Difference Between File System NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT

Whether you’re formatting an internal drive, external drive, USB flash drive, or SD card Windows will give you three choices of file system NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT. And we always choose one that Windows recommends. But do you ever wonder what is the difference between each file system and what happens to storage medium when we choose a different one. Since Windows doesn’t explain the difference, so we will.

What is Filesystem ? 

A filesystem is the methods and data structures that an operating system uses to keep track of files on a disk or partition; that is, the way the files are organized on the disk. The word is also used to refer to a partition or disk that is used to store the files or the type of the filesystem.

Many operating systems include support for more than one file system. Sometimes the OS and the file system are so tightly interwoven it is difficult to separate out file system functions. Microsoft Windows mainly makes use of the NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT file systems. So we are going to discuss about these three file systems in details.

NTFS Filesystem 

NTFS is the modern file system Windows likes to use and  introduced with the Windows NT operating system in 1993. When you install Windows, it formats your system drive with the NTFS file system. NTFS has file size and partition size limits that are so theoretically huge you won’t run up against them. Your Windows system partition must be NTFS. If you have a secondary drive alongside Windows and you plan on installing programs to it, you should probably go ahead and make it NTFS, too.

Features : 

NTFS is packed with modern features. It supports file permissions for security, a change journal that can help quickly recover errors if your computer crashes, shadow copies for backups, encryption, disk quota limits, hard links, and other various features. Many of these are crucial for an operating system drive — especially file permissions.

Compatibility : 

NTFS will work with all recent versions of Windows but it has limited compatibility with other operating systems. By default, Mac OS X can only read NTFS drives, not write to them. Some Linux distributions may enable NTFS-writing support, but some may be read-only. None of Sony’s PlayStation consoles support NTFS. Even Microsoft’s own Xbox 360 can’t read NTFS drives, although the new Xbox One can. Other devices are even less likely to support NTFS.

FAT32 Filesystem

FAT32 is the oldest file system here. It was introduced all the way back in Windows 95 to replace the older FAT16 file system. This file system’s age has advantages and disadvantages. Because it’s so old, it’s the de-facto standard. Flash drives you purchase will often come formatted with FAT32 for maximum compatibility across not just modern computers, but other devices like game consoles and anything with a USB port.

Features : 

The family of FAT file system is supported by almost all operating systems for personal computers.

Limitations : 

Limitations come with that age, however. Individual files on a FAT32 drive can’t be over 4 GB in size — that’s the maximum. A FAT32 partition must also be less than 8 TB, which is less of a limitations — but still a noticeable one if you have a new, high-capacity mechanical drive. While this file system is okay for USB flash drives and other external media, you won’t want to use this for an internal drive. It lacks the permissions and other security features built into the more modern NTFS file system. Modern versions of Windows can no longer be installed to FAT32, and must be installed onto drives formatted with NTFS.

Compatibility : 

Works with all versions of Windows, Mac, Linux, game consoles, and practically anything with a USB port.

exFAT Filesystem

xFAT is a proprietary and patent-protected file system with certain advantages over NTFS, introduced in 2006 and the file system is supported with newer Windows systems, such as Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, and more recently, support has been added for Windows XP.

Features : 

Like NTFS, exFAT has very large file size and partition size limits. This means you can store files that are larger than 4 GB apiece on a flash drive or SD card if it’s formatted with exFAT. exFAT is a strict upgrade over FAT32, and should be the best choice for external drives where you want a lightweight file system without FAT32’s file size limits.

Compatibility : 

exFAT is also more compatible than NTFS. Works with all versions of Windows. While Mac OS X includes only read-only support for NTFS, Macs offer full read-write support for exFAT. exFAT drives can be accessed on Linux by installing the appropriate software.While exFAT is compatible with Macs — and will be compatible with some devices that don’t support NTFS, like digital cameras — it still isn’t quite as compatible. Microsoft’s own Xbox 360 doesn’t support it, although the Xbox One does. The PlayStation 3 doesn’t support exFAT drives, although the PlayStation 4 reportedly does. Various other older devices may only support FAT32 instead of exFAT.

So in short NTFS is ideal for internal drives, while exFAT is generally ideal for flash drives. However, you may sometimes need to format an external drive with FAT32 if exFAT isn’t supported on a device you need to use it with.

The New method to Hide SMS or Private Messages on Android.

Receiving private messages is one thing, keeping it safe and secured is another deal. Most individual are fund of exposing their private messages to public. Do you know that you your account security can be easily compromised if the number used in receiving bank notification aren’t secured? There are also several reasons we should keep our SMS private and secured.

Recently, I came across a new method to keeping private messages locked out from eye prying, and unlike every other method, this method seems to work perfectly and gives your SMS the maximum security. With the help of the application I’ll be revealing, you stand a chance to hide all your private messages from eye prying.

So what’s this application name?

The application name is codenamed “Message Lock aka SMS lock”. However, the app is compatible on all android devices and it comes with a very high rating. Let me quickly make a brief description about the message& SMS lock app.

About Message & SMS Lock

The Message lock aka SMS lock application is a light tool that is developed for special purpose which is protecting your personal messages. Maybe, you’re the kind of person that lends your device to friends to play games, listen to music, watch movies or whatsoever, and you wish to keep them locked out from going through your personal messages, then it’s advised you make use of Message & SMS lock.

With this light tool, you can easily gain full privacy protection on your messages and lock patterns is also made available on Message & SMS lock tool.

One of the most recent features on Message & SMS lock app is the fingerprint enabled features which is made available for fingerprint enabled devices like the Galaxy devices with fingerprint scanner. It also comes with an outstanding locking engine and password retrieval is possible.

Ubuntu’s bash and Linux command line coming to Windows 10

'Microsoft loves Linux' so much that now the company is bringing the popular Bash shell, alongside the entire Linux command environment, to its newest Windows 10 OS in the upcoming 'Anniversary Update,' Redstone.

The rumours before the Microsoft’s Build 2016 developer conference were true. Microsoft has just confirmed that it is going to enable its users to run Bash (Bourne Again Shell) natively on Windows 10.

Microsoft has partnered with Ubuntu's parent company Canonical to ensure the Bash experience for users is just as good in Windows OS as it's in variants of Linux.

Although the Goal of the partnership, in the end, is to bring Ubuntu on Windows 10, don't expect it to run Ubuntu directly on Windows 10.

Users will be able to download Bash from the Windows Store. BASH or Bourne Again Shell is capable of handling advanced command line functionalities that are not a cup of tea for Powershell or CMDs.

"The Bash shell is coming to Windows. Yes, the real Bash is coming to Windows," said Microsoft's Kevin Gallo at Build 2016 keynote. "This is not a VM [Virtual Machine]. This is not cross-compiled tools. This is native."

There already exists third-party apps to implement Bash shell running on Windows, such asCygwin or MSYS. But the new move by Microsoft would eliminate the usage of 3rd party utilities, offering, even more, flexibility for developers who prefer using these binaries and tools.

How to Run Bash on Windows?

Users just have to follow these simple steps to run Bash on Windows 10 OS:

• Open the Windows Start menu
• Type "bash"
• Hit 'Enter'

This will open a command line console (cmd.exe) running Ubuntu's /bin/bash, Dustin Kirkland, Canonical's Ubuntu Product and Strategy team member, explains in a blog post.

The system features a full Ubuntu user space complete with support for tools including ssh, apt, rsync, find, grep, awk, sed, sort, xargs, md5sum, gpg, curl, wget, apache, mysql, python, perl, ruby, php, vim, emacs and more.

This is not Microsoft Linux for Windows

Don’t get confused, as Microsoft is not enabling all Linux applications to run on top of Windows nor this is "Microsoft Linux." The company is just providing support for Bash on Windows 10 as an expansion of its command-line tool family.

So, the company is working on integrating Ubuntu User Space in Windows 10, as a hacker has already spotted a Linux subsystem in preview build (build 14251) of the Windows 10 code in late January.

As Kirkland writes:

"So just Ubuntu running in a virtual machine?" Nope! This isn't a virtual machine at all. There's no Linux kernel booting in a VM under a hypervisor. It's just the Ubuntu user space. "Ah, okay, so this is Ubuntu in a container then?" Nope! This isn't a container either. 

It's native Ubuntu binaries running directly in Windows. "Hum, well it's like cygwin perhaps?" Nope! Cygwin includes open source utilities are recompiled from source to run natively in Windows. Here, we're talking about bit-for-bit, checksum-for-checksum Ubuntu ELF binaries running directly in Windows.

This isn't Microsoft's first step towards implementing Linux functionality in Windows. Just last year, Microsoft had worked on the Linux Kernel and made a Linux OS called Azure Cloud Switch. It also chose Ubuntu as the operating system for its Cloud-based Big Data services.

Google Calendar’s Reminders feature is now on the web.

Way back in December, Google added a to-do function called Reminders to the Google Calendar iOS and Android apps. Now, at long last, it is available for the web.

Reminders basically amp up Google Calendar’s to-do list, so you can not only create tasks in your Gmail inbox, Google Keep, or calendar, but see a reminder that shows up on top of your Google Calendar, haunting you until you finally pay that bill or call that person or do whatever it is that you keep putting off.

For people who were juggling Google Calendar with to-do apps Reminders is a small but extremely handy feature and being able to manage tasks on the web will make it even more useful.