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exFAT can be read on most newer OSes (Windows XP/2003 needs update KB955704, Windows Vista needs SP1). The only downside less compatibility than FAT32. Theoretically it has smaller footprint than NTFS, no journaling (can unplug device without losing data), and it can be read on OS X 10.6.5 (NTFS is read-only unless you modify the fstab). exFAT - Microsoft proprietary extension to FAT32 designed for flash drives, allows for files larger than 4GB, and much larger partition size than FAT32. There are third party tools that can create larger Fat32 partitions, most operating systems support partitions up to 2TB. It is a choice by Microsoft to promote NTFS, which is generally more efficient when working with large partitions. In addition, Windows can't create FAT32 partitions over 32GB, but it can still read/write to them (Windows 98 could create up to 128GB FAT32 partitions). Its only notable limitation is that any single file can't be larger than 4GB. FAT32 - It is currently the default file system for USB drives and flash cards smaller than 32GB. The root folder can manage a maximum of 512 entries. It uses larger default cluster sizes (up to 32kb) compared to FAT32 (4kb) to increase speed but reduce efficiency. FAT16 - an older format limited to 4GB size. With this, choosing the right file system when formatting your drive becomes very relevant, and below are the pros/cons to using the most common types. Large USB flash drives are becoming very popular as storage and backup media.