Solved How to Format 5TB drive to fat 32

Scannerman said:

I was guessing that Hazel was referring to system images generated by standard Windows recovery software. Which I learned this year is absolute garbage if you use it after EOL. Anyway, it was prejudiced and premature of me to assume this to be the case.

I love this guy. I've been watching his stuff off and on for a couple of years now. A fellow Canadian, eh?

Click to expand...

My terminology may have added to the confusion I still call it a system image whichever utility is used. However I do find it confusing these days that utilities like EaseUs call them backups rather than images - and which is why I made a mistake overwriting one "image" with a later one. I just want a full image of entire computer with everything on, rather than incremental backups. I know there are advantages to incremental backups but I just want to keep things simple. A full image and a place to store documents separately.

Scannerman said:

You should have no trouble at all doing file backups on NTFS. Of course I'm assuming you're using Win 11.

Click to expand...

Yes it's on Windows 11 Would the same apply to Windows 10? My other laptop is on W10. Yes I have learned this today - that you can copy and paste files to and from an NTFS external hard drive and have tried it out. My brain was stuck in a historic mode that it needed to be Fat32 or ex Fat, to save documents, photos etc. But that is only if you want to use the drive for compatibility with other operating systems.

I like the idea of the NTFS (you don't lose properties of the files when copying apart from anything else) but I still find it hard to get past old habits and keeping compatibility.

Anyway I have learned something new .

A question though. Was this the case when using Windows 7 as well? That you could save documents to an external NTFS drive? I think the difference back then was - I didn't have an external usb drive and used memory cards and sticks to back up documents onto.

Hazel123 said:

My terminology may have added to the confusion I still call it a system image whichever utility is used. However I do find it confusing these days that utilities like EaseUs call them backups rather than images - and which is why I made a mistake overwriting one "image" with a later one. I just want a full image of entire computer with everyting on, rather than incremental backups. I know there are advantages to incremental backups but I just want to keep things simple. A full image and a place to store documents separately.


Yes it's on Windows 11 Would the same apply to Windows 10? My other laptop is on W10. Yes I have learned this today - that you can copy and paste files to and from an NTFS external hard drive and have tried it out. My brain was stuck in a historic mode that it needed to be Fat32 or ex Fat, to save documents, photos etc. But that is only if you want to use the drive for compatibility with other operating systems.

I like the idea of the NTFS (you don't lose properties of the files when copying apart from anything else) but I still find it hard to get past old habits and keeping compatibility.

Anyway I have learned something new

Click to expand...

NTFS is fantastic. You'll have no trouble with this file system as far as file systems go on Win 10 or 11 (or even 8.1 for that matter). I've been using it for the last ten years. Fat and ex Fat are still used in special applications such as flashing a BIOS but for regular use you're best off with NTFS.

MisterEd said:

Blame Me: The Windows 11 Disk Formatter

Click to expand...

That was very interesting So when Fat 32 was designed, it was when storage was very small. He seems to be reading from an autocue, looking at his eyes, rather than looking at "you" through the camera. And talks incredibly fast!

Scannerman said:

NTFS is fantastic. You'll have no trouble with this file system as far as file systems go on Win 10 or 11 (or even 8.1 for that matter). I've been using it for the last ten years. Fat and ex Fat are still used in special applications such as flashing a BIOS but for regular use you're best off with NTFS.

Click to expand...

Thanks. So what are the cons of NTFS for document storage as well as the pros? Anything I should be aware of? I know the pros and cons of Fat 32. I'm wary of ex fat.

Hazel123 said:

Thanks. So what are the cons of NTFS for document storage as well as the pros? Anything I should be aware of? I know the pros and cons of Fat 32. I'm wary of ex fat.

Click to expand...

Hazel123 said:

Thanks. So what are the cons of NTFS for document storage as well as the pros? Anything I should be aware of? I know the pros and cons of Fat 32. I'm wary of ex fat.

Click to expand...

For operating systems using the newer UEFI BIOS your drive should be in GPT format and NTFS file system. Older units using legacy BIOS use MBR. Operating systems using PCs of that vintage are all at EOL so unless you're using one of those it shouldn't be a concern.

I do still have a couple of legacy ones using MBR. In fact I still find it hard to adjust to things not being MBR! Have always had really quite old computers until recently.

Hazel123 said:

I do still have a couple of legacy ones using MBR. In fact I still find it hard to adjust to things not being MBR! Have always had really quite old computers until recently.

Click to expand...

Aaah.. Another multiple PC user! Well, now you know which is for which. Even with external backup drives those old PCs should still work okay with NTFS on the backup. Perhaps you noticed that the limit for MBR on backup drives is 2TB? I thought it was 4TB but I was mistaken.

Thanks yes I did notice. Have never had anything bigger than a 2TB drive until now.

Scannerman said:

I was guessing that Hazel was referring to system images generated by standard Windows recovery software. Which I learned this year is absolute garbage if you use it after EOL.

Click to expand...

TBH it was already absolute garbage even if you used it before EOL (probably the main reason it got deprecated - too much work to re-write it from scratch).

I used to use it a lot, and learned a lot about its 'endearing' little quirks and idiosyncrasies. One of the main ones was that for its WindowsImageBackup folder and anything it contained it was a case of look but DO NOT TOUCH! Doing so risked making any image it contained unrestorable. However, it was quite safe to make your own folder elsewhere on the partition and use that for your own data.

I now have to tell my brain to unlearn something I had learned about 14 years ago - that you need fat 32 to save document files, photos etc. And you only need NTFS for images. Not sure where I learned that but it was a long time ago!

Bree said:

TBH it was already absolute garbage even if you used it before EOL (probably the main reason it got deprecated - too much work to re-write it from scratch).

I used to use it a lot, and learned a lot about its 'endearing' little quirks and idiosyncrasies. One of the main ones was that for its WindowsImageBackup folder and anything it contained it was a case of look but DO NOT TOUCH! Doing so risked making any image it contained unrestorable. However, it was quite safe to make your own folder elsewhere on the partition and use that for your own data.

Click to expand...

Yup. Learned my lesson the hard way. Never again. lol

Bree said:

TBH it was already absolute garbage even if you used it before EOL (probably the main reason it got deprecated - too much work to re-write it from scratch).

I used to use it a lot, and learned a lot about its 'endearing' little quirks and idiosyncrasies. One of the main ones was that for its WindowsImageBackup folder and anything it contained it was a case of look but DO NOT TOUCH! Doing so risked making any image it contained unrestorable. However, it was quite safe to make your own folder elsewhere on the partition and use that for your own data.

Click to expand...

Yet for some people that was maybe an advantage? If they just wanted an image to restore some time.

Hazel123 said:

Thanks yes I did notice. Have never had anything bigger than a 2TB drive until now.

Click to expand...

LOL. I have a pile of 8TB drives, but that's not big enough now. I'm about to make the jump to a bunch of 20 TB drives

Just wanted to address one concern that you mentioned which was the worry that you might need access to data on other non-Windows systems. Bear in mind that you can always simply copy files from an NTFS volume to a drive with another format. You can do that locally, or over the network. But these days, there are even add-ons for non-Windows systems that allow them to read NTFS formatted drives.

Thanks. Ok - so one other worry you might be able to help with. Encrypted files. If I copy files from one laptop (which tells me the files are encrypted via bitlocker and I would lose encryption in fat 32 for example). And those files are still encrypted in NTFS - would that drive still be able to open files on a different Windows PC? Eg an older one.

Just to add - I have definitely not set up bitlocker on this laptop and don't have a password. But when copying files from the laptop to a fat 32 drive it says - you will lose bitlocker encryption. Or is that just a standard message just in case you have bitlocker?

Main question is, if files from one Windows laptop are saved on an external NTFS drive - would there ever be any issues opening them on another Windows laptop due to various permissions etc?

I can see NTFS is more secure and less corruptible but still thinking about compatibility.

Well I've tested it out on three computers and no issues copying or opening files on them so I'll keep it on NTFS and thanks for the information.

Just noticed however, that since my new install the other day, the clock was an hour wrong in the bios. I've reset it now but means I'll need to redo my last system image.

Scannerman said:

For operating systems using the newer UEFI BIOS your drive should be in GPT format and NTFS file system. Older units using legacy BIOS use MBR. Operating systems using PCs of that vintage are all at EOL so unless you're using one of those it shouldn't be a concern.

Click to expand...

You are confusing things.

MBR (legacy bios) and UEFI are how the drives are set up.

NTFS, fat32 etc are how individual partitions are formatted. This is independent of whether drive is setup as UEFI or legacy bios.

Hazel123 said:

Just to add - I have definitely not set up bitlocker on this laptop and don't have a password. But when copying files from the laptop to a fat 32 drive it says - you will lose bitlocker encryption. Or is that just a standard message just in case you have bitlocker?

Main question is, if files from one Windows laptop are saved on an external NTFS drive - would there ever be any issues opening them on another Windows laptop due to various permissions etc?

I can see NTFS is more secure and less corruptible but still thinking about compatibility.

Click to expand...

BitLocker decrypts files on the fly when you access them. So, say for example you have a Word document on an encrypted drive. You do nothing different than on an unencrypted drive. You simply double-click the document, and it opens in Word. Or you open Word and select File > Open, etc. The same holds true for copying files. When you copy data from an encrypted drive to a non-encrypted drive, BitLocker unencrypts the files as they are being copied.

Take this a step further - on the Operating System drive, all the OS files and indeed anything and everything being accessed on that drive is all decrypted on the fly. As far as the user is concerned, there is no difference.

Hazel123 said:

I could just leave it as ex fat I guess. But it seems there are solutions above.

Click to expand...

Considering you'll be using that drive as internal storage (?) for backups, I would suggest using NTFS.

• NTFS offers greater performance than exFat for INTERNAL storage.
• exFat offers greater performance for EXTERNAL storage; primarily SSDs.
• Using exFat with external storage - such as a USB drive - you get greater compatibility across different platforms: Windows, MacOS, Linux, etc.

I recall looking into this many years ago, so I decided to look again and the above information is what I found.

To verify accuracy with their claims, it's best to test them: How To Use CrystalDiskMark | What Do The Numbers Mean?
With exFat, run a DiskMark performance test. Then repeat with NTFS and compare the differences. If there's little to no difference, then the only other factor to help you choose would be security. Can the drive or files be encrypted or secured from unauthorized access?