructions. On a Mac, this means using the command-line.
- ExFAT (extensible FAT) is an attempt at a compromise: a FAT-like file system that can be supported with minimal changes to existing FAT32-supporting software. Think of this as our original FAT32 reference book with an index added and printed on bigger, easier-to-read paper.
- FAT stands for 'File Allocation Table', FAT and FAT16 are the same. This was widely used during the Under DOS and early versions of Windows 95 era when the hard drive capacity is generally small ( less than 2 GB). Floppy drive is always formatted in this format.
Nov 13, 2019
Let's Get Technical
Windows-supported operating systems rely on one of two different types of file systems: File Allocation Table (FAT) or New Technology File System (NTFS).
While both file systems were created by Microsoft, each has different benefits and disadvantages related to compatibility, security, and flexibility.
In this article, we will break down what a FAT file system is, what an NTFS file system is and what the pros and cons are for each system.
What Is FAT?
Microsoft created the File Allocation Table file system in 1977 and is the simplest file system supported by Windows NT. It is the older of the two file systems and therefore isn’t as efficient or advanced. However, it does offer more compatibility with other operating systems and removable storage devices.
The FAT is used to describe the allocation status of the clusters (the basic units of logical storage on a hard drive) in a file system, as well as the link relationship between each. It acts as a Table of Contents for the operating system, indicating where directories and files are stored on the disk.
A FAT is often most used in removable storage devices, such as digital cameras, Smart TVs and other portable devices.
The file allocation table is a critical part of the FAT file system. If the FAT is damaged or lost, the data on the hard disk becomes unreadable.
There are several limitations to using a FAT32 file system:
- FAT32 only supports files of up to 4GB in size and volumes of up to 2TB in size
- FAT32 isn’t a journaling file system, which means corruption can happen more easily
- FAT32 doesn’t support file permissions
What Is NTFS?
Microsoft created the New Technology File System in 1993, and it is now the most widely used file system in Windows.
It was introduced as a replacement for the FAT file system, designed to improve upon FAT by increasing performance, reliability and disk space.
NTFS supports:
- Very large files
- Different file permissions and encryption
- Automatically restores consistency by using log file and checkpoint information
- File compression when running out of disk space
- Establishing disk quotas, limiting space users can use
FAT vs. NTFS
FAT is the more simple file system of the two, but NTFS offers different enhancements and offers increased security. Choosing the right operating system depends on your needs.
- Fault Tolerance: NTFS automatically repairs files/folders in the case of power failures or errors. FAT32 maintains two different copies of the FAT in the case of damage.
- Security: FAT32 only offers shared permissions, while NTFS allows you to set specific permissions to local files/folders.
- Compression: FAT32 does not offer any compression option. NTFS does allow for individual compression of files and folders so you don’t slow down the system.
- Compatibility: NTFS is compatible with operating systems back to Windows XP. For Mac OS users, however, NTFS systems can only be read by Mac, while FAT32 drives can be both read and written to by the Mac OS.
The biggest disadvantage of using the NTFS file system is compatibility:
- Many removable devices, such as Android smartphones don’t support NTFS
- While Mac OS X can read support for NTFS drives, but it can’t write to NTFS drives without third-party software
- Some media devices, including Smart TVs, media players, and printers, don’t support NTFS
- NTFS file systems are only compatible with Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows
When it comes to removable devices, it’s safer to use FAT32 so they can be used with almost any device.
There is no clear winner when it comes to FAT vs. NTFS. Choosing the right file system depends on your individual needs and uses.
exFAT or Extensible File Allocation Table is a file system introduced in 2006 by Microsoft. exFAT is mainly designed and optimized for flash memory, USB flash drives, and SD cards. exFAT can be used alternative to NTFS and FAT file systems to lift performance and size limits. Actually, exFAT32 is an advanced version of the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems and provides fewer features than NTFS. Simply exFAT sits between FAT16/FAT32 and NTFS filesystems.
exFAT History
exFAT is created in late 2006 as a feature of the Windows CE 6.0 mobile and embedded operating system. Then other operating systems and platforms like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7/8/10, Windows Server 2008, Linux, MacOS X 10.6.5 supported this file system.
exFAT Features
exFAT provides different features and limits than other Microsoft based file systems like NTFS and FAT.
- The file size limit is 16 exbibytes which are very high for the current date.
- exFAT support 2,796,202 files per directory even Microsoft specifies it as 65,534.
- A partition like C: can hold 4,294,967,285 files without a problem.
- Improved “Free-space allocation” with “free space bitmap”.
- 10 ms timestamp granularity which is faster than FAT.
- Better and higher file name formatting.
Advantages Of exFAT
exFAT provides a lot of advantages for different use cases. Below you can find major advantages of the exFAT file system.
- exFAT is a lightweight file system that needs very low hardware resources and can be run restricted and low resource devices.
- exFAT supports drive or storage up to 128 pebibytes which is very huge.
- exFAT supports file sizes up to 16 exbibytes which is more than the partition size limit. So a file can be 128 pebibytes for a file.
- exFAT is compatible with a lot of different operating systems, platforms like Windows Embedded CE 6.0, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 (except Windows Server 2008 Server Core), Windows 10, and Mac OS X starting from 10.6.5, Android 6 and later versions. Also devices like cameras, smartphones, gaming console, embedded devices.
- Faster than file systems like FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and Ext4.
- exFAT is optimized for Flash-based storage or disk drives where provides very high performance.
Disadvantages of exFAT
Even exFAT provides a lot of advantages there are some disadvantages actually which is not positive for the exFAT file system.
- exFAT do not supports journalling which is a must for mainstream file systems which are used for enterprise systems. Journalling will stores actions about files and prevent accidential corruptions.
- exFAT does not support encryption security feature which is a must for the enterprise-level file systems.
exFAT Is Cross-Platform
exFAT is a simply file system which will result a better support for other operating systems and platforms than Windows. exFAT is supported by different operating systems and platforms like Android, Linux, Kali, Ubuntu, Debian, MacOSX, iPad, iPhone etc.
Linux provides the exfat-fuse and exfat-utils packages to work with exFAT file systems. These utilities can be installed for Ubuntu with the following command.
exFAT Device Support
exFAT is supported and used with the following devices and platforms:
- Windows Embedded CE 6.0
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista with Service Pack 1
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows Server 2008 R2 (except Windows Server 2008 Server Core)
- Windows 10
- Mac OS X starting from 10.6.5
- Android 6 and later versions
- Cameras
- Smartphones
- Gaming console
- Embedded devices
- Smart TV
- Smart Home Devices
Create exFAT FileSystem In Windows
We can create an exFAT filesystem easily after plugging the USB Flash drive we will right-click on it and click to Format . Following menu will be listed where we will select exFAT as “File system”. The last step is pressing the “Start” button.
Create exFAT FileSystem In Linux
Linux supports exFAT. In order to use exFAT with Linux the exfat-fuse and exfat-utils packages should be installed. We can then create an exFAT filesystem for Linux with the “mkfs.exfat” command like below.
Format Fat32 Larger Than 32gb
exFAT Performance vs FAT32 and NTFS
As stated previously exFAT provides very good performance according to the FAT32 and NTFS filesystems. exFAT is especially designed for USB Drives, Flash Disk for higher performance. The biggest performance advantage for exFAT is not journalling which will make extra overload for other file systems FAT32 and NTFS. In general exFAT provides %20 better performance for write operating and very similar performance for read operation.
exFAT Alternatives
Well, you may be looking for an alternative for the exFAT filesystem. But there is no better alternative for the exFAT file system which provides a lot of features compatibility and cross-platform is one of them. But alternative FAT32 can be used for exFAT even it can not better than exFAT.
Is ExFAT The Same As Fat32?
The name of the exFAT and Fat32 is similar where both of them contains the word FAT . You may ask if is the exFAT the same as FAT32. exFAT and FAT32 are not the same but the exFAT is an update to the FAT32 file system with modern features. We may call that FAT32 +NTFS = exFAT in general.
Ntfs Vs Fat32 Vs Exfat For Usb
Can MacOSX Read ExFAT?
MacOS X is a Unix based operating system and ExFAT is Microsoft or windows based file system. The question is “Can MacOSX read exFAT?”. Yes, the MacOSX or Mac can read even write to the ExFAT file system. The exFAT is natively supported by modern MacOSX operating systems.
Can Windows Read ExFAT?
As a file system created for the Windows operating systems the ExFAT can be read/write in windows operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019.