Just to clarify. Mike specifically asked about reformatting a flash drive.
I have found nothing anywhere that suggests that reformatting a flash drive
once from FAT32 to NTFS will cause any harm. A flash drive, unlike a hard
drive, contains no moving parts, so unless it is reformatted over and over,
it is hard to see how a single reformatting could damage it. On the other
hand, constantly reformatting a hard drive is probably not a good idea
because of mechanical stress on its moving components. If you did indeed
come across an article in Smart Computing that specifically advises against
formatting a flash drive, could you please provide more details?
Gerald
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ferrin" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:25 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Formatting a flash drive
Smart computing magazine makes reference to this subject as a matter of
fact.
David Ferrin
Life is a work in progress
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Levy" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Formatting a flash drive
Mike,
If you plan to download files to your flash drive that are larger than
4gb,
you need to reformat it to NTFS, instructions for which can be found on
the
site below. However, if your files are smaller than 4gb, you can leave it
in the default FAT32 format. By the way, I have found no articles that
suggest that reformatting a modern flash drive creates damaging stress on
its memory components. In fact, I recently reformatted my new 8gb flash
drive to NTFS so that I could back up my Documents and Settings folder
(which is larger than 4gb) using the Windows XP Backup utility, and have
had
no problems.
http://www.ntfs.com/quest22.htm
Gerald
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike & Barbara" <mb69mach1 @charter.net>
To: "Blind-Computing" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 9:26 AM
Subject: [Blind-Computing] Formatting a flash drive
Hi All,
I just recieved 2 new flash drives. Their file format is Fat32. If I
recall, isn't it better for these to be formatted in NTFS format or
something like that? If it is better to have the file format in The NTFS
format, how do I change it from Fat32 to another format? All help will
be
greatly appreciated. Thanks much, take care.
Mike
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