My USB flash drive always messes up and I can't open it sometimes because it wants me to format it. I don't know why this isn't working but I also want to know what I should format it as FAT, FAT 32, or NTFS. Also, what is the difference in capacity and allocation unit size? Thanks.
2007-03-20 06:44:09 · 5 answers · asked by argh.pirate 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
FAT32 is the most portable... can easily be read/written by Windows, Linux, Macs, etc. FAT32 has a higher size and file number limit than FAT16.
The wiki page has a table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
2007-03-20 06:47:39 · answer #1 · answered by Tim 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Format it in FAT32, it will create 4k clusters which is the same as NTFS. It will maximize your space on the drive while at the same time provide support across various OSs as earlier stated.
FAT16 will create larger clusters as the size of the partition increases. If you have a 256mb flash drive, you're not going to lose that much space. If you have a 1gb or larger, your looking at 16k clusters or 32k clusters, again it depends on the size of the partition.
If your storing a lot of small files on it, FAT32 is your best bet.
2007-03-20 15:10:56 · answer #2 · answered by ZRX1200 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
FAT or FAT32 is your best bet. I am not even sure if you can format it NTFS. There really would be no need to format it NTFS if you could. As to allocation unit size, I'm not sure.
2007-03-20 13:50:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
fat32 is best for USB flash drives.
2007-03-20 13:52:32 · answer #4 · answered by GoLd E 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tim is absolutely right!
2007-03-20 13:48:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋