Is it better to use FAT or FAT32 for the USB flash drive of 512?

U disk can be used in that format at will, but some ***, need to be formatted to FAT format, otherwise the file can not be read.

Difference between FAT and FAT32,1 Advantages of the FAT32 file system: Compared to FAT, FAT can only handle drives with a capacity of less than 2GB, while FAT32 can create a single drive of any capacity. FAT32 stores files more efficiently and allows the hard drive to hold more content.

The main difference between FAT16 and FAT32 is the size of the cluster, but there are several other differences. FAT32 can allocate each unit finely, and can add more entries to the root directory.

A brief introduction to the advantages of FAT32, FAT32 can allocate disk space more efficiently than FAT16. The root folder of the FAT32 volume is a normal cluster chain, so it can be located anywhere in the volume, so the FAT32 can support the number of entries with more roots, and the FAT16 can only have 512. Because the FAT32 uses smaller clusters than the FAT16, it is possible to create tall volumes up to 32GB.

FAT32 is better than FAT, the original FAT format refers to FAT16, this format is generally used under the earliest DOS, but if you consider the security of the file, it is best to consider using the NTFS format.

Take you to understand the difference between hard disk FAT32 and EXFAT, if you don't understand, you can take a look!

1. It supports the FAT32 file system formatted U disk.

2. Under normal circumstances, in addition to the computer can support other formats, general external devices only support this formatting.

This format uses a 32-bit file allocation table, which greatly enhances its disk management capabilities, breaking through the FAT16 limit of only 2GB per partition.

fatis a file allocation table (acronym: FAT), which is a file system invented and partially patented by Microsoft for use by MS-DOS and used by all non-NT core Microsoft windows.

The FAT file system was not complicated by the limited performance of computers at the time, so it was supported by almost all operating systems of personal computers. This makes it an ideal file system for floppy disks and memory cards, as well as for data exchange in different operating systems. Now, FAT is generally referred to as FAT32.

However, FAT has a serious disadvantage: when new data is written after the file is deleted, the FAT will not organize the file into complete fragments before writing, and after long-term use, the file data will gradually become scattered, and the read and write speed will be slowed down. Defragmentation is a workaround, but it must be reorganized frequently to maintain the efficiency of the FAT file system.

fat32It is a type of partition format. This format uses a 32-bit file allocation table, which greatly enhances its disk management capabilities, breaking through the FAT16 limit of only 2GB per partition.

Due to the decline in the production cost of hard disks and the increasing capacity of hard disks, after using the FAT32 partition format, we can define a large hard disk as a partition instead of dividing it into several partitions, which greatly facilitates the management of disks. However, due to the fact that a single file larger than 4GB cannot be stored in the FAT32 partition and its performance is poor, disk fragmentation is likely to occur. It has been replaced by the more high-performance NTFS partition format.

Prior to the introduction of the FAT32 file system, the file system commonly used by PCs was FAT16. Systems such as MS-DOS-based and WIN 95 all use FAT16 file system. Under Win 9X, FAT16 supports partitions up to 2GB.

We know that computers keep information in areas called "clusters" on hard disks. The smaller the cluster used, the more efficient it is to hold information. In the case of FAT16, the larger the partition, the larger the cluster, the lower the storage efficiency, which will inevitably cause a waste of storage space.

And with the continuous improvement of computer hardware and applications, the FAT16 file system can no longer adapt well to the requirements of the system. In this case, an enhanced file system, FAT32, was introduced.

The FAT32 and NTFS formats of USB flash drive have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the specific choice depends on the usage scenario and needs.

Compatibility: The FAT32 format has good compatibility and is suitable for files with a total size of less than 4GB. In Windows, both FAT32 and NTFS USB flash drives can be read and written normally.

However, in macOS, the USB flash drive in NTFS format only has read-only permissions and cannot read and write data normally, while the FAT32 format can be read and written normally.

Data transmission and security: The NTFS format is not limited by the size of a single file, and can transfer data with a file size of more than 4GB in Windows without any problems. In terms of security, the NTFS format is a journal-based file system, which can recover data through the log even if there is an emergency in the process of using the USB flash drive in Lingxiang, compared to the FAT32 format, which may cause data loss in this regard.

To sum up, if you need to use a USB flash drive to transfer files up to 4GB and need to have good compatibility, or if your system is Windows, then the FAT32 format may be a better choice. For large-capacity files, the EXFAT format is preferred, followed by the NTFS format. In special usage scenarios, if you need to reinstall the system with a USB flash drive, it is recommended to choose the FAT32 format for better compatibility.

The U disk is changed to FAT32 format as follows:

Tools: Computer ASUS A456U, Win10 system, software computer.

1. Insert the USB flash drive into the computer, click to open the desktop "Computer", right-click the USB flash drive letter, and select [Format].

2. In the pop-up formatting interface, select [FAT32] as the file system, and then click [Start].

3. Wait for the dialog box to pop up, right-click the USB drive letter, select the properties option, and you can see that the USB flash drive format has been converted to FAT32

4. Of course, we can also use the dos command to convert, click the "Start" menu in the lower left corner of the computer, find the [Run] option, and click to open.

5. Enter the run dialog box, enter the cmd command, and click OK to enter the DOS interface.

6. Enter the DOS interface, enter the Convert H: FS:FAT32 command, and click OK to convert the format (H is the disk letter).

7. When the following figure pops up, the U disk format has been converted successfully, right-click the drive letter to view the disk format.