Rugged RAID User Manual
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Windows
FAT32: FAT is an acronym for File Allocation Table. Originally, FAT was only 16 bits, but after the second
release of Windows 95 it was upgraded to 32 bits, hence the name FAT32.
FAT32 is supported by Windows 7 and Windows 8 but the volume size is limited to 32GB and the individual file
size is limited to 4GB.
Technical info: FAT32 can reduce the performance of your LaCie product.
exFAT: exFAT is an update of FAT32. It allows for volumes up to 128PB and files up to 16EB. Similar to FAT32,
exFAT is not optimized for performance with Windows devices.
NTFS: This acronym stands for New Technology File System, and it is the native file system for Windows 7 and
Windows 8. NTFS offers several features that are not available with FAT32: file compression, encryption,
permissions, auditing, and mirroring drives. The minimum supported volume size for NTFS is 10MB with a
maximum of 2TB when initialized in the MBR format. For greater flexibility, use the GPT format with NTFS to
remove limits on file and partition sizes. Volumes created in NTFS are native read and write for Windows 7 and
Windows 8. Mac OS X 10.5 or higher can read and write to the NTFS partitions with the help of third-party
drivers.
See the table below for a comparison of NTFS and FAT32.
Windows file system formats
Use NTFS if:
…you will be using the storage device only with Windows 7 and Windows 8. NTFS performance is significantly
better than FAT32 or exFAT. This file system is also compatible in read-only mode with Mac OS 10.5 and
higher.
Use exFAT if:
…you will be using your storage device with both Windows and Mac computers.
Summary of Contents for RUGGED RAID
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