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What is a File System?
A file system (file system) is the methods and data structures that an operating system uses to track files on a disk or partition, or in other words, the file system determines how files are managed within the system. The file system is also used when referring to a partition or disk used to store data files.
Operating systems come pre-equipped with support for various file system formats. Sometimes, the OS and file system are closely intertwined to distinguish the file system's function from the rest.
Exploring FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS Formats
What are FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS Formats? How to Choose for Computer and Laptop Hard Drive Partitions
In the following section, Mytour will delve into detailing what FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS are and how to choose them for USBs, Computer Hard Drives, and Laptops.
Choosing between NTFS and FAT32 for USB when ghosting or installing Windows?
1. What is NTFS format?
NTFS is a newer file system format used by Windows, first introduced in Windows NT in 1993. On newer operating systems, the system drive will be formatted and set up with NTFS file system by default.
In theory, NTFS has very large file size and partition size limits, and it encompasses modern features that users commonly use, including support for secure file access permissions, quick file recovery in case of system crashes or errors, copying backups, encryption, disk space quotas, hard links, and several other features.
NTFS operates on newer versions of Windows. Additionally, Mac OS sets NTFS as the default for read-only files. Some Linux distributions support NTFS, while others do not.
Choosing between FAT32 and NTFS format for USB
2. What is FAT32 format?
FAT32 is an older file system format. Specifically, this file system format was first introduced in Windows 95 to replace the older FAT16 format and gradually became the standard format. USB drives are often formatted with this file system format to ensure maximum compatibility across devices. In general, the FAT family is supported on nearly all common devices.
However, due to its long existence, FAT32 also has certain limitations. Firstly, partitions formatted with FAT32 cannot store files larger than 4GB, and the size of a FAT32 partition must be less than 8 TB. Although 8 TB is still quite large, users with high-capacity hard drives are unlikely to choose FAT32.
Currently, there are many types of FAT32 memory cards, meaning memory cards formatted with the FAT 32 standard, which help improve data copying and transfer speeds.
Additionally, FAT32 format does not provide users with access permissions, nor does it integrate other security features like the newer NTFS format.
On newer versions of Windows, FAT32 format is no longer supported for system drives.
Moreover, an interesting piece of information is that FAT32 was first introduced in the FAT12 version of Windows.
Refer to how to convert FAT32 to NTFS here.
3. What is exFAT format?
exFAT format was first introduced in 2006 and is supported by Windows versions including Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, and higher versions.
Similar to NTFS, the exFAT format also supports large files and drive partitions, allowing users to confidently store files larger than 4GB.
Being an upgraded file format based on FAT32, however, exFAT is not limited in size like its predecessor. Additionally, exFAT is compatible with NTFS and works on all Windows versions as well as Mac OS. Linux users can install some software to enable compatibility.
