LaCie d2 Quadra Enterprise Class
• D
esign
by
N
eil
P
oulton
Setup
User Manual
page 15
2.3. Formatting and Partitioning
The d2 Quadra comes pre-formatted in HFS+ (optimized for Mac
OS X). Please read the following information on file system formats
for Windows and Mac operating systems to determine if you need to
reformat the d2’s disk. See sections
2.3.2
and
2.3.3
for formatting
instructions.
2.3.1. File System Formats
Windows Users
TECHNICAL NOTE:
The LaCie d2 Quadra comes preformatted in
HFS+ for optimum performance with Mac OS X.
FAT 32
: FAT is an acronym for File Allocation Table, which dates
back to the beginnings of DOS programming. Originally, FAT was
only 16 bits, but after the second release of Windows 95 it was
upgraded to 32 bits, hence the name FAT 32. In theory, FAT 32
volume sizes can range from less than 1MB all the way to 2TB. It is
the native file system of Windows 98 and Windows Me, and is sup-
ported by Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. When
FAT 32 is used with Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows
Vista though, volume size is limited to 32GB (by the Windows parti-
tion utility, i.e. Disk Manager), and the individual file size is limited
to 4GB.
NTFS:
This acronym stands for New Technology Filing System, and
it is the native file system for Windows NT, Windows 2000, Win-
dows XP and Windows Vista. NTFS offers several features that are
not available with FAT 32; i.e. file compression, encryption, permis-
sions, and auditing, as well as the ability to mirror drives and RAID 5
capabilities. The minimum supported volume size for NTFS is 10MB,
with a maximum of 2TB when initialized in MBR format or without a
limit when initialized in GPT format, with no limit to file size. Volumes
created in NTFS can only be directly accessed (not through shares)
by Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista
without resorting to help from third-party products.
Windows File System Formats
There are two possible file system format categories for Win-
dows users: NTFS and FAT 32 (MS-DOS). See the table be-
low for more information.
Use NTFS if:
...you will be using the drive only with Windows XP (perfor-
mance will generally be greater when compared to FAT 32).
This file system is compatible in read only mode with Mac
OS 10.3 and higher.
Use FAT32 if:
...you will be using your drive with both Windows and Mac
OS 9.x or 10.x or sharing the drive between Windows 2000,
XP, and 98 SE. Maximum single file size is 4GB.
