USB Flash Drive - format to FAT, FAT32 or NTFS?

[anteis24]

Which format is recommended? Are there any advantages to one over another? I just purchased a Sandisk cruzer micro 2GB USB 2.0 flash drive.

[scooberdoober]

I recommend FAT16 for a 2GB drive. This should give the best overall performance and most efficient usage of available space.

[yuio]

I recommend just FAT, do not use NTFS, heard bad things...

[swarmer]

It depends on your needs.

If compatibility between different OSes is important, use FAT32. Pretty much everything can read and write to it: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X.

If it's just Windows XP and/or Vista, you may want to use NTFS. It's more sophisticated and keeps track of owner and group, and file permissions, etc. (Other OSes can often read NTFS volumes, but usually can't write to them.)

But if it's just a bunch of media files or something and you don't care about permissions, then I'd use FAT32.

Here's a decent summary of the advantages of NTFS:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_...ile_system.htm

Other than compatibility, and advantage of FAT32 is simplicity. Without any file permissions, there's no chance that you could inadvertently deny yourself permission to access a file. The ownership/permissions thing could maybe complicate things when connecting the drive to a different computer (with a different user account) -- although I don't really know how that works in any detail.

[lokster]

No no no. ONLY USE FAT. fat32 and ntfs MAKES your USB drive much smaller.

once you format into fat32 or ntfs whichever higher you cannot format down.

ONLY USE FAT!

[Metamorphical]

Always use Fat23.

You will never see the full size on a flashdrive no matter what because even they have firmware which takes up a tiny portion of the drive.

[scooberdoober]

Always use Fat23.

You will never see the full size on a flashdrive no matter what because even they have firmware which takes up a tiny portion of the drive.

Fat 23 huh?

Must be some new tech I've never heard of before!

[times]

ive been using ntfs.owell lol

[scooberdoober]

ive been using ntfs.owell lol

Just transfer your files to your HD, reformat your flash drive, and then return the files, no big deal.

[KnightUnit]

Fat 23 huh?

Must be some new tech I've never heard of before!

Really, not with all that reading :P