Flash Drives back and forth PC to Macs Question

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

I notice that some of my flash drives are FAT16 and some are FAT32.
Their general use is on the IMac, but every now and then I need to carry
a file on over to the PC. I'm not having trouble doing this. My question
concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using FAT16 over 32
or visa versa?
Also, I'm getting a lot of feedback from various sources that are
telling me not to use the formatting utility on the Mac but rather to
reformat the flash drives on the PC for a "better" format if needed.
Any validity to this at all? I think I noticed that the Mac disk utility
for the MS DOS format is a FAT16 and the PC choice is FAT32 for the
Flash drive format. Did I remember this right and is this perhaps the
reason for the confusion??
Many thanks

--
Dudley Henriques

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

Dudley Henriques wrote:
> I notice that some of my flash drives are FAT16 and some are FAT32.
> Their general use is on the IMac, but every now and then I need to carry
> a file on over to the PC. I'm not having trouble doing this. My question
> concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using FAT16 over 32
> or visa versa?
> Also, I'm getting a lot of feedback from various sources that are
> telling me not to use the formatting utility on the Mac but rather to
> reformat the flash drives on the PC for a "better" format if needed.
> Any validity to this at all? I think I noticed that the Mac disk utility
> for the MS DOS format is a FAT16 and the PC choice is FAT32 for the
> Flash drive format. Did I remember this right and is this perhaps the
> reason for the confusion??
> Many thanks
>
Disregard this post please. Old people making mistakes again :-))
This should have gone to the Mac forum!!! Ask YOU characters about a
flash drive and I'll get answers telling me not to flash anyone while
driving :-))))
Dudley

--
Dudley Henriques

[Judah]

Dudley Henriques > wrote in news:Y6-
:

> Disregard this post please. Old people making mistakes again :-))
> This should have gone to the Mac forum!!! Ask YOU characters about a
> flash drive and I'll get answers telling me not to flash anyone while
> driving :-))))


Are you kidding? I bet half of the pilots on this newsgroup are IT people! I
figured that's why you asked it here!

The bigger problem you'll have is that the inevitable direction of the thread
will be an argument between those who will tell you to get rid of the Mac,
vs. those who tell you to get rid of the PC, with an independent party who
tells you it doesn't matter which you have as long as they are both running
Linux.

Of course, before long, the thread will evolve into Mac vs. PC insults, which
will eventually transform into High-Wing/Low Wing mud-slinging (after all,
anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).

Fortunately, while that puts the thread back on topic, it won't actually
provide you with any useful answers to your question.

So it's probably best suited for the Mac forum after all. At least that way
you won't get the high-wing insults...

[Shirl]

Judah > wrote:
> Of course, before long, the thread will evolve into Mac vs. PC insults, which
> will eventually transform into High-Wing/Low Wing mud-slinging (after all,
> anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).

Shirl: Low-Wing/Mac (since 1984)

[Bob Noel]

In article >,
Judah > wrote:

> (after all,
> anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).

um, no. I have a Cherokee.

And to DH: If you aren't having any trouble using the stick to
transfer files, I suggest you don't try fixing it. fwiw - I don't
remember ever having to format a flash drive and I've used
a bunch of them to transfer files back and forth

btw - the two stick I have now (a 256kb and a 1 gb) are both FAT-16
according to disk utility.

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

Bob Noel wrote:
> In article >,
> Judah > wrote:
>
>> (after all,
>> anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).
>
> um, no. I have a Cherokee.
>
> And to DH: If you aren't having any trouble using the stick to
> transfer files, I suggest you don't try fixing it. fwiw - I don't
> remember ever having to format a flash drive and I've used
> a bunch of them to transfer files back and forth
>
> btw - the two stick I have now (a 256kb and a 1 gb) are both FAT-16
> according to disk utility.
>
Thank you. I appreciate the tip.

--
Dudley Henriques

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

Judah wrote:
> Dudley Henriques > wrote in news:Y6-
> :
>
>> Disregard this post please. Old people making mistakes again :-))
>> This should have gone to the Mac forum!!! Ask YOU characters about a
>> flash drive and I'll get answers telling me not to flash anyone while
>> driving :-))))
>
>
> Are you kidding? I bet half of the pilots on this newsgroup are IT people! I
> figured that's why you asked it here!
>
> The bigger problem you'll have is that the inevitable direction of the thread
> will be an argument between those who will tell you to get rid of the Mac,
> vs. those who tell you to get rid of the PC, with an independent party who
> tells you it doesn't matter which you have as long as they are both running
> Linux.
>
> Of course, before long, the thread will evolve into Mac vs. PC insults, which
> will eventually transform into High-Wing/Low Wing mud-slinging (after all,
> anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).
>
> Fortunately, while that puts the thread back on topic, it won't actually
> provide you with any useful answers to your question.
>
> So it's probably best suited for the Mac forum after all. At least that way
> you won't get the high-wing insults...

Excellent synapses on Usenet using minimum bandwidth as well :-))

--
Dudley Henriques

[TheSmokingGnu]

Dudley Henriques wrote:
> My question
> concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using FAT16 over 32
> or visa versa?
>

FAT16:

Max total volume size: 2GB
Number of files: 65,517
Larger allocation unit size (more "waste" for files that don't take up
full allocation units).

FAT32:

Max volume size: 8TB
Number of files: 268,435,437
Smaller allocation unit size

That's it, really. Unless these memory sticks are very large (or you
have an outrageous number of files on them) either file system will work
just fine (as both computers are equally capable of dealing with them).
I'd pick FAT32 if given the choice, and I think the Mac paranoia is
probably just because Apple hasn't dealt with the FAT system for quite
as long as PC OS' have (and so might have options for FAT32 formatting
that are unavailable to the Mac).

TheSmokingGnu

[Montblack]

("Dudley Henriques" wrote)
>> I notice that some of my flash drives are FAT16 and some are FAT32. Their
>> general use is on the IMac, but every now and then I need to carry a file
>> on over to the PC. I'm not having trouble doing this. My question
>> concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using FAT16 over 32 or
>> visa versa?


I had an odd screen pop up when I tried using a Western Digital (external)
120 G Hard Drive, as a go between, for an XP to Vista "Easy Transfer" files
& settings conversion.

Vista did not like the FAT 32 format of the WD Hard Drive. The "Easy
Transfer" software was installed on both pc's. Anyway, I finally got
frustrated and bought the kit, with (special) cable, instead.


Montblack
<http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/M-Ryerson/Expose-Yourself-to-Art-Print-C10036661.jpeg>
Flash answer

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

Montblack wrote:
> ("Dudley Henriques" wrote)
>>> I notice that some of my flash drives are FAT16 and some are FAT32. Their
>>> general use is on the IMac, but every now and then I need to carry a file
>>> on over to the PC. I'm not having trouble doing this. My question
>>> concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using FAT16 over 32 or
>>> visa versa?
>
>
> I had an odd screen pop up when I tried using a Western Digital (external)
> 120 G Hard Drive, as a go between, for an XP to Vista "Easy Transfer" files
> & settings conversion.
>
> Vista did not like the FAT 32 format of the WD Hard Drive. The "Easy
> Transfer" software was installed on both pc's. Anyway, I finally got
> frustrated and bought the kit, with (special) cable, instead.
>
>
> Montblack
> <http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/M-Ryerson/Expose-Yourself-to-Art-Print-C10036661.jpeg>
> Flash answer
>
>
Thanks much. Appreciate it.


--
Dudley Henriques

[Dudley Henriques[_2_]]

TheSmokingGnu wrote:
> Dudley Henriques wrote:
>> My question concerns whether or not there is any advantage in using
>> FAT16 over 32 or visa versa?
>>
>
> FAT16:
>
> Max total volume size: 2GB
> Number of files: 65,517
> Larger allocation unit size (more "waste" for files that don't take up
> full allocation units).
>
> FAT32:
>
> Max volume size: 8TB
> Number of files: 268,435,437
> Smaller allocation unit size
>
> That's it, really. Unless these memory sticks are very large (or you
> have an outrageous number of files on them) either file system will work
> just fine (as both computers are equally capable of dealing with them).
> I'd pick FAT32 if given the choice, and I think the Mac paranoia is
> probably just because Apple hasn't dealt with the FAT system for quite
> as long as PC OS' have (and so might have options for FAT32 formatting
> that are unavailable to the Mac).
>
> TheSmokingGnu

Great data. Thanks.

--
Dudley Henriques

[Phil]

On Oct 19, 8:58 pm, Bob Noel >
wrote:
> In article >,
>
> Judah > wrote:
> > (after all,
> > anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).
>
> um, no. I have a Cherokee.
>
> Bob Noel
> (goodness, please trim replies!!!)

Low-wing Mac heathen! Hi-wing Windows is the one true way to fly-
compute. All else is madness...

[Matt Whiting]

Shirl wrote:
> Judah > wrote:
>> Of course, before long, the thread will evolve into Mac vs. PC insults, which
>> will eventually transform into High-Wing/Low Wing mud-slinging (after all,
>> anyone who uses a Mac must fly a High-Wing plane, right?).
>
> Shirl: Low-Wing/Mac (since 1984)

No, Mac = low-wing, PC = high-wing, just as MS has dominant share of the
market for PCs, Cessna owns the light airplane market with high-wing
aircraft. :-)

Matt