64GB Jump Drive FAT32 Question

[Tozzy]

Hello everyone,

Just recently purchased a Lexar 64GB jump drive to back up my MP3 collection. I need to know if it's safe to have my jump drive use the FAT32 file system? That's the file system it came with when I bought it brand new. Are my files safe or should I have formatted to NTFS? I tried to format to NTFS before copying my files to it, but the dropdown was blank in the format wizard in win XP so I just left it as FAT32. Please no comments such as NTFS is better as it's not really going to help me . I've read up a bit on FAT32, but I can't really understand the pros and cons between the two. All I've ever known is that FAT32 doesn't support individual files over 4GB, which doesn't concern me as my files are like 10MB each.

The drive is literally just going to be used as file storage so speed isn't really an issue if that makes any difference. Would really be grateful for a reply.

Thanks!

 

[setishock]

It's just another format, albeit an outdated one, that some companies still use. It'll work.

 

[Indigo]

To answer your question a little more in depth, and this is not to tell you one is better than the other (you already know) but here's the breakdown:

NTFS:
larger file size support, which you know.
Better security
more stability
Works on most all Windows OSes based on the NT kernel and up (NT -> 8)
Faster than FAT32 in some cases
More space efficient (i.e. stripe sizing, etc)


Cons:
Only usable on Windows
Difficult to recover lost data from on non-Windows OSes *


I won't really touch on FAT32 since that's pretty much what it has to stack up against on NTFS.

* - I've never had problems recovering data from NTFS, either in Windows or Linux based OSes.

Flash is inherently unstable. Think of Flash as the new Floppy. If you want to save sensitive data to Flash, just be aware that it won't be as robust as a DVD or BluRay for permanent archival. I have CDs that I burned 10+ years ago that are still readable today, but I've been through countless flash drives.

As long as you test the flash drive on a regular basis, and ensure that your data is still there and secure, you should be fine. I understand not everyone wants or can afford the bigger storage formats.