Re: OT - Dabs USB hard drive - advice please
- From: "Ye Electric Fanne Clubbe" <ian.shorrocks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 12:21:39 +0100
"Dan Holdsworth" <dan1701usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrndfd7ug.9k9.dan1701usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
com...
>
> USB "hard drives" are flash memory devices
No they don't. They use ordinary 3.5 inch or 2.5 inch hard disk drives
(depending on model). You are getting confused with the small pen like
flash drives.
> that use the utterly dire
> Microsoftian file format of VFAT.
ITYM FAT32. VFAT is merely an extension for long file names. In any case
you can format the hard disks, like any hard disk, in any format you desire
including NTFS.
> So, it is absolutely no surprise that
> they fail with monotonous regularity; the file allocation table gets
> screwed up and the things fall over.
>
There is nothing wrong with the FAT32 format as such. Indeed it turns up in
many environments due to its superb robustness and reliability. Most of the
problems with disks formatted in FAT32 are down to bugs in Microsoft
operarting systems. Even NTFS has its share of problems when used with
those systems. FAT32 is merely an extension of much older and quite robust
disk filing systems.
> The device is OK; the file format is simply buggered.
>
Maybe, Maybe not. But probably unlikely.
> So, I advise you do what I do. I use Linux all the time, and routinely
> reformat these devices to either EXT2 or EXT3 format, and make
> absolutely vertain to unmount them before I pull the device out of the
> socket.
>
EXT2 and EXT3 are a fat (!) lot of good when you use a windows operating
system. But then even Linux users are turning away from these formats.
> What that does is forces the operating system to sync the main disc with
> the flash drive, i.e. make certain the disc files are written across
> correctly.
>
You only need to do this if you have the write back cacheing turned on.
This is generally a bad idea for removeable media (and totally unnecessary
for something as fast as flash memory). Unmounting is necessary in an
esoteric operating system like Linux, but unnecessary for windows.
> VFAT is supposed to do this all the time, (frankly it is incredibly
> primitive, it is NOT a specially-designed format but one that just
> happened to do what Microsoft needed at the time) but often doesn't,
> especially if you don't unmount (eject) the disc from whatever OS you
> were using.
>
VFAT does nothing of the sort, as it is merely a long file name table. It
is the operating system that performs cache flushing not the disk file
format.
> That's why Dabs are pratting around; mild misuse of flash drives
> knackers the file format but not the drive, and Dabs are likely sick and
> tired of this pratting about.
>
I suspect that even Dabs know that it actually contains a real disk drive.
> --
> Dan Holdsworth PhD dan1701usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Ah PhD - I should have realised. It confirms that you haven't got a clue
what you're talking about.
.
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