What is the best flash file format to use

My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

default wrote:
My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

ExFAT is more "flash friendly".

It tries to deal with the larger flash page
sizes a bit better. And avoids "nuisance writes"
when it can.

FAT32 on the other hand, is more compatible with
IoT devices. Not every manufacturer would want to
pay an extra licensing fee just to support ExFAT.
Maybe the TV doesn't have ExFAT support.

FAT32 has a 4GB file size limitation. Some DVD ISO
files might not fit. But don't worry - using
7ZIP or other ZIP programs, it's possible to
make a segmented archive, and break a large
file down into 4GB chunks. And then those
will fit on the FAT32 partition. I've used that
a few times to carry 30GB files on a FAT32 stick
(sneakernet).

Paul

On 08/15/2018 12:52 PM, default wrote:
My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

Fat32 is limited to files less than 4GB. So a good movie might exceed
that. NTFS has, for the most part, no limitation.

On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:49:59 -0400, Paul wrote:

default wrote:
My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

ExFAT is more "flash friendly".

It tries to deal with the larger flash page
sizes a bit better. And avoids "nuisance writes"
when it can.

FAT32 on the other hand, is more compatible with
IoT devices. Not every manufacturer would want to
pay an extra licensing fee just to support ExFAT.
Maybe the TV doesn't have ExFAT support.

FAT32 has a 4GB file size limitation. Some DVD ISO
files might not fit. But don't worry - using
7ZIP or other ZIP programs, it's possible to
make a segmented archive, and break a large
file down into 4GB chunks. And then those
will fit on the FAT32 partition. I've used that
a few times to carry 30GB files on a FAT32 stick
(sneakernet).

As long as she doesn't expect to plug the drive into her TV and play a
movie that's been chunked up by an archiving program. ;-)

default wrote:

My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it.

Put all the data files onto a USB HDD or a USB flash drive. The USB
port is more robust regarding repeated insertions and extractions than
are card readers; however, severe enough abuse can break anything.

It is not upgradable.

Yes, it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl622WgaWI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSlsmwIS6Yo

Do a search on Youtube for "acer aspire 1 notebook yourmodel" to see
if someone shows you how to replace the HDD, ram, etc.

By the way, if you want to up the system RAM, check the notebook's specs
first. It may have a limitation on the maximum memory it can support.
There may be a maximum size for partitions on the HDD (or SSD if you
want to boost the netbook's speed) determined by which operating system
and which file system is used on the netbook but which you did not
mention.

It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

FAT32 has a limit of 4GB for filesize. How big are the movies? You
sure the TV won't accept NTFS or exFAT format? No one can check for you
because you didn't mention the brand and model of your TV. Its manual
might tell you or you check its online specs. exFAT is a Microsoft
proprietary format. Anyone that uses it has to pay a royalty to
Microsoft; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT (and the Adoption
section about the fee). NTFS is also Microsoft proprietary but no one
has to pay Microsoft to use it.

You could use FLV format; however, Adobe is dropping Flash support in
2020 as they are discontinuing FLASH (and all the web browsers have
already dropped Flash, made it optional, or will soon drop it). You
could get a player that handles .flv files but eventually it may also
drop Flash support (unless that's the only format the player handles -
but you'll have to hope the author maintains that product for as long as
you want the movies in FLV format.) FLV is a proprietary format by
Adobe. FLV and MP4 are containers. You need to make sure you have the
codecs used by the video within to decode the movie. As I recall, FLV
is about 20% bigger than MP4 with the same video content using the same
codec within. MP4 is an ISO standardized format in the MPEG-4 family.
Support for MP4 is better than FLV. You might want to play the movies
now on the netbook but you might later want to play them on a
smartphone, too, or elsewhere. You'll also need to check what file
format(s) your TV support(s).

You don't say how you are obtaining the movies: what format the movie
file uses and how you are capturing it or from where you are ripping it.
Use whatever format they came in unless you need to convert for
compatibility with the device where it gets played. Converting them to
another format results in loss of quality.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

Yes, if the app allows it. Even if you install the app onto the flash
drive, many apps still store some of their files on the OS partition.
For example, many files are put onto C: when you install MS Office
somewhere else.

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

There's no place inside the laptop for the card to insert. Space is at
a premium inside a netbook, and having space for a card that may not be
inserted means a bulkier case. Just remember to remove the card before
moving; else, not only might the card get damaged but the slot could
also get damaged and that's the end of using that card reader until you
replace it. No hardware can survive abusive users. Not even
industrial-grade computers can surive all abuse.

When the wife breaks the card and/or the reader -- and *she* has to pay
for the replacement card (after losing the movies on the broken one) or
*she* pays for the reader repair -- she'll be more careful thereafter.
It's her netbook, so she's the one responsible for how she handles it.

Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:49:59 -0400, Paul wrote:

default wrote:
My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)
ExFAT is more "flash friendly".

It tries to deal with the larger flash page
sizes a bit better. And avoids "nuisance writes"
when it can.

FAT32 on the other hand, is more compatible with
IoT devices. Not every manufacturer would want to
pay an extra licensing fee just to support ExFAT.
Maybe the TV doesn't have ExFAT support.

FAT32 has a 4GB file size limitation. Some DVD ISO
files might not fit. But don't worry - using
7ZIP or other ZIP programs, it's possible to
make a segmented archive, and break a large
file down into 4GB chunks. And then those
will fit on the FAT32 partition. I've used that
a few times to carry 30GB files on a FAT32 stick
(sneakernet).

As long as she doesn't expect to plug the drive into her TV and play a
movie that's been chunked up by an archiving program. ;-)

Yeah, zip files don't play so well.

They need to make the TV more clever.

Paul

"default" wrote in message
...
My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

The main advantage of exFAT (or NTFS) over FAT32 is that it can accommodate
files larger than 4 GB. If she downloads a movie file which is larger than 4
GB (unlikely but possible) it cannot be written to a FAT32 drive, no matter
how much free space there is.

Some TVs and DVD players can handle both FAT32 and exFAT (but not NTFS);
others are really picky and can only handle FAT32.

In article , Paul
wrote:

As long as she doesn't expect to plug the drive into her TV and play a
movie that's been chunked up by an archiving program. ;-)

Yeah, zip files don't play so well.

they do via vlc, but zipping a movie is silly.

They need to make the TV more clever.

yep.

In article , NY
wrote:

The main advantage of exFAT (or NTFS) over FAT32 is that it can accommodate
files larger than 4 GB. If she downloads a movie file which is larger than 4
GB (unlikely but possible) it cannot be written to a FAT32 drive, no matter
how much free space there is.

actually, that's quite common for 4k video and relatively common for
1080p.

Some TVs and DVD players can handle both FAT32 and exFAT (but not NTFS);
others are really picky and can only handle FAT32.

most should handle exfat these days.

"Paul" wrote in message
news
But don't worry - using
7ZIP or other ZIP programs, it's possible to
make a segmented archive, and break a large
file down into 4GB chunks. And then those
will fit on the FAT32 partition. I've used that
a few times to carry 30GB files on a FAT32 stick
(sneakernet).

As long as you have space on the PC's internal drive (which I presume is
NTFS) you can download the file and then break it into bite (byte?) sized
chunks.

But how you then expand that to play it on the TV is another matter - I
don't think you can do it.

"nospam" wrote in message
...
In article , Paul
wrote:

As long as she doesn't expect to plug the drive into her TV and play a
movie that's been chunked up by an archiving program. ;-)

Yeah, zip files don't play so well.

they do via vlc

I didn't know VLC could play a zip file which contained one of the file
formats that it can play. I'll have to try it some time to prove it...

but zipping a movie is silly.

Unless you are using the zip program mainly as a means of chopping the file
into chunks, rather than as a means of reducing its size.

In article , NY
wrote:

As long as she doesn't expect to plug the drive into her TV and play a
movie that's been chunked up by an archiving program. ;-)

Yeah, zip files don't play so well.

they do via vlc

I didn't know VLC could play a zip file which contained one of the file
formats that it can play. I'll have to try it some time to prove it...

i didn't either until earlier today.

but zipping a movie is silly.

Unless you are using the zip program mainly as a means of chopping the file
into chunks, rather than as a means of reducing its size.

a very strange use of zip, and that would be better done with .rar,
which vlc also plays.

there is also no reason to chop a file into smaller chunks. disk space
is cheap and plentiful.

On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:36:51 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

default wrote:

My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it.

Put all the data files onto a USB HDD or a USB flash drive. The USB
port is more robust regarding repeated insertions and extractions than
are card readers; however, severe enough abuse can break anything.

It is not upgradable.

Yes, it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRl622WgaWI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSlsmwIS6Yo

Believe me, I checked that out. The model she has, has about eight
screws holding the bottom on and no other trap-doors or removable
appendages like a battery. I Googled it and the info I found said HDD
memory is soldered in. A114-31 series.


Do a search on Youtube for "acer aspire 1 notebook yourmodel" to see
if someone shows you how to replace the HDD, ram, etc.

By the way, if you want to up the system RAM, check the notebook's specs
first. It may have a limitation on the maximum memory it can support.
There may be a maximum size for partitions on the HDD (or SSD if you
want to boost the netbook's speed) determined by which operating system
and which file system is used on the netbook but which you did not
mention.

It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

FAT32 has a limit of 4GB for filesize. How big are the movies? You
sure the TV won't accept NTFS or exFAT format? No one can check for you
because you didn't mention the brand and model of your TV. Its manual
might tell you or you check its online specs. exFAT is a Microsoft
proprietary format. Anyone that uses it has to pay a royalty to
Microsoft; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT (and the Adoption
section about the fee). NTFS is also Microsoft proprietary but no one
has to pay Microsoft to use it.

I haven't tried on her Samsung TV but tried it on mine and it only
plays FAT32. She lives ~120 miles from me, so I deal with her
concerns when I'm at her house...

You could use FLV format; however, Adobe is dropping Flash support in
2020 as they are discontinuing FLASH (and all the web browsers have
already dropped Flash, made it optional, or will soon drop it). You
could get a player that handles .flv files but eventually it may also
drop Flash support (unless that's the only format the player handles -
but you'll have to hope the author maintains that product for as long as
you want the movies in FLV format.) FLV is a proprietary format by
Adobe. FLV and MP4 are containers. You need to make sure you have the
codecs used by the video within to decode the movie. As I recall, FLV
is about 20% bigger than MP4 with the same video content using the same
codec within. MP4 is an ISO standardized format in the MPEG-4 family.
Support for MP4 is better than FLV. You might want to play the movies
now on the netbook but you might later want to play them on a
smartphone, too, or elsewhere. You'll also need to check what file
format(s) your TV support(s).

My Samsung TV plays flash cards but is not a smart TV and I have no
control over the video player. I do have VLC on a "TV-stick" and can
play some of the formats the TV refuses to play natively. Most of
what I get is AVI MKV or MP4 and the TV will play them.

You don't say how you are obtaining the movies: what format the movie
file uses and how you are capturing it or from where you are ripping it.
Use whatever format they came in unless you need to convert for
compatibility with the device where it gets played. Converting them to
another format results in loss of quality.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

Yes, if the app allows it. Even if you install the app onto the flash
drive, many apps still store some of their files on the OS partition.
For example, many files are put onto C: when you install MS Office
somewhere else.

Yeah, I have to take the time to see how her machine is set up. I
know her downloads go to the C drive and that has to stop...

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

There's no place inside the laptop for the card to insert. Space is at
a premium inside a netbook, and having space for a card that may not be
inserted means a bulkier case. Just remember to remove the card before
moving; else, not only might the card get damaged but the slot could
also get damaged and that's the end of using that card reader until you
replace it. No hardware can survive abusive users. Not even
industrial-grade computers can surive all abuse.

When the wife breaks the card and/or the reader -- and *she* has to pay
for the replacement card (after losing the movies on the broken one) or
*she* pays for the reader repair -- she'll be more careful thereafter.
It's her netbook, so she's the one responsible for how she handles it.

We have a good lasting cooperative and complimentary relationship, it
is more important to me than things. I'm not too sure I'd put up with
a card reader that has the card protruding like that, so I won't try
to impose on her except as a suggestion. Laptops are easier to find
than women that are "keepers" IMO.

On Wed, 15 Aug 2018 12:52:17 -0400, default
wrote:

My wife has one of the Acer Aspire 1 net books. The C drive only has
32 GB of storage and Windoze uses most of it. It is not upgradable.
It has superb graphics and she uses it to watch Netflix without being
tied down to the TV set.

She has added two 64 GB flash cards for storage. I currently have
them both formatted as FAT32 drives.

Are there good reasons to use NTFS or exFAT instead, and what are the
reasons?

The advantage to FAT32 is that if there is a movie, she can just
unplug the flash drive and plug it into her TV to watch the movie on
the big screen with friends.

Can applications be loaded to the flash drives (and run normally) as
if they were on the C drive?

There is also an unused card reader on the machine, but unlike some
laptops the standard size SD card it takes, sticks out by ~ one half,
and it might get broken off the way she treats the machine if it has
to live there 24/7. (or I have to find a half-length SD to micro SD
card adapter for it)

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll leave at least one of her flash drives FAT32 to stay compatible
with her TV. It is rare that we encounter movies over 4GB. I can
split movies into parts or burn a DVD if I want it badly enough.

I was more concerned with the file systems utility to the laptop
itself than just to play movies. It's her machine though, and from
what I see, it gets used mainly for some web surfing, simple games,
email, and movies. It isn't a serious computer, but it does have a
pretty good display, and long battery life so it is ideal for it's
use.

It's not like it has to do discrete Fourier transform analysis on sine
waves from a radio telescope or something hinky like that.

default wrote:

Believe me, I checked that out. The model she has,
has about eight
screws holding the bottom on and no other trap-doors or removable
appendages like a battery. I Googled it and the info I found said HDD
memory is soldered in. A114-31 series.

Ah, finally more details. I found a Youtube video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62O7bWGkjxY

That's on the A114-31-C4HH which might be close to your netbook's
configuration. The author says the RAM and HDD are soldered onto the
mothboard. If soldering is with leads (the component is laid onto the
PCB with leads going through blivets and soldered on the opposite side)
then you could replace the components if you had the tools (solder iron,
wick, solder sucker) and the expertise; however, finding a replacement
drive would be very tough as the drives are probably special order by
Acer, so they're the only ones with the drives (which they likely won't
sell individually as the bigger drives are used to "drive" consumers to
buy the pricier netbook configurations).

I haven't tried on her Samsung TV but tried it on mine and it only
plays FAT32. She lives ~120 miles from me, so I deal with her
concerns when I'm at her house...

If she gave you the brand and model of her TV, you could look up its
specs and read its manual before visiting her.

My Samsung TV plays flash cards but is not a smart TV and I have no
control over the video player. I do have VLC on a "TV-stick" and can
play some of the formats the TV refuses to play natively. Most of
what I get is AVI MKV or MP4 and the TV will play them.

There are media players you can hook up to the TV. I've not
investigated those since I just make sure the next TV has got the smarts
to do what I want; however, it seems the media players are more flexible
for features and file formats.

We have a good lasting cooperative and complimentary relationship, it
is more important to me than things. I'm not too sure I'd put up with
a card reader that has the card protruding like that, so I won't try
to impose on her except as a suggestion. Laptops are easier to find
than women that are "keepers" IMO.

120 miles apart means each of you get to mostly see just the better half
of the other half.

From the Youtube video, at that time the netbook only cost $200. If she
breaks the card reader (the card can be replaced albeit losing the
contents of the old card), well, there's the USB ports for using either
HDDs or flash drive that way.