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Mermory stick formatting advice please

shutter
Community Veteran
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Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Mermory stick formatting advice please

I have a Toshiba 32 GB memory stick... I would like to format it, to clean it up a bit... !  when I use the Format command, it gives me FAT32 as default... with NTFS as an alternative...
As it will be used on Windows Vista Home Premium files... would I be correct in assuming that I need to format it with NTFS ?
17 REPLIES 17
Oldjim
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Re: Mermory stick foramtting advice please

you could use either
one thing to check - since I don't know the answer - will Linux read NTFS in case you hit a problem
shutter
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Re: Mermory stick foramtting advice please

OK Thanks Jim.... have just done a quick format on FAT32 
Wink
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Mermory stick foramtting advice please

It may be a bit late but you may want to select the smallest allocation size to suit your needs. For example a 4K allocation means that a 1K file occupies 4K on the disk, so if you're saving large files then use a larger size.
Just thought I'd mention it.
MisterW
Superuser
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Re: Mermory stick foramtting advice please

Quote
one thing to check - since I don't know the answer - will Linux read NTFS in case you hit a problem
Linux will read NTFS but I would suggest that USB sticks are best formatted FAT32 since everything will read that. You never know you might want to connect it to say a Car audio system and that's going to struggle with NTFS!!

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shutter
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Re: Mermory stick foramtting advice please

Brill. !... so I made the right decision for a change ! ! ! ... thanks guys....
brill forumites that you are !    Kiss Kiss Kiss
Just to confirm.... I have also made the memory stick Linux Mint  bootable, and during the process, it says the memory stick should be formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 format....otherwise it wont work...
rebooted and it sure does...
RobPN
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

Remember FAT32 is no use if you need to use file sizes greater than 4GB.
chenks76
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

i always format USB sticks to exFAT.
solves the 4GB limit and exFAT works on Windows, Linux and Mac, so no issues with cross compatibility.
HairyMcbiker
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

I just came across exfat, in Mint you need to install a couple of additional packages to read/write to it.
I bought a 64Gb sd card and it came pre-formatted in it. Same it was a fake though. Fighting to get my money refunded now. Got it on Alibaba which CLAIMS that if you are unhappy you get a full refund, so far still waiting. (Ran f3 & h2test on it and it failed, so not scamming them.)
Strat
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

According to this exFAT is definitely the way to go.
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chenks76
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

i actually format some of my general storage external HDDs as exFAT too (due to me using them on both windows and mac).
solves any comparability issues (and negates the need to install NTFS plug-ins on the mac).
VileReynard
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

exFAT has got to be a case of flogging a dead horse.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

shutter
Community Veteran
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

As usual.... a non-statement from a windows bashing linux user..... I thought you had stopped this sillyness...  Sad
chrcoluk
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

if you want, speed, compatibility and able to use bigger than 4 gig files then use exfat.
My multiboot usb stick is able to boot all os's I stick on it with exfat.
using the easy2boot software (there is also a formatter tool).
rufus is one such tool
rmprepusb is more advanced and on the easy2boot website
chenks76
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Re: Mermory stick formatting advice please

Quote from: vilefoxdemonofdoom
exFAT has got to be a case of flogging a dead horse.

care to back that up with any sensible theory?
or are you just a muppet with more time on your hands than you know what to do with.