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Thread: Changing FAT32 Cluster Size

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    Changing FAT32 Cluster Size

    I am using a pen drive that I use exclusively for storing relatively small files like text, PDF etc, small images etc.

    Recently, I've replaced a 4GB drive with a 16GB one. After shifting everything from one drive to the other, I noticed that the 16GB drive uses more than 300MB of disk space. I presume this is caused by the size of the cluster sizes: the size of the cluster size for the 4GB drive is half that of the 16GB drive.

    I was wondering if there is any way I could reduce the size of clusters under FAT32. I am pretty sure this can be done on NTFS, but I rather leave this particular drive as FAT32 for now.

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    Re: Changing FAT32 Cluster Size

    Should be able to do it by formatting the drive in Windows, just got to My Computer, right click the drive, select format, and choose the cluster size you want (maybe called 'allocation unit size'). I'm looking at this in vista, which doesn't have an option to format as FAT32 so not sure it'll work, but worth a look. I'm guessing you can't do it without formatting, but since it's a pen drive it shouldn't be a problem to format anyway.
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    Re: Changing FAT32 Cluster Size

    Thanks. I do have the option of FAT32 under Vista. I am debating whether I should reformat it though. My pen drive comes with U3 installed; not that I have found much use for it so far, it doesn't trouble me too much either, and I am wondering how hard it would be to restore it after a reformat.

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    Re: Changing FAT32 Cluster Size

    I believe there's a limit on partition size with certain cluster sizes, which might prevent you reducing the cluster size.

    Not sure though.
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