I tried creating a veracrypt volume and I assigned 10gb to it. The tutorial I saw on veracrypt had the file system option as FAT, however exFAT was automatically selected as my option when I was creating the volume. Does anyone know why this happened and Would this cause any problems for me when I try to access my volume?
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1This is more of a tool-use question than a security question. Migrating. – schroeder Sep 18 '16 at 21:24
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Anyone willing to help me out here? – stan Sep 18 '16 at 23:13
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1If you only use Windows to access that volume, I'd prefer NTFS. – CodesInChaos Sep 19 '16 at 09:11
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@CodesInChaos how about if using macOS and windows? – stevec Mar 12 '21 at 05:22
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Always you are allowed to reformat the encrypted drive/container to other file system. – pbies Mar 17 '21 at 17:07
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VeraCrypt is only incidental for this question, which is really about the differences between file-system formats.
In a nutshell, the main usage points that one can use when deciding on the format are:
- FAT32: Best performance on small storage volumes and almost universally supported, but the most limited. Maximum volume size is 2 TB, maximum file size is 4 GB (or 2 GB).
- ExFAT: Best performance on small-large sized storage volumes but low performance on storage volumes with large amounts of files and data, almost universally supported.
- NTFS: Best performance on storage volumes of all sizes with any amount of files and data, Windows only.
- EXT : Best for Linux-only systems.
- HFS Plus : Best for MacOS-only systems.
harrymc
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When creating a volume, you are being asked if you want to store files larger than 4GB or less than 4GB. Go with larger than 4GB option. This option is the option that determines the types of file systems you will be then presented. So just choose to use files above 4GB and then you will be able to select a file system that definitely works with large files (unlike the old FAT).
Overmind
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2thanks for replying, so you are saying exFAT is better for larger files than the old FAT system? – stan Sep 19 '16 at 08:09
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3exFAT (aka FAT64) was designed to overcome the limitations of the old FAT32, one of which is the maximum file size. So it's a matter of support. On exFAT, you will be able to use any currently possible file size, on the old FAT you are limited to 4GB file size. – Overmind Sep 19 '16 at 09:06
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Why use exFAT instead of NTFS, can NTFS not be used on certain device sizes or something? – user324747 May 17 '20 at 01:07
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Yes, there are situations where you may want to use ExFAT. For example, although it’s a proprietary Microsoft technology, Apple licensed it for use in its OSes so you’ll see it as an option when formatting a drive in OS X. For swapping or sharing large files, especially between OSes, exFAT is the way to go. – Overmind May 18 '20 at 05:19
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@Overmind are there any real alternatives if the user wants compatibility with both macOS *and* Windows? – stevec Mar 12 '21 at 05:24
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