I bought a 512GB usb flash drive so I could store movies on it, but it wouldn't accept them because they were too big. I checked the properties of the drive and it said it was in FAT32. Why is this still the case in the year 2024? Sure, it is a simple thing to reformat the drive, and I did, but why wasn't it already this way to begin with?
FAT32 is obsolete. There is no reason anyone should ever use it. Microsoft created exFAT to address limitations of FAT32 like the file size limit but also some other things. Its just technically superior and its tailored for flash storage, unlike NTFS. So exFAT should just be the default for all removable storage media.
I don't know about non-Microsoft filesystems like those for Linux and so on which may or may not be technically superior to exFAT, but compatibility is also a thing which matters, and even if these eccentric filesystems are superior, if nothing supports them then that is a problem.
So basically, just go with exFAT except in some very niche situations, like if you're doing retrocomputing on Windows 98 or something and you have no other option. In that case, sure, use FAT32 then. But otherwise, why bother?
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it just works™
>it just works™
So would exFAT. There is absolutely no reason why it shouldn't have been the default instead.
>Just format it and change the filesystem to something you want.
That is exactly what I did; in addition, I also made this thread to rant about it.
Because your random chink smart toaster out there can't be expected to support anything else.
Yeah I know it *could* support all possible filesystems out there but chinks never bothered to compile the support to the kernel image.
*it's just supported
All of them work though.
until it doesn't like OP said, and he's right, you know?
and his case is not niche
>hardly anything
besides Winhoes, Macshit, Androod, and Loonix
and mac and android
exFAT also easily enables file transfers between mac and Windows, which just facilitates interaction and collaboration between people
Who gives a shit? Just format it and change the filesystem to something you want. Stop being a homosexual.
No one fricking cares, if it werks, it werks.
I wanted to format a USB to exFAT but it was grayed out on GParted so I just used ext4 instead
What was that about
>a USB
>i program in ruby
while exFAT it was MS exclusive for a while (I presume you could license it from them, but still, not freely available) has been around a while, MS opening it up (which is when third party vendors like android actually started supporting it) happened fairly recently in terms of tech
it'll take a fair amount of time for everything to start switching over
maybe you didn't have the tools installed?
>while exFAT it was MS exclusive for a while (I presume you could license it from them, but still, not freely available) has been around a while
*while exFAT has been around a while, it was MS exclusive for a while (I presume you could license it from them, but still, not freely available)
because its the most widely supported filesystem
>because its the most widely supported filesystem
>Most non-PC devices, i.e.- car audio, only recognize the fat32 format.
>Because your random chink smart toaster out there can't be expected to support anything else.
>Everything works with FAT32, hardly anything works with exFAT,
>*while exFAT has been around a while, it was MS exclusive for a while (I presume you could license it from them, but still, not freely available)
>License costs.
exFAT used to be proprietary but Microsoft opened up the specifications in 2019 and now Mac, Linux, and basically everything can implement it freely.
>in 2019
So basically nothing relevant supports exFAT other than modern desktop operating systems. Good to know.
>So basically nothing relevant supports exFAT other than modern desktop operating systems. Good to know.
Linux, Mac, ChromeOS, every version of windows since XP SP2 onwards, and whatever else supports it.
But most people use windows and only windows anyway. And those who don't use windows either use Linux or Mac, and those support it. What could you possibly be using that doesn't support it? Temple OS?
Most non-PC devices, i.e.- car audio, only recognize the fat32 format.
The same reason why boot partition is still formatted to FAT32 in 2024 when exFAT exists.
It just works.
Everything works with FAT32, hardly anything works with exFAT, if I need to store files larger than 4GB I'm just going to use NTFS or ext4.
Have you paid attention to the partition table type?
My Canon camera didn't read a SDcard when it was GPT-formatted, thought it was an exFAT issue but it wasn't. MBR with an exFAT partition worked just fine.
(idk how to figure that out on Windows, on Linux it's right at your face)
License costs.
Because everything able to read flash drives supports FAT32, you can't say that about other file systems.
This includes UEFI/BIOS on old ass machines, which you need for bootloader if you boot from flash drive or you need to upgrade your firmware.
Basically FAT32 is the most common denominator in terms of support so it's given by default so customers won't screech about "muh pendrive don werk in some case important to me" while being to dumb to reformat it.
Yeah na lot of industrial machinery that interfaces with USB can only read Fat32, like my CNC machines at work. Even if they're not old they don't update their controllers past what they need to, they still use relatively low processing power
Body positivity and inclusiveness. exFAT is ableist and bigoted.
ntfs: proprietary, mac os cannot write
exfat: proprietary, licensing costs $$$
ext2/ext3/ext4: not supported by windows or mac
etc
why do motherboards still not support exfat/ntfs/ext4/etc for updating the bios via USB? frick
see
plus motherboards have limited space, why would they waste it on handling multiple filesystems instead of just dead simple fat