Why Must an External USB HDD Be FAT Formatted?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cobalt124
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Hdd Usb
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the formatting requirements for an external USB hard drive, specifically the necessity to format it as FAT16 or FAT32 instead of NTFS. Participants explore the technical reasons behind this requirement, compatibility issues with different operating systems, and the implications of using NTFS for external drives.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions the technical reasons for requiring FAT16 or FAT32, suggesting it may be for compatibility rather than a strict limitation.
  • Another participant mentions that NTFS has write caching features that could increase the risk of data loss when used with USB devices.
  • Some participants argue that it is possible to use NTFS, but caution that it requires proper handling, such as using the "Safely remove" option to avoid data loss.
  • There is speculation that the firmware of the external drive enclosure may not support NTFS, leading to potential issues if attempted.
  • One participant expresses concern about the possibility of damaging the enclosure or drive if experimenting with NTFS formatting.
  • Another participant reassures that using NTFS should not physically damage the enclosure, as it operates at a lower level than the file system.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on whether NTFS can be safely used with the external enclosure. There are competing views regarding the risks and technical limitations associated with using NTFS versus FAT formats.

Contextual Notes

Participants note that the discussion is limited by the lack of clear documentation regarding the enclosure's firmware capabilities and the potential risks of data loss with NTFS formatting.

cobalt124
Messages
60
Reaction score
32
I'm planning to use a HDD (IDE, NTFS) removed from an IBM Thinkpad as an external backup device through USB. The instructions that came with my hard drive enclosure state I must reformat to FAT16 or FAT32 before placing in the enclosure. Is there a technical reason why it cannot be NTFS? Is it just for compatibility reasons? Google has not provided a clear answer so far. I found one forum which suggested NTFS extrnal drives and XP (this will be connected to XP and W7 machines at least) "do not play well together", but was inconclusive. Anyone come across this?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
There's nothing stopping you from making the drive NTFS. By default, windows sets USB drives for quick removal, so you can just unplug the drive from the system without worrying about anything.
NTFS, like nsaspook said, has write caching enabled so you MUST always use the "Safely remove" option when removing the drive and places your data at risk if you don't properly close all the connections before disconnecting the drive.

To format a USB drive as NTFS, you first need to be logged into an admin account. Open up the device manager, expand disk drive, right click your USB drive and select properties. Under the policies tab, select Better Performance.
 
cobalt124 said:
The instructions that came with my hard drive enclosure state I must reformat to FAT16 or FAT32 before placing in the enclosure. Is there a technical reason why it cannot be NTFS?

It might be possible that the firmware in the external drive enclosure wasn't written to know what to do with anything other than a FAT16 or FAT32 formatted drive.

There may be no way of knowing, other than potentially sacrificing the drive and enclosure by trying to do exactly what the documentation says not to do and seeing what the enclosure does with an NTFS formatted drive. But, since you probably want to depend on the data you write to that drive, you may want to decide how to determine whether you saved data will be there later when you need it.
 
Thanks for the responses. If push comes to shove I can just play safe and format the drive to FAT32 and use it. I just thought it would be useful to have a spare bootable XP drive as well as I don't need a large amount of disc space for backup (family photos mainly). Bill, are you saying if I experiment with NTFS there is a possibility I could physically destroy the enclosure and/or the drive, as opposed to just data loss, which is avoidable if I experiment?
 
You won't damage the enclosure. I don't see how the enclosure would care what file system you use on the drive anyway; it works on a lower level than that. Most likely it will work fine.
 

Similar threads

Can a Universal Drive Adapter Help Preserve Data from Old Hard Drives?
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
Requesting suggestions for languages, libraries, and architectures for parallel (and sometimes non parallel) numerical and scientific computations
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
4K