Comments on: USB Flash Drive Comparison part 2 – FAT32 vs NTFS vs ExFAT

By: theodoros bousios

theodoros bousios — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:25:00 +0000

“So what have we learned from all of this, besides the fact that I need to get a life and out from in front of this computer?” That’s exactly what i thought when i was reading the article. Anyway it’s a great post, i was always wondering what is the best option for a flash drive, fat32 vs ntfs, … omg i need to get a life too, there are more serious dilemas in this life

By: Michael Ormandy

Michael Ormandy — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:23:00 +0000

If you are someone like myself who transfers LARGE files and / or enjoys downloading QUALITY video files from the torrents (+4 gig HD quality movies) and want compatibility with whatever media player you stick it in, NTFS is the only choice. Keep in mind, it’s read write is often a tad slower, and since the NTFS files system constantly logs to file journals, it will wear out the drive faster. That said, it’s JUST A FLASH DRIVE. By the time you wear it out, you will want a larger / faster one that will by that time be much more affordable than it had been.

By: Karl I

Karl I — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:57:00 +0000

But which would give longer life span to a pendrive? And, why?

By: cell phone repair parts

cell phone repair parts — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:36:00 +0000

The best reviews of USB flash drives pit multiple models against one
another in a series of standardized tests that evaluate file read/write
speed, durability, security measures and other practical considerations,
and use the results to identify clear winners.

By: free antivirus comparison

free antivirus comparison — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:16:00 +0000

HI,

Its really brilliant post guys and very informative article guys.

Thanks

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:50:00 +0000

The range of your results is suspect. Any drives with read and/or write caching disabled would be much slower than those without. You don’t mention caching once.

By: Io23sif

Io23sif — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:13:00 +0000

Right click on My Computer/Manage. Click on Device Manager. On disk drives , right click on your flash drive. Select Proprietes and click on Policies. Click on Optimize for performance, and OK. Now you can format the drive in NTFS.

By: promotional usb

promotional usb — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:29:00 +0000

Thanks for the advice nooitaf, I was having a few problems with my Mac but I’ll try using exFAT. Now that Snow Leopard have added support, I’m hoping everything’s alright.

By: nooitaf

nooitaf — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Mac users should use exFAT if possible as Snow Leopard added exFAT support in version 10.6.5 on November 10.
OS X 10.6.5 can read, write, and create exFAT partitions additionally to the usual FAT32.

By: Boeing711

Boeing711 — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:47:00 +0000

Interesting… You’ve answered my question. Thanks a bunch for the research M8.

By: SVDP

SVDP — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:43:00 +0000

You can go with the NTFS format of your drive, We personally use it for all internal and client transfer to Digital devices, except when we are working on older systems at which point we need to use Fat32 for compatibility. NTFS does offer some security that FAT32 does not within the file system structure.

Enjoy
SVDP-TECH

By: SVDPTECH

SVDPTECH — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:39:00 +0000

Your best bet is to go with a USB drive, it will set you back a little more than the SD card but, the higher end units do come with a special setup that allows dual memory access like your mobo ram, Corsair am0ong others makes some very fast dual channel usb drives.

Enjoy.
SVDP-TECH

By: Z80user

Z80user — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:40:00 +0000

If NTFS Vs FAT vs exFAT only set the default cluster size, or no indicate, the test are not bad, but the utility is …
NTFS can format with 512 bytes/cluster to 64 KB by cluster
FAT16 can be up to 32KB/cluster
FAT32 are the same option that NTFS
exFAT can make sililar comparation, but only if the size of cluster are the same, and not all cluster size are equal to performance.

In OPS/minute NTFS can only make 79 !!! but can write at the same speed at exFAT, only a little less.

Windows only can mount NTFS if disable cache system on USB drive, but not for FAT16/32.

Windows 7/2008 Have a good recurse monitor that show the memory use by file system cache (aprox) by click in memory tab. In orange color show this memory, it is grow when copy a file.

Other test can by copy a LARGE file 3.75 GB of data from/to USB in 4GB flash no a large file that 256MB, the cache of controller make the cache/file size low. If this value are 1, the test are wrong but is value is near to 0 is a good test. Windows 32bits can’t copy all file in memory (Windows 200x Server can use more memory that 4 GB)

By: Qigongdoctor

Qigongdoctor — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 02:55:00 +0000

OK Great, BUT, I’m using XP Pro, with Core Duo. When I try to reformat my flash drive (any) from FAT32 to NTFS, I get messages saying that Windows can’t complete the format, or unable to complete the format. From the command prompt, I get the message that there is a partition problem having to do with the basic file system. I just cant find a way to get my flash drives to reformat at all! (very frustrated in Martinez)

By: Spooky216

Spooky216 — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:20:00 +0000

This all looks pretty impressive but what about if you have a large file, say 12 or 14gb that you wish to copy to the usb drive and transfer to a separate computer? I am using a mac. For some reason I thought the FAT32 had a limit of 4gb whereas the NTFS didnt have a limit.
Have I got the wrong end of the stick (pardon the pun)
Nina