In this forum, since when do we defend Microsoft, and quote Microsoft as an authority? (Not that I was blaming MS for the problem anyway, as I thought I made clear in my first post).

I have no option but to use NTFS in this case because, if you had read my relevant message with any attention, you would know that the object is to compare read-write speeds between the Sony stick and a couple of others which were formatted NTFS. If the comparison is to have any meaning, this stick has to be formatted NTFS, because the read/write algorithms are completely different (as you may or may not be aware).

What is the criterion of "efficiency"? A big question, but clearly you can't answer it without considering "what is the objective"? The Queen of England probably wouldn't look her best motoring down Horse Guards Parade in a Mack truck. Nor would you deliver a load of bricks from the back seat of your Roller (although I did once know a farmer who carried sheep on the back seat of his Mercedes). That was the only point of the analogy.

The efficiency of NTFS for floppy discs (to take a rather facile example) is obviously zero, because the MFT would take up more space than is available on the disc.

Similarly, if you need a memory stick which you can carry in your pocket, and use with ANY pc anywhere, then NTFS will be less efficient than FAT32 because sooner or later you will encounter a computer which cannot read it. This was Dex's point, as I understand it, and I think it is a valid one. If it is essential that EVERY Microsoft/IBM-compatible MUST be able to read it, then within the limits of this criterion, the efficiency of NTFS will be uncertain and the efficiency of FAT32 will be 100%.


On the other hand, if the the memory stick is "fixed in place", and used only for real-time instantaneous backup of critical files which may change every few minutes or even seconds (especially where batch changes are being made), then you will use NTFS for its greatly superior read/write speeds, security attributes, and recoverability. I can imagine that this would apply, purely hypothetically, to some intelligence-gathering activities, such as might occur on the stock exchange. If the info is as critical as that, then the loss of a few extra megabytes out of even just two gigabytes wouldn't worry you.

What's happening to this site lately? One of the things that attracted me to this forum some years ago was, that no-one ever got flamed... times change, it seems.

Written in response to: re: Cannot format Sony memory stick as NTFS (C K: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 4:47 am) Responses to this message: re: Cannot format Sony memory stick as NTFS (C K: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 9:43 am)

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