Usb Drive File System

I purchased a 1TB USB flash drive with a file format of exFAT. I have never heard of/seen this file system type and am curious if it is fine to use for data (mostly video/music files) or reformat to a different file system. I will be using the drive with a laptop wit the following specs:

Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 20H2
Installed on ‎5/‎22/‎2021
OS build 19042.1165
Serial number PF1RK5GP
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0

 

I prefer NTFS on all my flash drives.

 

NTFS seems to be the best option, I think. I did a little research and now I know WHY I sometimes have trouble transferring files with long names onto a FAT32 system. Thanks for the advice!!

 

FAT32 also has a 4TB limit file size, that was another issue with it, couldn't carry most modern ISOs. exFAT was made to be more compatible with more systems.

 

Jumping in late...

Agree with above, unless you specifically need to share your flash drive with Macs or with very old computers, just keep everything consistent under NTFS.

Another potential mishap to watch out for: If you are using your 1TB flash drive to back up / sync with your NTFS computer drive, you should also avoid both exFAT and FAT32. Something about NTFS and exFAT / FAT32 computing time differently (click here for a much better description). Back in the day, I had this problem with my drives and MS SyncToy showing every single file an hour off from each other, and all supposedly needing to be updated, simply because of Daylight Saving switch! I suppose modern day sync apps (like FreeFileSync) will have options to compensate - but just one more potential mishap we don't need to create in the first place.

 

One question: other than NTFS having the option to compress files, what is the difference between exFAT and NTFS?

 

Thank you.