There are a couple of methods via which you can format a hard drive to FAT32. 4 Ways to Format an External Hard Drive to FAT32 It is a useful format for solid-state memory cards and a convenient way to share data between operating systems and specifically focuses on drives with 512-byte sectors. FAT32 is widely used for dealing with files less than 4GB. The values of the clusters are represented by 32-bit numbers, out of which 28 bits hold the cluster number. It overcame the volume size limit of FAT16 and supports more number of possible clusters while reusing most of the existing code. Introduced in 1996 by Microsoft and Caldera, FAT32 is the 32-bit version of the File Allocation Table system. The FAT system has been an eminent type of file system for the past three decades and has been responsible for how and where data is stored, assessed, and managed over that time frame. The File Allocation Table (FAT) system itself is widely used for USB drives, flash memory cards, floppy disks, super floppies, memory cards and external hard drives that are supported by digital cameras, camcorders, PDAs, media players, or mobile phones with an exception of Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Versatile Disc (DVD). What is a File Allocation Table (FAT) system and FAT32? Today, we will go over a couple of methods on how to format your hard drive to the FAT32 system. Therefore, formatting a hard drive to FAT32 can make it accessible and thus can be used across platforms and in various devices. The FAT32 system in particular has universal support and works on almost all operating systems available for personal computers. A few file systems you might be aware of include FAT, exFAT, NTFS, etc.Įach of these systems has its own advantages and disadvantages. A file system controls how the above tasks (storing, indexing, and retrieving) are performed. The way files and data are stored, indexed on a hard drive, and retrieved back to the user is far more complex than you might think.

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