Why is FAT32 still used in so many memory devices?

[VirtualLarry]

FAT32 losses efficiency and performance as the partition/drive size goes up.

But if you really want to, you can still format big drives to FAT32 using the command prompt.

No, you can't. At least not with all-MS tools.

 

[taltamir]

I don't know much about filesystems, but why haven't these been ported over to Windows/Mac and other OSes?

because MS and Apple are monopolistic and oppose open source technologies.
If MS added support to an open FS then nobody will use MS's own FS anymore. making the open FS the defacto cross platform standard. And by being cross platform it would be easier to migrate away from MS.

Because there is no widely compatible alternative.

NTFS and HFS+ are MS and Apple proprietary. Ext2, 3 and 4 are Linux only.

exFAT is MS proprietary and restrictively patented, so has limited OS support.

While FAT32 is a MS proprietary file it is openly licensed, so has universal OS support.

One more thing of note, journaling filesystems are not good for thumb drives (SSDs) without wear leveling (pretty much any USB stick does not have wear leveling while every full sized SSD does).
As such FAT, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT are the only suitable MS FS for a thumbdrive. exFAT was made explicitly for such drives (you are better off with NTFS on a mechanical drive or an SSD with wear leveling).
ext2+ are all journaling file system, so stick to FAT32

 

[Charlie98]

Reformat, and it goes *poof*. I've occasionally tried external HDD bloatware (Only Simpletech's has been good enough to use as advertised), but never USB stick bloatware.

I got mine just a couple months ago, and it had their regular crap on it, for the short time between opening it and formatting it.

Believe me, I've tried (using disk manager.) There are 3 partitions... the storage partition, a 96MB CDFS partition, and a 12MB unallocated buffer.

 

[UaVaj]

I originally had it formatted in NTFS (did that some time ago, thinking I was being very clever... until I read this thread.) Then FAT32, then exFAT.

in regard to NAND recovery time for consistent write speed. the NTFS to FAT32 had pleny of time for recovery. what was the recovery time from FAT32 to exFAT?

 

[ViRGE]

Believe me, I've tried (using disk manager.) There are 3 partitions... the storage partition, a 96MB CDFS partition, and a 12MB unallocated buffer.

That sounds like U3.

Have you tried Sandisk's U3 removal tool? http://u3.sandisk.com/launchpadremoval.htm

Or this 3rd party tool: http://u3-tool.sourceforge.net/

 

[Charlie98]

That sounds like U3.

Have you tried Sandisk's U3 removal tool? http://u3.sandisk.com/launchpadremoval.htm

Or this 3rd party tool: http://u3-tool.sourceforge.net/

It is... thank you for the link!

Edit: That worked like a charm!

 

[ViRGE]

Not a problem. Though I didn't realize they were still selling those wretched U3 devices.:|

 

[Cerb]

That sounds bad. Mine was the regular old autorun.inf in the root, with a directory containing the installers. I hadn't seen it done the other way in a few years, now (and had hoped they had just stopped doing it).

 

[Charlie98]

Not a problem. Though I didn't realize they were still selling those wretched U3 devices.:|

My most recent one is not U3... thank goodness.