FAT32, ExFAT y NTFS: the three most used file systems in all existing computer operating systems. FAT32 is the oldest of the bunch and ExFAT is the newest, but this is not how these file systems are classified in terms of performance. For stats and specs, here is a concise summary of the specifications of the three filesystems:
Maximum volume size: 32 GB / 2 TB en FAT32, 128 PB in ExFAT and 232 clusters on NTFS
Maximum number of files on a volume: 4194304 en FAT32, almost infinite in ExFAT and 4,294,967,295 and NTFS
Maximum file size: 4 GB in FAT32, 16 EB in ExFAT and 16 Terabytes en NTFS
Built-in security: absent in FAT32, minimal in ExFAT and present in NTFS
Probability of recovery of lost data: non-existent in FAT32, low in ExFAT and high in NTFS
Then, a summary of the performance of each of these three file systems is shown, taking into account the numbers, statistics and test results:
FAT32: better performance on small volumes of storage.
ExFAT: better performance on small storage volumes, but poor performance on storage volumes with large amounts of files and data.
NTFS: best performance on storage volumes of all sizes with any number of files and data Delving into this series of the three most widely used file systems today, here is a detailed description and comparison between these three file systems, along with lists of storage devices. where each of these file systems should be used.
FAT32
FAT32 is the oldest of the three file systems supported by today's computers. The roots of FAT32 go back to the days of MS DOS, since FAT32 is simply a version (very) improved FAT file system used in MD DOS. Unfortunately, the reason FAT32 keeps getting more and more obsolete is because it is a file system of 32 bits y, How is the case, cannot store files that exceed 4 gigabytes in size.
FAT32 was originally designed for use on USB sticks and is still the most widely used file system on USB sticks.. If you're wondering why the world hasn't switched to the best ExFAT file system on USB yet, it is because not all devices that a USB flash drive can be connected to are not yet ExFAT compliant. Even though FAT32 is a fairly mature filesystem, if you have read or written files on any USB device in the last 5 years, you will know that although it is not as good as your competition, it's not unbelievably slow either. If you are only dealing with a relatively small number of files (none of which exceed 4 Gigabytes in size) on a USB, the FAT32 filesystem will do a good job, and this is why people still are. using and not pushing too aggressively for broad ExFAT support.
Storage devices that must use FAT32:
USB sticks
NTFS
NTFS is the most popular and most widely used file system of the three currently relevant file systems.. NTFS was entered by Microsoft with the Windows NT operating system and has continued to be the resident file system for all versions of the Windows operating system that have been released since then.. For reasons that will be described later, the NTFS file system is considered superior to all versions of the HPFS and FAT file systems, even though the relatively new ExFAT file system gives NTFS a chance in specific areas.
NTFS uses a b-tree directory scheme to keep track of filegroups, and the group information for a specific file is stored with each of its groups instead of a governance table (as in FAT32 and ExFAT), which makes data search and retrieval significantly faster. The NTFS file system was simply designed for use on hard drives, and since people are known to store extremely large files on hard drives, NTFS storage devices don't just work, rather they thrive when they are filled with a large number of files. files and a large amount of data.
The caching capacity of the NTFS file system is far superior to the competition and the fact that it creates metadata for each and every file allows you to access stored data almost instantly.. At the same time, to top, unlike FAT32 and ExFAT, NTFS comes with built-in file compression. Also note that if you plan to install a Windows operating system on a hard drive or hard drive, MUST use NTFS file system, since Windows cannot be installed on a drive that uses any other computer system. files.
NTFS is designed to withstand all the heat that can be generated, so it uses most of its resources and performs its best when put to work on a storage unit that has a large number of files and folders and a large amount of data to save. let the file system classify and manage them. At the same time, in the event of an abrupt stop while reading or writing to an NTFS drive, there is a great chance that little or none of your data will be lost.
Storage devices that must use NTFS:
Any storage device or drive on which a version of the Windows operating system is planned to be installed on hard drives (HDD), both internal and external, where you plan to store a massive number of medium-large files (simply SSD exceeding the maximum capacity of 1 Terabyte)
ExFAT
ExFAT is the file system that Microsoft designed for (presumably) bridge the huge gap between FAT32 and NTFS. Although ExFAT is a great improvement over FAT32, embarrassingly loses to NTFS in areas like normalized average performance (which is simply the only thing that counts), write a large number of small files, read large amounts of small file lookups, duplicate file search operations and file deletion operations. Despite this, ExFAT manages to match (Y, by a small margin, even overcome) NTFS in certain areas, how to write medium size files, read medium size files and write a small number of large files. among a couple of others.
The ExFAT file system is significantly more fragile compared to NTFS, increasing the chances of data loss in the event of a sudden system shutdown during a read or write operation. ExFAT drives also get slower as more data is installed on them and it takes them longer to locate and access the data you are looking for.. Despite this, on the bright side, ExFAT is golden in terms of compatibility, since even though Windows cannot be installed on an ExFAT storage device, almost all operating systems, including Windows and OS X, can read and write. on an ExFAT storage device.
The ExFAT file system is primarily designed for external hard drives and, what is more important, is highly optimized for flash storage devices like solid state drives (SSD) and USB flash drives. ExFAT is a file system of 64 bits, unlike FAT32, its predecessor of 32 bits, which means that it is capable of storing files of more than 4 Gigabytes. In summary, ExFAT is ideal for saving files to external drives and flash storage devices and will be more suitable for you if you are going to work with hundreds of files, no matter how small or big they are. Despite this, note that the more data you store on an ExFAT storage device, the slower the read operation, writing and erasing.
Storage devices that should use ExFAT:
USB flash drives where you want to individually store files of more than 4 Gigabytes in size SSD where you don't plan to store an AMAZING amount of data (simply SSD with a maximum capacity of less than 1 Terabyte). external hard drives where not much data will be stored, but they will be used by more than one type of operating system.
