Hi everyone.
1) So after getting my laptop, I just got a SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-1 256GB memory card.
What would be the best way to format (Fat32 or exFat and size allocation) ?
2) Have a USB 3.0 2TB flash drive on order. Again, what would be the best wat to Format and Allocate size?
Thanks for any help.
The largest partition Windows will format as FAT32 is 32GB. Windows suppports larger partitions, up to 8TB, you'd need a third party utility to do the formatting. Also, the maximum size for an individual file in FAT32 is 4GB.
I have never used exFAT. Only FAT32 and NTFS.
Why do you need to format the card?
They are already formatted for use out the box. And I only use SanDisk SD/Micro SD cards and USB flash drives, so I'm going on experience. I've also used them (SD/Micros SD cards) on both my laptops right out the box without issue.
Also have a 250Gig SanDisk micro SD installed on my Android smartphone.
Experimenting with some drives and due to FAT32 limit of 32GB size and its 4GB single-file size limit I used Linux Mint and the GPARTED program to partition and format some HDDs as FAT32, largest was 500GB but the 4GB file size still remained. When visiting clients I carry a 64GB exFAT-formatted USB Thumb drive 'just in case' of having to save large files, also useful with Macintosh OS X or the newer macOS as there may be issues with writing to NTFS-formatted drives without having additional software installed.
That's fine, but as stated, isn't necessary.... unless you bought it used and have some fear?
If so, FAT32 would works since it's the normal file system for SD cards and USB flash drives. With that... What’s the Difference Between FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS?
@Berton, not sure there is a FAT 32 file limit concerning where flash drives and SD card are concerned as stated in the above article link. Perhaps you mean "individual files"....
At any for normal use SD/USB Flash drives, that shouldn't be an issue. I've been using SD/Flash drives for years and never ran into an issue where they needed to be formatted in anything other than the file system they came with - FAT32.The FAT32 file system’s age has advantages and disadvantages. The big advantages is that because it’s so old, FAT32 is the de-facto standard. Flash drives you purchase will often come formatted with FAT32 for maximum compatibility across not just modern computers, but other devices like game consoles and anything with a USB port.
Limitations come with that age, however. Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size—that’s the maximum. A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB, which admittedly is less of a limitation unless you’re using super-high-capacity drives.
I'd leave it alone!
If it's showing about 225GB of free space, the rest is it's own firmware and System Volume Information.
I've buggered one up before, to the point where the un-formatted portion was un-recognizable and un-recoverable! (and..., it was a big chunk!)
2 terabyte flash drive?? Attaching directly without a cable? I didn't know there was such a critter.
Regarding "allocate size"...do you mean allocation unit size choices to be made when formatting?
I did some tests a few years ago out of curiosity and found it made little difference in ordinary usage. I'd just accept the default....4096 is typical.
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