ChatGPT 5.6: (Is fat32 a good option for a 64gb external drive) FAT32 is suitable for a 64 GB external drive only when maximum compatibility is the priority.

The main limitation is that individual files cannot exceed 4 GB. That makes FAT32 unsuitable for large videos, disk images, backups, or many game files.

Better choices:

exFAT: Best general-purpose option for Windows, macOS, Linux, TVs, consoles, and other modern devices. Supports files larger than 4 GB.

NTFS: Better for a Windows-focused drive, permissions, and reliability, but has weaker write support on some non-Windows devices.

ext4: Best for Linux-only use, but Windows and macOS do not support it natively.

FAT32: Use mainly for older hardware, firmware updates, boot media, or devices that specifically require FAT32.

For a normal 64 GB external drive, I would format it as exFAT unless the device you plan to connect it to explicitly requires FAT32.

Local hardware Gemma-4-12b: (Is fat32 a good option for a 64gb external drive) For a 64GB external drive, ExFAT is usually a better choice than FAT32.

Here is why:

The 4GB File Limit

The biggest issue with FAT32 is that a single file cannot exceed 4GB. While a 64GB drive can easily hold many thousands of small documents and photos, modern media files (high-definition videos, disk images, or large installer files) often exceed that limit. If you try to copy a 5GB file onto a FAT32 formatted drive, the copy will fail even though the drive is mostly empty.

The Solution: ExFAT

ExFAT was designed specifically for flash memory (thumb drives, SD cards, external drives). It keeps the high compatibility that makes FAT32 popular — it still works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and PlayStation — but removes the file size ceiling, allowing files of virtually any size.

Summary Recommendation

• Use ExFAT if you might store large video files, large installers, or want the most modern standard for a drive of this size.
• Use FAT32 only if you require the highest possible compatibility with very old hardware (e.g. a DSLR camera from 15 years ago or a legacy Windows XP machine) and your files will always stay under 4GB.

At that point though cord cutting en-mass was already beginning so it wasn’t even a big draw

Thanks :p

Total spend says 12k, not bad for 15 years considering how often I buy games for my friends lol

How exactly did you come to that conclusion?

Extremely conservative/risk averse and slow to implement basically anything new, unless it’s super flashy like AI lol

This is really cool in theory, I doubt my corp would let me use it though :(