USB Stick Format

jaystarter
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USB Stick Format

Post by jaystarter »

I am trying to format a 16gb usb flash drive to FAT. this is to copy music to play in car entertainment system. I tried formatting to FAT 32 and although individual mp3 files will play the full list of folders containing the mp3's wont show. I have another usb stick and that has a couple of music folders plus other folders on it and when plugged in shows and can browse the folders. I checked properties on this and it says plain FAT. To format on my Windows 7 PC the only options given are FAT 32, NTFS, EX FAT, but no plain FAT. Is there a way to format the new USB to just FAT?
Jeff

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John Gray
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Re: USB Stick Format

Post by John Gray »

The simple answer is "No".

The more complicated answer could be:
"For Windows NT and Windows 2000, the cluster size of FAT16 volumes between 2 GB and 4 GB is 64 KB. This cluster size is known to create compatibility issues with some applications. For this reason, it is recommended that FAT32 be used on volumes that are between 2 GB and 4 GB. One of the known compatibility issues involves setup programs that do not compute volume free space properly on a volume with 64 KB clusters and will not run because of a perceived lack of free space. The Format program in Windows 2000 displays a warning and asks for a confirmation before formatting a volume with 64 KB clusters."

If you are prepared to give up much of the USB disk space, you could create a 4 GB partition on it and format that as FAT-16. Try it and see!
John Gray

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jaystarter
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Location: Southeast England

Re: USB Stick Format

Post by jaystarter »

Thank you for that. I "sort of" understand but still confused so I will play about with different formats, partitioning etc and see what I can "mess up."
Jeff

jaystarter
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Re: USB Stick Format

Post by jaystarter »

So I took the 16gb USB flash drive and used Windows to format to FAT32 (having done this originally) copied music MP3's 5.07GB in 76 folders, 1137 files as done originally. Plugged into car radio usb port and everything appeared, can browse individual folders or files, in other words the mp3 tags are being recognised. I can only assume I did something wrong on the first try.
Jeff

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BobH
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Re: USB Stick Format

Post by BobH »

Thanks for the update, Jeff!
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