Sponsored Links

What might have missed the eyes of most Windows enthusiasts is that Windows Vista SP1 includes a new file system named Extended File Allocation Table(exFAT). As its name says it all, it is enhanced version of FAT32 File system. exFAT removes the 4 GB file size limitation of FAT32 and can support portable devices with capacity greater than 32 GB unlike FAT32.

exFAT is especially designed for portable storage devices as their increasing capacities rendered FAT32 useless.

The exFAT file system has a theoretical file size limit of 2⁶⁴ bytes(16 exbibytes) and can support up to 2¹⁶ files in a single directory. Using exFAT on your portable storage devices makes them more efficient than using NTFS file system as the overhead required in implementing NTFS file system is more as compared to exFAT file systems.

The exFAT file system is supported on all Windows Vista and Windows 7 PC’s. Though storage devices on exFAT file system can’t be used for ReadyBoost feature of Windows Vista.

Also, Windows XP doesn’t support exFAT file system but you can add support for exFAT in Windows XP by installing this hotfix from Microsoft.