Exfat For Windows 10
Format external hard drive to exFAT using Disk Management You can easily change an external hard drive to exFAT file system via Disk Management by following the steps listed below (supposed the operating system is Windows 10): 1. Connect the external hard drive to your computer and make sure that it can be detected by Windows.
- Download Exfat For Windows 10
- Exfat Format For Windows 10
- Exfat Driver For Windows 10
- Exfat Windows 10 Install
Summary :
Which allocation unit size should you use for an exFAT partition? What is the best allocation unit size for exFAT format? If you are confused about the allocation unit size exFAT, don't worry. This post from MiniTool will show you how to set the right allocation unit size for exFAT partition.
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When you try to create or format a drive to exFAT with disk management tools, you are able to choose a proper allocation unit size for the exFAT partition according to your needs. However, not many users have a clear understanding about what allocation unit size is and what allocation unit size they should use for exFAT format.
Here is the full guide of NTFS vs FAT32 vs exFAT. Check out this post to know the differences.
Given that, this post will demonstrate you what allocation unit size is and how to set the best allocation unit size for exFAT format. If you are interested in this, please keep on reading.
Download Exfat For Windows 10
About Allocation Unit Size
In computer file systems, a cluster or allocation unit refers to the smallest logical amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. We know that hard drives are divided into many clusters to save data on it, but how big is a cluster? Well, the size of a single cluster is decided by the allocation unit size selected when the partition is created or formatted.
So, allocation unit size is also known as cluster size, which determines the smallest chunk of disk space that holds a file.
What is allocation unit size? What is another name for a file allocation unit? How can you change allocation unit size? You will get the answers in this post.
When you create or format a partition, you can set the allocation unit size for the partition. And usually, the allocation unit size will be set as Default, as many people don't know what it is and how to set it. So they just use the default value for the allocation unit size. And some users don't even notice the allocation unit size option.
Actually, the allocation unit size or cluster size can influence your disk performance or disk space utilization. If the allocation unit size is not set properly, it may reduce the data read-write speed and waste a lot of disk space.
So it is very necessary to change cluster size reasonably. And before changing cluster size for your partition, you can check out the following contents to learn what the best allocation unit size is or what allocation unit size should you use for exFAT.
What Allocation Unit Size Should I Use for exFAT?
As mentioned before, cluster size represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be used to hold a file.
One cluster can only hold one file, but one file may take up multiple clusters depending on the file size and the cluster size. This is to say, if the file's actual size is smaller than the size of a cluster, it will still take up a cluster. If the file's actual size is more than a cluster, the file will take up two or more clusters.
Therefore, if you save large files to a drive that uses small clusters, data read-write speed will be reduced, because each file is broken into small pieces and it needs time to gather all the broken pieces and access them as one. If you save small files to file system with large clusters, a lot of disk space will be wasted. And that’s why you should set cluster size reasonably.
So we get this conclusion: if the size of the files you want to store on the drive is large, then a large cluster size is recommended, which will increase the data read-write speed. If you plan to store lots of small files, it is advisable to set a small cluster size, which can improve the disk space utilization.
If you have no idea about your file size and unit, Default is also a good choice. It will choose a proper cluster size for your drive based on the capacity. For example, according to Microsoft, the executing standard of default cluster size for exFAT is:
- 7MB – 256MB: 4KB
- 256MB – 32GB: 32KB
- 32GB – 256TB: 128KB
- >256TB: Not supported
Which allocation unit size you should use for exFAT format? Now you should know that it depends on the size of the file you will store on the exFAT drive. Besides, if you want to learn more information about the default cluster sizes for other file systems, you can check out this post from Microsoft: Default cluster size for NTFS, FAT, and exFAT.
How to Change Allocation Unit Size for exFAT
Now you should it is necessary to choose a proper allocation unit size for your exFAT, NTFS to FAT32 partition. If you want to change cluster size to improve your disk performance or enhance the disk space utilization, you can try the following two methods to change allocation unit size for exFAT partition.
Change Allocation Unit Size exFATwith MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is an all-in-one partition manager, which can help you manage NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT partitions in a simple way.
As a powerful partition manager for Windows users, it can help to move/resize partition, format partition, extend partition, copy disk/partition, convert NTFS to FAT32, convert MBR to GPT and check file system and so on.
With the Format Partition feature in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can clear all the partition data and then reconfigure parameters such as partition label, file system and cluster size for the specified partition. So, by formatting the drive, you can reset the allocation unit size exFAT so as to meet your actual demands.
Here are detailed steps:
Step 1.Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by clicking the following button. Then install and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.
Step 2.Then select the partition which needs to reset cluster size and choose Format Partition feature from the left panel.
Step 3.On the pop-up window, you can set partition label, file system and cluster size for the selected partition. Set the file system to exFAT and choose a cluster size from the drop-down menu according to your needs and then click OK.
Step 4.Preview the changes you just made. At last, click the Apply button to allow the change.
Change Allocation Unit Size exFATwith Command Prompt
Command Prompt, is also known as CMD, is the command-line interpreter available in Windows operating system. It can help you perform a lot of operations to solve various Windows problem and manage disks and partitions.
If you are familiar with Windows 10 Command Prompt, You can also use Command Prompt to format your partition and change its allocation unit size with commands. Just follow the steps below.
Step 1: Type cmd in the Windows 10 Cortana search box and right click the best match Command Prompt to select Run as administrator.
Step 2: In the Command Prompt window, type diskpart and hit Enter.
Step 3: then type the following commands one by one and hit Enter after each:
- List disk
- Select disk * (* refers to the number of the target disk or partition)
- List partition
- Select partition *
- Format fs=exFAT unit=32k (you can just change the 32k to other allocation unit sizes you want.)
After the above commands are executed successfully, you can store files to the exFAT partition with the new allocation unit size.
You may be interested in this post: 10 Command Prompt Tricks that Every Windows User Should Know
Bottom Line
After reading this post, now you should know what allocation unit size you should use for exFAT partition and how to change exFAT allocation unit size or cluster size with two different methods.
If you have any good idea on allocation unit size for exFAT format or if you have any question about how to change cluster size exFAT with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can leave a message on the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].
Allocation Unit Size exFAT FAQ
This is an unknown hidden function in Windows system, even Microsoft official has never mentioned any relevant information. Before that, it was generally believed that exFAT could not be used as a system disk to run the system, but now it will be history.
Personal daily main machine disk partition preview screenshot:
New features brought by exFAT:
Optimize the volume bitmap management and page block allocation to improve the read-write speed of flash storage media
No volume logging, reduce the number of read and write operations of flash memory to prolong its service life
No permission management mechanism is the highest authority by default, and the management system file will no longer report insufficient permission error
Windows to go has stronger interaction ability and wider compatibility with platforms such as MAC
Allows allocation of larger clusters to improve IO performance
Support TFAT protection mechanism (win8 only)
ECC metadata only
matters needing attention:
ExFAT startup only supports Windows 8 and above systems, and windows 7 and below systems do not support exFAT startup, so there is no need to try again.
ExFAT is recommended to be used with flash disk such as solid state disk or U disk when installing and starting windows system. Traditional mechanical hard disk is not recommended unless it is specially needed.
In order to ensure the boot efficiency, it is recommended to use legacy boot first. The booting time of UEFI is slightly longer than that of BIOS. If you must use UEFI boot, please turn off safe boot (although it can be started without turning off, it is very slow! )。
In order to ensure the startup efficiency and version compatibility of the system, it is recommended to install the system in the traditional mode. The signed exFAT driver needs to be replaced manually for a higher version of 64 bit system, otherwise the startup time will be very long (win10 does not replace the driver for two hours, and the replacement drive starts for 20 seconds). For 32-bit systems, there is no such problem,
The startup time of the higher version system is always slightly longer than that of the lower version system. For those students who are particularly concerned about the startup speed, please use the lower version system to start (minimum 7850).
Although the startup time of exFAT may be a little longer, it does not run slowly after entering the system.
In fact, this is caused by the poor optimization of exFAT startup by Windows startup manager, but a special method can be used to speed up the startup.
Installation idea:
Since there has always been a bug in Microsoft Sysprep, the original system will be stuck in the system OOBE interface when it is started, so the original system will be directly installed into the exFAT partition, and an error will be reported in the system OOBE interface, and the initialization cannot be completed.
The correct installation method is to install the system in the NTFS partition and manually complete the OOBE initialization phase and enter the desktop. After that, the whole system is packaged and backed up as wim or ESD files under winpe (ghost cannot be used) and then decompressed and released to the exFAT partition to start.
For the installed and available system, you can directly back up WIM / ESD in winpe, format the original NTFS volume as exFAT, and then release the system files to test startup. If there is a problem, you can manually restore it to the state before the test.
Preparation tools:
MSDN original system:
Download link
Exfat Format For Windows 10
Micro PE Toolbox:
Download link
ExFAT driver for 64 bit system:
Download link
Operation steps:
1. Download the windows system image to be installed. Use the latest Windows 10 v1903 64 bit version as an example. If you have already downloaded, you can skip this step. It is recommended to choose win10 v1903 64 bit version, which adds support for exFAT VHD (x) startup.
Exfat Driver For Windows 10
2. Download the Windows PE maintenance system. Take the latest micro PE toolbox v2.0 64 bit version as an example. If you have already downloaded it, you can skip this step. It is recommended to select the 64 bit version of wepe V2.0, which adds support for nvme disks.