Comments on: Why FAT Filesystem Sucks http://www.firdouss.com/2007/01/why-fat-filesystem-sucks/ Random Sharing under the Sun Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:12:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: anon http://www.firdouss.com/2007/01/why-fat-filesystem-sucks/#comment-528 anon Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:32:26 +0000 http://www.firdouss.com/2007/01/31/why-fat-filesystem-sucks/#comment-528 It's not a fragmentation issue. The problem is with the cluster size of the filesystems. In Fird's case, his files are given blocks of 16 KiB to fill up. Even if the GIF/PNG only needs 100 bytes, it will still occupy 16 KiB of space because of how the disk space is allocated. 8189 files * 16,384 bytes = 134,168,576 bytes Throw in the overhead for the 73 directories and you'll have the disk space used. FAT/FAT32 works fine with small disk space sizes, but they suck when trying to handle disk spaces of above 512 MiB and thousands of tiny files. It's better to use NTFS or other modern file systems. Digital cameras can still use FAT/FAT32 efficiently because the photos are huge - the overhead of wasted disk space isn't as noticeable as having thousands of tiny icons. It’s not a fragmentation issue.

The problem is with the cluster size of the filesystems. In Fird’s case, his files are given blocks of 16 KiB to fill up. Even if the GIF/PNG only needs 100 bytes, it will still occupy 16 KiB of space because of how the disk space is allocated.

8189 files * 16,384 bytes = 134,168,576 bytes

Throw in the overhead for the 73 directories and you’ll have the disk space used.

FAT/FAT32 works fine with small disk space sizes, but they suck when trying to handle disk spaces of above 512 MiB and thousands of tiny files. It’s better to use NTFS or other modern file systems.

Digital cameras can still use FAT/FAT32 efficiently because the photos are huge – the overhead of wasted disk space isn’t as noticeable as having thousands of tiny icons.

]]> By: Albert Ng http://www.firdouss.com/2007/01/why-fat-filesystem-sucks/#comment-527 Albert Ng Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:47:24 +0000 http://www.firdouss.com/2007/01/31/why-fat-filesystem-sucks/#comment-527 Another trick I like to do, especially to big fragmented files, is to move them to another drive, then move it back. It will most likely be defragmented. Another trick I like to do, especially to big fragmented files, is to move them to another drive, then move it back. It will most likely be defragmented.

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