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- Jan 7, 2007
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Hi,
I've searched the archives, and can't seem to find a clear answer. I bought an external hard drive a couple of months ago that came formatted as FAT32. At the time, I did a bit of reading through the forums, and decided to leave it as FAT32 so that I can use it with a Windows computer if I need to.
However, since having the drive I haven't needed to use it with a Windows computer, and I'm not likely to (I use a flash drive to take files to/from work - and if I were to have a Windows computer at home, I'd probably just network it with my Macbook and share the drive).
The drive is used to store music and photos, and various other documents. I'm wondering if there is any real benefit to re-formatting in HFS+? I've outlined my understanding of the possible benefits below - can someone please confirm/clarify what the benefits would be, given that I plan to only use the drive for music, photos, etc.?
As far as I understand:
1) FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4GB (this won't cause me problems, as the biggest files I'm likely to store on the drive are under 10MB)
2) FAT32 is inefficient for large drives due to the minimum cluster size (again, I'm not too worried about the 'wasted space' this causes, as I'm unlikely to fill up the drive any time soon)
3) HFS+ is journaled (I can see the benefit of this over FAT32, but is it worth the hassle of re-formatting the drive? Maybe I'm being blase about it - I've been lucky and have rarely had any issues that would highlight the benefits of journaling)
4) I've read that HFS+ will be quicker and more reliable - how so? Just because it's a native Mac format? Because HFS+ "defragments" itself as it goes? (I must admit I'm attracted to the idea of using HFS+ just because it's a Mac format - just seems to be asking for trouble using a Windows format for a Mac computer (especially an old Windows format))
Thanks in advance for your help!
I've searched the archives, and can't seem to find a clear answer. I bought an external hard drive a couple of months ago that came formatted as FAT32. At the time, I did a bit of reading through the forums, and decided to leave it as FAT32 so that I can use it with a Windows computer if I need to.
However, since having the drive I haven't needed to use it with a Windows computer, and I'm not likely to (I use a flash drive to take files to/from work - and if I were to have a Windows computer at home, I'd probably just network it with my Macbook and share the drive).
The drive is used to store music and photos, and various other documents. I'm wondering if there is any real benefit to re-formatting in HFS+? I've outlined my understanding of the possible benefits below - can someone please confirm/clarify what the benefits would be, given that I plan to only use the drive for music, photos, etc.?
As far as I understand:
1) FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4GB (this won't cause me problems, as the biggest files I'm likely to store on the drive are under 10MB)
2) FAT32 is inefficient for large drives due to the minimum cluster size (again, I'm not too worried about the 'wasted space' this causes, as I'm unlikely to fill up the drive any time soon)
3) HFS+ is journaled (I can see the benefit of this over FAT32, but is it worth the hassle of re-formatting the drive? Maybe I'm being blase about it - I've been lucky and have rarely had any issues that would highlight the benefits of journaling)
4) I've read that HFS+ will be quicker and more reliable - how so? Just because it's a native Mac format? Because HFS+ "defragments" itself as it goes? (I must admit I'm attracted to the idea of using HFS+ just because it's a Mac format - just seems to be asking for trouble using a Windows format for a Mac computer (especially an old Windows format))
Thanks in advance for your help!
