I think it is because it is a FAT32 file system, which is how it was formatted when I bought it. If that is the case, why didn't they make it with NTSF structure instead and can/should I change it? Which is better and why?
Three answers:
Foolish Fool
2008-10-20 13:19:58 UTC
FAT32 max volume size is 4GiB. NTFS partitions on MBR disks max volume size is 2TiB, so NTFS can have larger partitions,. That alone would make it better than FAT32. They probably formatted your External HDD to FAT 32 because it's compatible with Windows 95 and up, and also because Mac OS can read and write on FAT32 partitions. NTFS can only be read on an Mac OS.
I would go ahead and reformat it to NTFS. You can use Partition Magic, or GParted which is an open source program. There are others, but those are the two I know and are really good programs.
carlosdinterpol
2008-10-20 19:50:08 UTC
You can format to NTFS (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984.aspx). I'd recommend it.
FAT32 existed before NTFS, and many HDD manufacturers use it so that their HDDs are compatible with Windows 95 and up.
vulcan
2008-10-20 19:51:25 UTC
Your right just convert it to ntfs.
convert D: /fs:ntfs
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