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Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

 
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'chris'
Super Advisor

FAT16 vs. FAT32

hi

I'd like to install live USB system.
Which file system is faster FAT16 or FAT32, after installing and booting from USB stick?
What are advantages and disadvantages?

5 REPLIES 5
Sheldon Smith
HPE Pro

Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

try http://www.google.com/search?hl=&q=usb+fat16+vs+fat32&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS366US366&ie=UTF-8&aq=4&oq=usb+fat16+

Note: While I am an HPE Employee, all of my comments (whether noted or not), are my own and are not any official representation of the company

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P Muralidhar Kini
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

Hi Chris,

>> Which file system is faster FAT16 or FAT32, after installing and booting
>> from USB stick?
FAT32 uses space effectively resulting in efficient use of the disk space.
It also overcomes the 2GB limit with FAT16. There may not be much of a
significant performance benefit of FAT32 when compared to FAT16.

>> What are advantages and disadvantages?
Check the following link -
* FAT16 vs. FAT32
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc940351.aspx

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Murali
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
P Muralidhar Kini
Honored Contributor

Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

Hi Chris,

How did the installation/boot from usb stick go about?

Regards,
Murali
Let There Be Rock - AC/DC
'chris'
Super Advisor

Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

It was installed on linux debian using live-helper:

LH_BINARY_FILESYSTEM="fat16"

or

LH_BINARY_FILESYSTEM="fat32"
Lucifer Megacruel
Valued Contributor

Re: FAT16 vs. FAT32

Hi Chris,

It does not matter that as much basically. The size of the File Allocation table entry .

Eg Fat 16 used in small disks basically ( < 512 MB), the size = 16 , so it the total number of files or entries possible = 2^16 = 65,536 entries . So max file size possible := cluster_size * 65,536 .

But in Fat32 it theoretically becomes
max file size possible := cluster_size * 2 ^32.


But implementation wise fat16 and fat32 are more or else the same. There should not be much difference in performance other than the max file size it can address.

You can read the FAT specification to gain more knowledge.

http://staff.washington.edu/dittrich/misc/fatgen103.pdf

Truly Evil
Lucifer Megacruel
"To Denouce the Evils of Truth and Love. To cause may hem and destruction and necromancy , Lucifer is here"