Great news for Flash-drive users, exFAT is now also available for XP ..
I highly recommend you install the hotfix and test exFAT .
Performance is excellent, file-system overhead negligible .
If you set the cluster-size to the same as your devices block-size it
outperforms all other generally available file-systems ..
The exFAT file system incorporates several improvements over FAT32. However, it keeps the simplicity of FAT-based file systems. These improvements include the following key advances:
* Support for very large files and storage devices
* Support for performance improvements
* Support for extensibility features for future innovation
* Added compatibility for flash media
The exFAT file system driver brings file system support parity to the following operating systems:
* Windows Vista
* Windows XP
* Windows CE
(edit : exFAT is also available for/on Linux)
The exFAT file system driver incorporates advanced structures for future scalability. The exFAT file system uses 64 bits to describe file size. This allows for applications that depend on very large files. The exFAT file system also allows for clusters as large as 32MB, effectively enabling very large storage devices. Specifically, exFAT adds the following features:
* Support for volumes that are larger than 32 GB, the theoretical maximum volume size for FAT32 in Windows XP
o The theoretical maximum volume size is 64 ZB.
o The recommended maximum volume size is 512 TB.
* Support for files that are larger than 4 GB, the theoretical maximum file size for FAT32 in Windows XP
o The theoretical maximum file size is 64 ZB.
o The recommended maximum file size is 512 TB.
The exFAT file system driver incorporates the following advanced structures to improve performance:
* A cluster bitmap for fast allocation
* A per-file contiguous bit for fast file access
* Better contiguous on-disk layout (useful for recording movies)
* Support for Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) time stamps
The exFAT file system driver is designed for extensibility to enable the file system to keep pace with innovations in storage and changes in usage and to enable OEMs and ISVs to add extensions seamlessly. Specifically, exFAT adds the following features:
* Adds template-based metadata structures to enable custom extensions
* Enables implementations to persist these extensions without having to know their format
The exFAT file system driver adds increased compatibility with flash media. This includes the following capabilities:
* Alignment of file system metadata on optimal write boundaries of the device
* Alignment of the cluster heap on optimal write boundaries of the device
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=955704
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on BlueSky
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on Twitter
Saying that "The exFAT file system driver adds increased compatibility with flash media" is quite misleading. This is basically a Windows-only thing. And only available if an admin installs a driver or on Vista if SP1 is applied. So it's pretty useless from a portability standpoint.
It's proprietary and Microsoft patented, so it probably won't find its way into actual Linux (aside from that unofficial patch), Mac OSX, consumer devices, etc. It would seem it's not just a "hey this is handy for people" MS innovation... it's designed to lock you into Windows further.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
uhm, M$ never meant the same with "compatibility" as You and I
I believe what they mean is that exFAT addresses certain specific NAND flash-RAM related problems and since we all will be using SSD's within a few years it's about time.. Sandisk (!) has also announced that they are developing a file-system specifically for SSD's . Sure, both of 'em want to own your computer with all their patents, licenses and whatnot but they are also addressing a real problem :
NAND flash does need a dedicated filesystem ..
EDIT : btw : Doesn't M$ already own FAT ?
IMO software-patents and most IP-legislation is the work of
Satan and his Little Helpers (the marketing-guys and the lawyers ),
aimed at bringing back the dark ages where everybody was a dork ..
If all this legislation had been in place when the computer was invented
we wouldn't be using one .
only available if an admin installs a driver or on Vista if SP1 is applied
Do you mean devices formated with it can't be read on machines that support only FAT32? Or that machines without the driver can't access the devices at all?
I would think machines without the driver would not be able to utilitize the new advanced functions but could still access the parts that fit the standard FAT32 functions.
Will be interesting to see how this file system plays out.
Ed
An OS that does not have exFAT installed will not see the device's exFAT partition. It will see the device, but like a linux partition on Windows, it will show as unformatted empty space.
the best is to have a first partition on normal fat32 for portable apps, which is really portable. and maybe another one in another filesystem.
personally i think its poor exfat is not downwarts-compatible, like
ext-filesystems on linux. there f.x. a new ext4 partition is compatible on a system where ext2 is installed.
A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
I guess that like NTFS, it will eventually come to the Linux platform. Surely not because of Microsoft.