FAT32 v NTFS

[didikai]

I've just got a Verbatim 2TB External hard drive. the manual says it is formatted in FAT32. Should I format it to NTFS ?
thanks again

[jman98]

Not enough info to answer your question.

What's your intention for the drive? Mostly to use with some type of media player device or something else? If you're using with a media player then which one? If you're going to use it mostly on a PC, is it running Windows and if so what version?

[didikai]

Not enough info to answer your question.

What's your intention for the drive? Mostly to use with some type of media player device or something else? If you're using with a media player then which one? If you're going to use it mostly on a PC, is it running Windows and if so what version?

It will mainly be for storing music, videos, DIVX movies.
It will probably only be connected to my PC.
I am running Windows 7.
I just thought that I had heard that FAT32 had limitations. I wonderd why if that is the case, then why would the HD come formatted with FAT32

[Cornucopia]

Yes, FAT32 has (mainly) more limitations, but it's more compatible with dumb devices, so more popular.

For all your reasons listed, I say you should reformat it to NTFS.

Scott

[El Heggunte]

FAT32 enforces a 4GB limit to the file size.
Also, cluster size does matter. If too small, it makes searching, indexing and checking too slow. If too large, it means wasted space.
At least NTFS deals well with a cluster size as small as 4096 bytes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat32#FAT32

[FulciLives]

Some devices that are not real 100% full blown computers can only use/interact with your external HDD when it is formatted using FAT32

An example is the Sony PS3. You can connect your HDD to it and read your multimedia files off of it but only if it is formatted FAT32

But if you will be using it with a computer then you should use NTFS especially since FAT32 has the 4GB file limit (no single file can be over 4GB in file size). NTFS does not have that limitation. With DVD and now HD MKV files etc. it is important to have NTFS support.

[didikai]

Some devices that are not real 100% full blown computers can only use/interact with your external HDD when it is formatted using FAT32

An example is the Sony PS3. You can connect your HDD to it and read your multimedia files off of it but only if it is formatted FAT32

But if you will be using it with a computer then you should use NTFS especially since FAT32 has the 4GB file limit (no single file can be over 4GB in file size). NTFS does not have that limitation. With DVD and now HD MKV files etc. it is important to have NTFS support.

Would NTFS give me problems, if, down the road I want to stream DIVX movies from the HD to my TV. ?

[FulciLives]

Some devices that are not real 100% full blown computers can only use/interact with your external HDD when it is formatted using FAT32

An example is the Sony PS3. You can connect your HDD to it and read your multimedia files off of it but only if it is formatted FAT32

But if you will be using it with a computer then you should use NTFS especially since FAT32 has the 4GB file limit (no single file can be over 4GB in file size). NTFS does not have that limitation. With DVD and now HD MKV files etc. it is important to have NTFS support.

Would NTFS give me problems, if, down the road I want to stream DIVX movies from the HD to my TV. ?

Do you mean connecting the HDD directly to the TV's USB input?
It depends on the TV. Some do support FAT32 and NTFS while some only support FAT32. Should be in the manual of your TV. If you don't have that for some reason then most manufacturers have PDF versions of their manuals on-line.

Basically speaking NTFS is better and should be used. The only reason to use FAT32 is if you MUST due to needing to use it with a device that only supports FAT32 and not NTFS.

[Cornucopia]

I concur. But that's a BIG (common) if.

Scott

[didikai]

OK, now I haven't even connected this HD up yet. But I know there is some installed backup software on it. Before I destroy things that I need, is there a way to preserve these programs while formatting to NTFS

[Cornucopia]

No.
Copy it to another medium and then wipe clean.

Scott

[fritzi93]

It's been a long time since I did a conversion of a hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS. But it's the same in Win7 as it was in XP, and shouldn't bugger existing files.

From elevated command prompt,

Say the drive letter is X, you type this:

x: /fs:ntfs

Hit ENTER. That's it, wait for the conversion to complete. (Substitute for "x" the letter of the hard drive you want to convert.)

See here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11106-convert-fat-fat32-volume-ntfs.html

It's a one-way process; if you decide you want to go back to FAT32, you're gonna have to re-format. Personally, I'd try this first: Format a thumb drive as ntfs and see if your TV will play a video file from it okay.

Good luck.

[EDIT] You say this is a 2 terabyte drive. Single partition? Is that even possible with FAT32? Connect the drive to your computer and let it mount it. Right-click the drive and hit Properties. It will tell you the file system of the volume.

Okay, I checked and FAT32 can go up to 2 TB. It does seem odd to me though that an external hard drive would come that way. But I buy my enclosures separately and put hard drives in. I don't buy them as complete units.

[El Heggunte]

FWIW, if you simply "convert" from FAT32 to NTFS, the new filesystem will have the same cluster size as the old one, which is a bad idea of course.

As I said, an NTFS cluster size = 4KB should be fine, even for a 2-terabyte HDD.

[fritzi93]

You're right, alignment would be 512 byte rather than 4k. Bad idea if it's a new large sector (advanced format) drive.

[FulciLives]

No.
Copy it to another medium and then wipe clean.

Scott

Do what he said OR just wipe it clean without copying it off.

I've found that such "backup" software that comes with external hard drives to be nothing special or in other words nothing you would really want to use. There are plenty of really good backup programs out there on the 'net ... many of them free.

However if you really want to use that software that came on the drive: You will find that companies often keep such software on their website that you can download and often times it is newer (updated) vs what came on the drive.

[lacywest]

I've just got a Verbatim 2TB External hard drive. the manual says it is formatted in FAT32. Should I format it to NTFS ?
thanks again

Lots of answers here ... here is mine

NTFS ... is what all my hard drives are using ... currently I have ... "8" 500GB drives connected and one Tera byte.
None are FAT32 ... my reason is ... WIN 7 Media Center records a WTV video file that is usually over 6 GBs in size per hour. The Olympics opening ceremony ... I recorded it ... it was 26 Gigs ... very large.

If you brought your drive over to my place with it formated with FAT32 ... it's like .. what would I do with it ... I've got a lot of videos that go beyond 4 GBs in size ... especially MKV videos.

I've got a phillips DVD player [in my bedroom] that will let me connect a thumb drive or a hard drive too ... but only if the file system is FAT32.

And it wont play MKV videos. I dont use it anymore except to only play DVD Videos because I now have a PC in my bedroom that is networked with the PC ... I'm on right now ... in the garage.

So whatever Divx videos I was watching in the bedroom through the Phillips DVD Player ... I now watch through my Home Theater PC in my bedroom.

So summary is ... if you gave me that hard drive as a gift ... to me ... I'd format it to NTFS ... and not even bother to think twice about the ... whatever software is on it and start loading it up with the stuff I've got on my other hard drives.

Seagate has software to make little changes to the firmware on their USB 2.0 hard drives ... it is handy to tell it to go to sleep after 10 minutes of no activity.

[didikai]

Once again thanks to everyone for the help

[didikai]

OK new problem. Verbatim External HDD installed, Formatted to NTFS (It only takes a few minutes to format. I thought it would take longer). BUT while copying from C Drive to Verbatin, my monitor shuts down after a while and the computer stops with it. I can't get back to where the files were transferring. I've re formatted a couple of times but It's still the same. Running Windows 7

[FulciLives]

Perhaps you have your computer set to go into some sort of hibernation or suspend mode?
Personally I always turn all of that shit off on all of my computers.
Hopefully your problem is as simple as turning all of that shit off.

One more thing I'd like to say:

When you copy large amounts of files from one HDD to another it is a good idea to use SFV or MD5 checksums. There's a nifty program called QuickSFV that can create SFV checksums and check SFV and MD5 checksums. It's GUI and easy-to-use and obviously for Windows. However I prefer MD5 (which is newer and better than SFV) so I use a program called Trader's Little Helper which is the best GUI program I've found for making MD5 checksum files. It can also check them but for that I use QuickSFV since you can just double click your MD5 and it auto launches into checking it (with Trader's Little Helper you have to go through a couple of mouse clicks after it launches so it takes a moment longer).

Another option is a nice free program I found for Windows called FreeFileSync that allows you to copy files from one location (or HDD) to another and it also has built in verification to ensure that the files match (once you verify that you can delete them from the old/original location).

I say all this because files can become corrupted when copying them from one HDD to another WITHOUT WARNING so you should always verify the data.

Website Links:

QuickSFV: http://www.quicksfv.org/
Trader's Little Helper: http://tlh.easytree.org/
FreeFileSync: http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/

[didikai]

[QUOTE=FulciLives;2184093]Perhaps you have your computer set to go into some sort of hibernation or suspend mode?

Personally I always turn all of that shit off on all of my computers.

Also when you copy large amounts of files from one HDD to another it is a good idea to use SFV or MD5 checksums. There's a nifty program called QuickSFV that can create SFV checksums and check SFV and MD5 checksums. It's GUI and easy-to-use and obviously for Windows. However I prefer MD5 (which is newer and better than SFV) so I use a program called Trader's Little Helper which is the best GUI program I've found for making MD5 checksum files. It can also check them but for that I use QuickSFV since you can just double click your MD5 and it auto launches into checking it (with Trader's Little Helper you have to go through a couple of mouse clicks after it launches so it takes a moment longer).

Another option is a nice free program I found for Windows called FreeFileSync that allows you to copy files from one location (or HDD) to another and it also has built in verification to ensure that the files match (once you verify that you can delete them from the old/original location).

I saw all this because files can become corrupted when copying them from one HDD to another WITHOUT WARNING so you should always verify the data.

Website Links:

QuickSFV: http://www.quicksfv.org/
Trader's Little Helper: http://tlh.easytree.org/
FreeFileSync: http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/[/QUOTE]

I have power settings at 10 minutes to put monitor to sleep. 'Never' to put computer to sleep. But when the display turns off and I hit space, the display comes back but the files have stopped transferring

[FulciLives]

ha ha you quoted me while I was still editing what I said.

Anyway don't power the monitor off or if you do then don't start it up again with the keyboard. For instance I use a computer that isn't my own that is set up so the monitor (but not the computer) turns off after X amount of time and just moving the mouse brings it back. I never touch the keyboard first.

[didikai]

ha ha you quoted me while I was still editing what I said.

Anyway don't power the monitor off or if you do then don't start it up again with the keyboard. For instance I use a computer that isn't my own that is set up so the monitor (but not the computer) turns off after X amount of time and just moving the mouse brings it back. I never touch the keyboard first.

Thanks again. I set both to 'never' and just transferred a 26 gig file with no problems.

[lacywest]

ha ha you quoted me while I was still editing what I said.

Anyway don't power the monitor off or if you do then don't start it up again with the keyboard. For instance I use a computer that isn't my own that is set up so the monitor (but not the computer) turns off after X amount of time and just moving the mouse brings it back. I never touch the keyboard first.

Thanks again. I set both to 'never' and just transferred a 26 gig file with no problems.

in the summer time ... it is very hot in here ... I have a ABIT AN-M2 mobo and it is easy to change the CPU Speed multiplier to a lower number to slow the CPU down ... so it wont run so fast and possibly shut down.

But if it does want to shut down and I am moving files from one hard drive to another hard drive ... I prefer to copy the file and once I know the copy process is finished ... I then delete the file on the other drive ... If I use Cut and Paste .... and it shuts down ... while it is moving a file ... I may regret choosing CUT and PASTE instead of COPY and Paste.

... It is good to hear your drive is working well ...