FAT32 remains a popular filesystem due to its high level of compatibility across operating systems and is still widely used to format USB flash drives, memory cards and some other external storage devices. For example FAT12 supported a maximum file and volume size of 32 megabytes, meanwhile FAT32 can store individual files up to 4 gigabytes in size and is limited to 32 gigabyte volumes if formatted in Windows, up to 2 terabytes when formatted with other operating systems, and has an absolute maximum volume size of 16 terabytes. Each FAT variant can divide a drive into an increasing number of clusters and supports an increasing maximum file size and volume size. The first Windows file system was known as the File Allocation Table or FAT, with three major variant developed known as FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32įile systems divide the storage space on a drive into virtual compartments known as clusters, maintain an index of where individual files are located and of available free space. So what are the differences between file systems and which should you choose. Today there are lots of different file systems in use with the choices available depending on the operating system you’re using and the type of drive your formatting.įor example, in Windows OS if you want to format the SSD you’ll be able to choose between NTFS or exFAT file systems, whereas in Linux if you want to format the USB flash drive the file system options would be fat32 NTFS or ext4.

It is applied when you format a drive or partition.

File system is a standard for organizing data on a storage device like a hard drive or a solid state drive.

Fat32 vs ntfs usb drive