Microsoft's One Drive Cloud Storage is now NTFS-only Compatible

[HanaBi]

Be warned that Microsoft announced a subtle change in policy concerning its One Drive Cloud storage service. For Windows 8.1 and 10 users, it will mean you will only be able to use NTFS drives locally to store and sync your data with the One Drive Cloud.

Quote - "The location where you were trying to create OneDrive folder belong to a drive with unsupported file system. To have OneDrive use a different location, click Set up OneDrive and point OneDrive to a NTFS drive. To use the existing location with OneDrive, you need to format it with NTFS then click Set up OneDrive to configure your account."

In essence, therefore, older file formats such as FAT32 and exFAT are more or less dead as far as One Drive is concerned: the latter format especially given that SD Cards and other USB storage sticks are usually pre-formatted into exFAT prior to use.


Windows Insiders with SD cards turn into OneDrive outsiders

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm curious - which systems might still be using FAT32?? I presume this is limited to Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows?

 

[HanaBi]

From memory, all three formats have been around for at least a decade or so, with NTFS first appearing around 2000 and the advent of Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

NTFS is still de rigueur these days, and offers a host of features not available on the older formats, especially in terms of security & permissions, that are relatively lacking on FAT and exFAT. The only drawback with NTFS is that it only really works on Windows Operating Systems. I don't think it works on Linux, and is only read-only on iOS. From what I've been reading in the computer press, NTFS will itself be succeeded in the next 2-3 years with a new format more in aligned to the massive storage available today.

FAT32, has been around for donkey's years, and hasn't kept up with the latest hardware - therefore it can only hold 4Gb of storage (useless as an internal drive these days), lacks good security functionality, but is compatible across most other operating systems, and are therefore more abundant as USB sticks or flash drives.

exFAT, is a kind of compromise between the two above - more security features, better compatibility, can hold more than 4Gb of storage; but will probably never succeed the NTFS stranglehold in terms of internal drive storage.

 

[Cli-Fi]

From memory, all three formats have been around for at least a decade or do, with NTFS first appearing around 2000 and the advent of Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

NTFS is still de rigueur these days, and offers a host of features not available on the older formats, especially in terms of security & permissions, that are relatively lacking on FAT and exFAT. The only drawback with NTFS is that it only really works on Windows Operating Systems. I don't think it works on Linux, and is only read-only on iOS. From what I've been reading in the computer press, NTFS will itself be succeeded in the next 2-3 years with a new format more in aligned to the massive storage available today.

FAT32, has been around for donkey's years, and hasn't kept up with the latest hardware - therefore it can only hold 4Gb of storage (useless as an internal drive these days), lacks good security functionality, but is compatible across most other operating systems, and are therefore more abundant as USB sticks or flash drives.

exFAT, is a kind of compromise between the two above - more security features, better compatibility, can hold more than 4Gb of storage; but will probably never succeed the NTFS stranglehold in terms of internal drive storage.

NTFS is my preferred format. You can easily transfer 4GB file sizes and larger. With the others you can't

 

[HanaBi]

NTFS is my preferred format. You can easily transfer 4GB file sizes and larger. With the others you can't

Indeed - it's a bit like 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems. 32 bit has a lot of limitations, not least in terms of memory (limited to 4Gb of physical RAM); whereas with 64 bit the world's your oyster.

As far as this OneDrive news is concerned, I just think MS is slowly trying to disassociate itself away from these older formats.