Hacking Downside of formatting USB from NTFS to FAT32?

[HNKii]

I am recently considering formatting my USB disk from NTFS to FAT32, since neek2o only supports FAT32.
But are there any obvious downsides of FAT32, like lower read speed or the like?
(I already know about the 4-GB size limit, and I'm fine with that)

 

[Cyan]

No downsides.
To fasten the read speed, don't use very small clusters (8 or 16k), instead format as 32k/cluster.
64k/cluster is even better, but some homebrew don't support it (DIOS MIOS for example).

 

[migles]

there is more "upsides" than downsides
but in a fat32 system you can't have files larger than 4gb. thats the only downside

ntfs sucks specially when its proprietary system...

 

[Foxi4]

As said above, there are no downsides other than the filesize limit/partition size limit (although I doubt you'll be sporting a 2TB drive anyways), and considering the fact that you can keep all your Wii and GC games, homebrew and media on one drive, it's the best solution there is.

 

[HNKii]

No downsides.
To fasten the read speed, don't use very small clusters (8 or 16k), instead format as 32k/cluster.
64k/cluster is even better, but some homebrew don't support it (DIOS MIOS for example).

Thanks. Does DML require non-64k cluster on SD card?

Edit: Any ways to format w/o losing the data inside? I know I'm a bit too lazy for this but why skip a shortcut when there is one? XD

 

[Foxi4]

Thanks. Does DML require non-64k cluster on SD card?

Edit: Any ways to format w/o losing the data inside? I know I'm a bit too lazy for this but why skip a shortcut when there is one? XD

None that I know of and more than likely none that are a 100% lossless - you'll do yourself a favour if you backup your data or at least divide the operation into a few steps:

• Resize your NTFS partition to unallocate free space
• Allocate all the free space into a new Primary FAT32 partition
• Move all your data there
• Delete the NTFS partition
• Expand the FAT32 partition over the newly-created unallocated space

EASUS Partition Master will do all of this in one batch operation, it's very handy and free. The only possible downside is that you need at little over 50% free space to do this within one physical drive, if you don't have enough space, you'll have to backup to a different drive.

As far as I know, DML does not support 64k clusters, but I'm not a 100% sure. If you require so much capacity on the drive that smaller clusters won't cut it, divide the drive into two FAT32 partitions - this way you won't lose any capacity and you'll have all the convenience FAT32 offers... twice!

 

[Cyan]

You can use 64k/cluster or less on SD card with DIOS MIOS Lite
only the USB version (DIOS MIOS) require 32k or less.

My SD card is 32k/cluster and I find it fast enough. It depends on your SD card access speed. If it's really slow you might want the 64k/cluster, but loading time in games is really correct for my need.
I don't need instant access and no charging time between maps in mario, etc. just be a little patient

Like foxi said, you can move/resize partitions, but if I remember well it's taking a lot of times. It's easier to use a second hard drive to transfer all your content and format the drive.