1. Right-click on the external hard drive and click Format. Choose a format under File System. By default, Windows computers will choose NTFS (New Technology File System) for you because that’s the native Microsoft filing system. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a Mac, you should choose exFAT.
2. Introduction The exFAT file system is becoming increasingly popular for SD cards and other storage devices because the standard FAT32 file system limitations (such as a 4 GB file size limit) make them insufficient for storing high-resolution media files.

1. Ps3 Exfat External Hard Drive
2. External Ssd Exfat Or Ntfs
3. Exfat External Hard Drive Not Mounting Mac
4. Wd External Hard Drive Troubleshooting

Summary :

The instructions below are for Windows 10, but other versions of Windows from Windows 7 and up can also format an external drive as exFAT for use with Mac as well. Connect the drive to your.

Which allocation unit size should you use for an exFAT partition? What is the best allocation unit size for exFAT format? If you are confused about the allocation unit size exFAT, don't worry. This post from MiniTool will show you how to set the right allocation unit size for exFAT partition.

When you try to create or format a drive to exFAT with disk management tools, you are able to choose a proper allocation unit size for the exFAT partition according to your needs. However, not many users have a clear understanding about what allocation unit size is and what allocation unit size they should use for exFAT format.

Here is the full guide of NTFS vs FAT32 vs exFAT. Check out this post to know the differences.

Given that, this post will demonstrate you what allocation unit size is and how to set the best allocation unit size for exFAT format. If you are interested in this, please keep on reading.

About Allocation Unit Size

In computer file systems, a cluster or allocation unit refers to the smallest logical amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. We know that hard drives are divided into many clusters to save data on it, but how big is a cluster? Well, the size of a single cluster is decided by the allocation unit size selected when the partition is created or formatted.

So, allocation unit size is also known as cluster size, which determines the smallest chunk of disk space that holds a file.

What is allocation unit size? What is another name for a file allocation unit? How can you change allocation unit size? You will get the answers in this post.

When you create or format a partition, you can set the allocation unit size for the partition. And usually, the allocation unit size will be set as Default, as many people don't know what it is and how to set it. So they just use the default value for the allocation unit size. And some users don't even notice the allocation unit size option.

Actually, the allocation unit size or cluster size can influence your disk performance or disk space utilization. If the allocation unit size is not set properly, it may reduce the data read-write speed and waste a lot of disk space.

So it is very necessary to change cluster size reasonably. And before changing cluster size for your partition, you can check out the following contents to learn what the best allocation unit size is or what allocation unit size should you use for exFAT.

What Allocation Unit Size Should I Use for exFAT?

As mentioned before, cluster size represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be used to hold a file.

One cluster can only hold one file, but one file may take up multiple clusters depending on the file size and the cluster size. This is to say, if the file's actual size is smaller than the size of a cluster, it will still take up a cluster. If the file's actual size is more than a cluster, the file will take up two or more clusters.

Therefore, if you save large files to a drive that uses small clusters, data read-write speed will be reduced, because each file is broken into small pieces and it needs time to gather all the broken pieces and access them as one. If you save small files to file system with large clusters, a lot of disk space will be wasted. And that’s why you should set cluster size reasonably.

Ps3 Exfat External Hard Drive

So we get this conclusion: if the size of the files you want to store on the drive is large, then a large cluster size is recommended, which will increase the data read-write speed. If you plan to store lots of small files, it is advisable to set a small cluster size, which can improve the disk space utilization.

If you have no idea about your file size and unit, Default is also a good choice. It will choose a proper cluster size for your drive based on the capacity. For example, according to Microsoft, the executing standard of default cluster size for exFAT is:

• 7MB – 256MB: 4KB
• 256MB – 32GB: 32KB
• 32GB – 256TB: 128KB
• >256TB: Not supported

Which allocation unit size you should use for exFAT format? Now you should know that it depends on the size of the file you will store on the exFAT drive. Besides, if you want to learn more information about the default cluster sizes for other file systems, you can check out this post from Microsoft: Default cluster size for NTFS, FAT, and exFAT.

How to Change Allocation Unit Size for exFAT

Now you should it is necessary to choose a proper allocation unit size for your exFAT, NTFS to FAT32 partition. If you want to change cluster size to improve your disk performance or enhance the disk space utilization, you can try the following two methods to change allocation unit size for exFAT partition.

Change Allocation Unit Size exFATwith MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is an all-in-one partition manager, which can help you manage NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT partitions in a simple way.

As a powerful partition manager for Windows users, it can help to move/resize partition, format partition, extend partition, copy disk/partition, convert NTFS to FAT32, convert MBR to GPT and check file system and so on.

With the Format Partition feature in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can clear all the partition data and then reconfigure parameters such as partition label, file system and cluster size for the specified partition. So, by formatting the drive, you can reset the allocation unit size exFAT so as to meet your actual demands.

Here are detailed steps:

Step 1.Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition by clicking the following button. Then install and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.

Step 2.Then select the partition which needs to reset cluster size and choose Format Partition feature from the left panel.

Step 3.On the pop-up window, you can set partition label, file system and cluster size for the selected partition. Set the file system to exFAT and choose a cluster size from the drop-down menu according to your needs and then click OK.

Step 4.Preview the changes you just made. At last, click the Apply button to allow the change.

Change Allocation Unit Size exFATwith Command Prompt

Command Prompt, is also known as CMD, is the command-line interpreter available in Windows operating system. It can help you perform a lot of operations to solve various Windows problem and manage disks and partitions.

If you are familiar with Windows 10 Command Prompt, You can also use Command Prompt to format your partition and change its allocation unit size with commands. Just follow the steps below.

Step 1: Type cmd in the Windows 10 Cortana search box and right click the best match Command Prompt to select Run as administrator.

Step 2: In the Command Prompt window, type diskpart and hit Enter.

Step 3: then type the following commands one by one and hit Enter after each:

• List disk
• Select disk * (* refers to the number of the target disk or partition)
• List partition
• Select partition *
• Format fs=exFAT unit=32k (you can just change the 32k to other allocation unit sizes you want.)

After the above commands are executed successfully, you can store files to the exFAT partition with the new allocation unit size.

You may be interested in this post: 10 Command Prompt Tricks that Every Windows User Should Know

Bottom Line

After reading this post, now you should know what allocation unit size you should use for exFAT partition and how to change exFAT allocation unit size or cluster size with two different methods.

If you have any good idea on allocation unit size for exFAT format or if you have any question about how to change cluster size exFAT with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition, you can leave a message on the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].

Allocation Unit Size exFAT FAQ

While most external hard drives are already designed to work for Windows computers, there are times when you need to reformat one. You might want a drive that works with Macs and PCs, or maybe you want to partition it, which will split it up into two different formats. Here’s how to format an external hard drive for Windows 10 or partition it.

How to Format a Hard Drive for Windows 10

Note: Formatting your drive will erase all the existing files on it. So if your external hard drive already has important files on it, make sure to back them up before proceeding.

1. Connect your external hard drive to a Windows computer. If your external hard drive is working, your computer will automatically detect it, and the drive will appear under Devices and Drives next to your internal drives in the This PC window. You can also find it in the left sidebar of File Explorer.

   Note: If you already used your external hard drive on a PC, be sure to back up any files on it. Formatting your drive will wipe out all the data in it.

2. Right-click on the external hard drive and click Format.
3. Choose a format under File System. By default, Windows computers will choose NTFS (New Technology File System) for you because that’s the native Microsoft filing system. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a Mac, you should choose exFAT.

   Note: The exFAT file system only works on Mac 10.6.5 or later, and Windows XP SP3 or later.

4. Check the Quick Format box, and click Start. Depending on the size of the drive, and if there are files to be deleted in it, this can take a few to several minutes to finish.
5. Click OK when the Format Complete pop-up screen appears.

Now you have a hard drive formatted for Windows, but what if you wanted to use it with Mac computers also? One easy way to have a hard drive that works with Mac and Windows is by partitioning it. This means you’re splitting the drive into two formats, one for Mac and one for PC. Here’s how to do that:

External Ssd Exfat Or Ntfs

How to Partition an External Drivein Windows 10

1. Open the Windows search box, type “diskmgmt.msc,” and hit enter. The Windows Search Box is the magnifying button icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen.
2. Right-click on your external hard drive and select Shrink Volume. If this option is not available to you, reformat the drive to NTFS and try again.
3. Enter an amount of space that you want to shrink your volume by. The remaining space will be displayed in megabytes.
4. Then click Shrink. This will split the hard drive, with one part becoming unallocated space.
5. Right-click the unallocated space on your drive and select New Simple Volume.
6. Click Next.
7. Then indicate how big you want the partition to be. If you want to use the rest of the space, enter the maximum disk space indicated above it. Then click Next.
8. Next, choose what drive letter you want to use. Letters that have already been assigned to other drives will not be on this list, so don’t worry if there are missing letters. Just choose among the drive letters still available.
9. Go to File System and choose a format. Windows will choose NTFS for you because that’s Microsoft’s native filing system. But if you want the external hard drive to also work on a Mac, you should choose exFAT, which is an upgraded version of FAT32.

   Note: The exFAT file system only works on Mac 10.6.5 or later, and Windows XP SP3 or later.

10. Check the Quick Format box, and click Next.
11. Finally, click Finish. If a pop-up appears telling you to format the disk, click Format Disk. After that, the newly formatted disk will open automatically.

Partitioning your external hard drive will enable you to perform tasks in one section without affecting the rest of the drive. If you want to know how to format a hard drive for Mac, check out our previous article here.

Exfat External Hard Drive Not Mounting Mac

Wd External Hard Drive Troubleshooting