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December 15th, 2010, 11:11 AM
#1
Should I Format My USB Flash Drive?
I will be getting a usb flash drive soon, the Corsair 32GB Flash Voyager GTR. I will use it to make an image (backup) of my whole computer. Now, what should I format it as? NTFS? FAT? or FAT32? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? And which format is fastest for the highest copy-to speed possible, given that I want to backup my computer, which is 27GB big?
Last edited by tedalin; December 15th, 2010 at 11:17 AM.
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December 15th, 2010, 05:08 PM
#2
Registered User
Hi Tedalin,
Frankly, I don't think that usb flash drive is a safe enough product for keeping computer backup.I would prefer external 2.5 usb drive for lot of reasons and it's quite cheap these days (500GB will probably cost as your 32GB drive).
That been said, For that size of file (27GB) NTFS is your only option, Since the other formats does not support files greater than 4GB in size as I recall.
FYI : Some USB flash drives need to be formatted with special tools in order to use their maximum speed due to their design (Happen to me with Patriot Xporter XT 16GB - After format speed dropped to 1/4, And after format with special utility speed returned).
Good luck
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December 15th, 2010, 06:25 PM
#3
Originally Posted by HipHoper
Hi Tedalin,
Frankly, I don't think that usb flash drive is a safe enough product for keeping computer backup.I would prefer external 2.5 usb drive for lot of reasons and it's quite cheap these days (500GB will probably cost as your 32GB drive).
That been said, For that size of file (27GB) NTFS is your only option, Since the other formats does not support files greater than 4GB in size as I recall.
FYI : Some USB flash drives need to be formatted with special tools in order to use their maximum speed due to their design (Happen to me with Patriot Xporter XT 16GB - After format speed dropped to 1/4, And after format with special utility speed returned).
Good luck
Hi, HipHoper. Yeah, I'm planning on formatting my usb flash drive when I get it. I want to make an backup image of my entire computer. So, according to the file size (27 GB), NTFS is the way to go. I read somewhere that XP can format a flash drive to NTFS.
But theres something i dont understand. I got an old 8GB usb flash drive that I used to make an image of my hard drive, which was 7GB. That usb flash drive was formatted to fat32. So, how is it possible that I was able to copy a file greater than 4GB onto it, when you say that fat32 doesn't allow files greater than 4GB?
..
Last edited by tedalin; December 15th, 2010 at 06:46 PM.
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