Q&A for How to Format FAT32

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Is NTFS or FAT32 better?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

It depends on what you need. If you are only using Windows machines no older than XP, NTFS offers many more features and less limitations, however, NTFS is not fully compatible with Macs, Linux and many other common consumer devices. FAT32 lacks many features and has a 4GB max sizer per file, but is widely compatible. Also consider exFAT, which is nearly as compatible as FAT32, but without the annoying 4GB file limit.

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Question

Is FAT32 and exFAT the same thing?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

No, FAT32 is older and more widely compatible, but has limitations like a 4GB max size for any file stored on it. exFAT is newer, nearly as compatible as FAT32 (especially with newer devices) and has no file size limits you are likely to encounter. If you're reasonable sure all the devices you are using support exFAT, there is no reason to format in FAT32.

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Question

What should I do if the file is too big to make fat32?

Community Answer

Assuming you are talking about a USB drive, use Windiskimager or Rufus, as they will allow you to format a USB drive for Linux and/or Windows.

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My 1 TB external drive does not show the FAT32 option while formatting. What should I do?

JLBrown

Community Answer

If you've already checked the drive's properties and cannot format to FAT32 through Windows, then download a program to do it. (That's what I did for my 2 TB drive.) Just type "FAT32 converter cnet" into Google -- you should find a decent one.

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