3 ms·

FAT32 doesn't support files bigger than 4GiB, that's a huge limitation these days. But I don't disagree that calling NTFS "portable" is a bit of a stretch, alth

by simias 5y ago

FAT32 doesn't support files bigger than 4GiB, that's a huge limitation these days. But I don't disagree that calling NTFS "portable" is a bit of a stretch, although hopefully that'll change if good quality open source drivers become available.

beermonster 5y ago
NTFS has journaling,compression, encryption, max 255 character filenames, max partition size is hundred of TB rather than 2GB, generally faster performance wise. Trouble is , FAT32 has more OS compatibility. Would be nice if Linux did have first class support for NTFS as it’s superior. But right now for maximum compatibility you need FAT32
- sascha_sl 5y ago
  > max 255 character filenames it doesn't in spec, that's just the win32 API
  - jasode 5y ago
    >it doesn't in spec, that's just the win32 API NTFS filename length is limited to 255 Unicode chars. You may be thinking of full path lengths of 32,767 Unicode chars but the filename component is still limited to 255. If you look at the NTFS data structure "$FILE_NAME (0x30)" at byte offset 0x40: https://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+%22%24FILE_NAME%22+byte https://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+%22%24FILE_NAME%22+byte ... there's only 1 byte used to describe the filename length. Hence max of 255 chars. Wikipedia page about NTFS also mentions 255 max length for filename: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
  - ziml77 5y ago
    You're confusing the filename length limit with the limitation on the entire path length in the Windows API. NTFS allows paths to be up to 32k characters long, but each path component tops out at 255 characters.
- wyuenho 5y ago
  The Paragon driver cannot recognize encrypted NTFS volumes AFAIK
- gattilorenz 5y ago
  > max partition size is hundred of TB rather than 2GB FAT16 is limited to 2GB, FAT32 can extend to 2TB (but the max file size for a single file is 4GB, as the parent stated)
ulzeraj 5y ago
A bit of personal experience: I've needed to create a Windows 10 installer from a MacOS computer a few weeks ago. Without the MS helper program I've figured I should perform the following steps: 1- download iso 2- format usb with fat32 3- copy the data Apparently you can't just dd the ISO file into the USB block device like every other Linux or BSD ISO. It need to be FAT32 to be able to boot through UEFI. The issue however is that the .wim file containing the OS installation source is bigger than 4GB. I think its sources.wim but I'm not sure. I had to install some command line utility from brew that did the job of "optimizing" the WIM file and managed to reduce it to a file bellow 4GB. What does optimizing means? Better compression? Cleaning up crap inside the image? If their ISO tool probably does this without user interaction then why include a file bigger than what the FS can handle in the first place? I don't know if this counts as some kind of dark pattern or MS being really antiquated in terms of bootable flash drivers.
- cto_of_antifa 5y ago
  This is what the use BalenaEtcher for.
- freeone3000 5y ago
  It's a case of it working fine on Windows, so, there's no need to bother supporting anything else.
- vbezhenar 5y ago
  What I'm doing is just using GPT partitioning, creating one NTFS partition and copy all files there. All my computers were able to boot in UEFI mode from this USB drive and successfully install Windows. With Linux it was a bit more cumbersome, but most Linux distros are hybrid ISOs anyway, so it's not as big issue. I know that UEFI BIOS is not obligated to support NTFS partitions, but my little practice they do.
  - ulzeraj 5y ago
    Good to know that this is an option but from MacOS I don't have NTFS write capabilities. I think ExFat is available so I might try two partitions one being the EFI ESP and the second containing the rest of the install files.

by simias 5y ago

beermonster 5y ago

NTFS has journaling,compression, encryption, max 255 character filenames, max partition size is hundred of TB rather than 2GB, generally faster performance wise. Trouble is , FAT32 has more OS compatibility. Would be nice if Linux did have first class support for NTFS as it’s superior. But right now for maximum compatibility you need FAT32

sascha_sl 5y ago
> max 255 character filenames it doesn't in spec, that's just the win32 API
- jasode 5y ago
  >it doesn't in spec, that's just the win32 API NTFS filename length is limited to 255 Unicode chars. You may be thinking of full path lengths of 32,767 Unicode chars but the filename component is still limited to 255. If you look at the NTFS data structure "$FILE_NAME (0x30)" at byte offset 0x40: https://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+%22%24FILE_NAME%22+byte https://www.google.com/search?q=ntfs+%22%24FILE_NAME%22+byte ... there's only 1 byte used to describe the filename length. Hence max of 255 chars. Wikipedia page about NTFS also mentions 255 max length for filename: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
- ziml77 5y ago
  You're confusing the filename length limit with the limitation on the entire path length in the Windows API. NTFS allows paths to be up to 32k characters long, but each path component tops out at 255 characters.
wyuenho 5y ago
The Paragon driver cannot recognize encrypted NTFS volumes AFAIK
gattilorenz 5y ago
> max partition size is hundred of TB rather than 2GB FAT16 is limited to 2GB, FAT32 can extend to 2TB (but the max file size for a single file is 4GB, as the parent stated)

ulzeraj 5y ago

A bit of personal experience: I've needed to create a Windows 10 installer from a MacOS computer a few weeks ago. Without the MS helper program I've figured I should perform the following steps: 1- download iso 2- format usb with fat32 3- copy the data Apparently you can't just dd the ISO file into the USB block device like every other Linux or BSD ISO. It need to be FAT32 to be able to boot through UEFI. The issue however is that the .wim file containing the OS installation source is bigger than 4GB. I think its sources.wim but I'm not sure. I had to install some command line utility from brew that did the job of "optimizing" the WIM file and managed to reduce it to a file bellow 4GB. What does optimizing means? Better compression? Cleaning up crap inside the image? If their ISO tool probably does this without user interaction then why include a file bigger than what the FS can handle in the first place? I don't know if this counts as some kind of dark pattern or MS being really antiquated in terms of bootable flash drivers.

cto_of_antifa 5y ago
This is what the use BalenaEtcher for.
freeone3000 5y ago
It's a case of it working fine on Windows, so, there's no need to bother supporting anything else.
vbezhenar 5y ago
What I'm doing is just using GPT partitioning, creating one NTFS partition and copy all files there. All my computers were able to boot in UEFI mode from this USB drive and successfully install Windows. With Linux it was a bit more cumbersome, but most Linux distros are hybrid ISOs anyway, so it's not as big issue. I know that UEFI BIOS is not obligated to support NTFS partitions, but my little practice they do.
- ulzeraj 5y ago
  Good to know that this is an option but from MacOS I don't have NTFS write capabilities. I think ExFat is available so I might try two partitions one being the EFI ESP and the second containing the rest of the install files.