Lacie 4big Quadra User Manual - Page 20
Formatting and Partitioning, 3.4.1. File System Formats - xp
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LaCie 4big Quadra Enterprise Class • Design by Neil Poulton User Manual RAID page 20 3.4. Formatting and Partitioning The 4big 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 4big's disks. See sections 3.4.2 and 3.4.3 for formatting instructions. 3.4.1. File System Formats Windows Users TECHNICAL NOTE: The LaCie 4big Quadra comes preformatted in HFS+ for optimum performance with Mac OS X. TECHNICAL NOTE: Windows XP 32-bit does not support volumes greater than 2TB. Windows XP x64, Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit versions), and Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit versions) do, but in order to create volumes bigger than 2TB from these operating systems, you must convert the disk to GPT file system. This process is outlined in 3.4.2. 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 supported by Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. When FAT 32 is used with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 though, volume size is limited to 32GB (by the Windows partition 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, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. NTFS offers several features that are not available with FAT 32; i.e. file compression, encryption, permissions, 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, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 without resorting to help from thirdparty products. Windows File System Formats There are two possible file system format categories for Windows users: NTFS and FAT 32 (MS-DOS). See the table below for more information. Use NTFS if: ...you will be using the drive only with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 (performance 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. Maximum single file size is 4GB.