filesystem for 500G drive

ufmale · 05-31-2008, 01:19 PM

I have a 500 Gb that i want to use as a data storage (for backup).
what filesystem I should use so that it can be easily readable Windows and Linux?

I am thinking about vfat32, but not sure if vfat32 has limit on the size of disk. if there is a limit, should I create 2 partition of 250 Gb each?

Does anyone know the mkfs option for the vfat32?

bigrigdriver · 05-31-2008, 01:30 PM

Quote:

not sure if vfat32 has limit on the size of disk.

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463

Quote:

Does anyone know the mkfs option for the vfat32?

See the man pages for mkfs.vfat.

Emerson · 05-31-2008, 01:59 PM

Never mind, the link from bigrigdriver's post did not open for me, Firefox: The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.
Managed to open it in Opera, they admit the 32 GB limit is artificial.

bigrigdriver · 05-31-2008, 04:36 PM

It's odd that you should have trouble opening that link Emerson. I can open it in Konqueror, Firefox, Seamonkey (Mozilla), and Opera.

Emerson · 05-31-2008, 04:53 PM

Hey, thanks for your remark, bigrigdriver.

Works without proxy ... I wonder what they have there my proxy (tinyproxy) cannot handle, I'm running it for years, first site that fails. Hmmm, Microsoft site is misbehaving, should I be concerned?

ufmale · 05-31-2008, 06:53 PM

I don't think vfat32 is limited to 32Gb. I think my external drive is fat32 and it has 250Gb.

jay73 · 05-31-2008, 07:49 PM

Quote:

I don't think vfat32 is limited to 32Gb.

That's right, it isn't but 32GB is the largest you can create using windows XP. There are many other disadvantages, though (including fragmentation and 4 GB max file size) that hold regardless of OS. I really wouldn't recommend fat32 anymore.