# USB Flash Drives: FAT, FAT32, NTFS



## XP1 (Apr 10, 2005)

USB Flash Drives: FAT, FAT32, NTFS

Which of the three FAT, FAT32, and NTFS is the best Windows file system for a USB Flash Drive?

I have an ACP-EP 1GB Privacy Drive.


----------



## Reflux (Sep 27, 2006)

depends what os you are going to be using if your using xp and 2000 use ntfs if your using mac or anything older than xp or 2000 use fat 32 since thye do not support fat 32.


----------



## Cellus (Aug 31, 2006)

FAT32 is the best to assure the greatest compatibility, which is important for a flash drive you can and will be plugging into a number of different systems. While you can format NTFS on flash drives, it's not a recommended practice most of the time.


----------



## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

FAT for drives under 2GB
FAT32 for drives over 2GB.


----------



## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Most flash drives come preformated so you shouldn't need to worry about formating it when you buy it.


----------



## hwy133 (Jan 16, 2008)

help. 
I formatted my drive just to make sure its all clean. Before the format it said thats it is in FAT. I picked FAT as my choice of formatting. After the format the writing speed was 0.5mb/s. I tried formatting using FAT32 allocation set to default for both. Still the speed was slow. I found on another forum that fat16 is the fastest. I picked FAT32 and set allocation to 16kb. The speed went down to 0.2mb/s. 
I dont want it in NTFS but just want it back to normal. Im using a Kingmax 4gb stick.


----------



## XP1 (Apr 10, 2005)

hwy133 said:


> help.
> I formatted my drive just to make sure its all clean. Before the format it said thats it is in FAT. I picked FAT as my choice of formatting. After the format the writing speed was 0.5mb/s. I tried formatting using FAT32 allocation set to default for both. Still the speed was slow. I found on another forum that fat16 is the fastest. I picked FAT32 and set allocation to 16kb. The speed went down to 0.2mb/s.
> I dont want it in NTFS but just want it back to normal. Im using a Kingmax 4gb stick.


Did you try reformatting it back to FAT instead of FAT32?


----------

