enable exFAT file system support on Linux Mint

There is a New Update on how to enable exFAT file system on Linux (Mint).

There has been several ways of enabling exFAT file system over the years and now I have just found a third way to do it., and the most fastest and easiest of all as well!

Just open the Terminal and type the following command

sudo apt-get install exfat-fuse 

Then press Enter, this should install the support for the exFAT file system and then type Exit to close and exit the terminal!

it doesn't get any faster or simpler then this!

exFAT File System for ReadyBoost in Windows 7

ReadyBoost for Windows 7 could prevent computer problems such as slowing down on old computers!

Did you recently upgrade your old computer to Windows 7? Does it seem to run slower then you hoped?

Since your computer is a bit old it could be using an old type of ram! And just because its old it doesn't mean its cheap! As a matter of fact its probably expensive to buy old ram since its a bit outdated and hard to find!

Why not use ReadyBoost for Windows 7 to Speed up your Computer using a blank USB(flash cards)! You can ReadyBoost Windows 7 by formatting an empty USB flash disk and then you right click on the drive go into properties and select ReadyBoost tab and you decider how much space you want to use to help performance

Using ReadyBoost is a great idea because its a very fast, and easy task! 

This task literally designed for USB(flash cards) drives so there is no reason not to use it! Doing this will feel like you just upgraded the memory of your computer without opening the computer case and adding more ram!

But you know what else I recommend, using the exFAT file system when you format your USB flash cause its extremely fast and stable compare to FAT, FAT16, FAT32 and/or NTFS file systems!

Allocation Unit Size is Important

Allocation Unit Size should be taken very seriously in order to Prevent Computer Problems of all sorts, such as Speed Performance, Hard Disk Damage, Loss of files and etc... You see when you format a partition it normally formats it with a default allocation unit size that can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing.

It's a good thing because when you format the drive with the NTFS files system the default allocation unit size is 4096 bytes which is equal to 4 kilobytes. That very simply means that when you install programs or download any type of data to the computer, the hard disk of the computer will not be very full very quickly.

But unfortunately its a bad thing as well because the files are so physically small since they are running on a Small Allocation Unit Size Partition that the drive will physically be getting fragmented allot more quickly and frequently. The computer will begin to run allot slower all the time.

Now if you format a partition with a Higher Allocation Unit Size then the data on that partition of the hard disk on the computer will be running a lot more faster for an extremely longer period of time. That drive/partition will barely be getting fragmented at all.

Even when the drive still happen to be fragmented, the data once again would still be read, written and processed on a high speed just because the Allocation Unit Size of the partition happens to be higher. The computer will always physically find the files on that partition of the hard disk allot quicker since they are larger and allot easier to spot and/or detect on a high allocation unit size partition.

Let me try to explain it to you by giving you a lot more simpler explanation!

Imagine that I give you a 100 dollars in one hand and another 100 dollars in the other hand. In one hand you have it by 1 dollar, in the other hand you have it by 10 dollars, in which hand would you count the hundred dollars faster? Obviously in the hand by 10 dollars!

The larger the Allocation Unit Size, the easier and faster it is to process that data and information from the hard disk. I seriously don't think that running out space is really an issue now a days because we are in the 21st century and we are no longer dealing with just Megabytes or Gigabytes but we are seriously beginning to deal with Terabytes!

The ideal Allocation Unit Size is based on the size of the partition on the hard disk that you would like to use it on!

4GB - 7GB = 4096 bytes (4K)
8GB - 15GB = 8192 bytes (8K)
16GB - 31GB = 16384 bytes (16K)
32GB - 63GB = 32768 bytes (32K)
64GB - 127GB = 65536 bytes (64K) and etc..................

The old FAT32 files system can do that all by itself when you format a drive into that particular file system but only up to 32GB!

The NTFS files system has to be manually formatted into a specific allocation unit size of your choice because if you choose default it will only be 4096 bytes regardless what size the partition of the hard disk might be!

The latest exFAT file system works mathematically as the FAT32 file system for Allocation Unit Size and on the performance side it works like NTFS only faster! It can even be used for disk sizes that are in Terabytes!

I wouldn't be surprised if some of you are still wondering " What is exFAT ? "! It really stands for Extended File Allocation Table and even though its a file system mainly designed for USB Flash Drives, SD Cards, Pen drives and etc.. I still really enjoy using it on my primary Hard Disk as one of my Primary Partitions for Downloading and I still haven't been disappointed even once since late 2008.

Read & Write to exFAT file system on Linux

Let's Fix the Linux ERROR mounting an unknown file system type 'exfat'.

I've already shown how to install Microsoft's exFAT file system support on Linux before but now there is an easier, familiar and faster way to do it!

First thing you should do after logging into Linux is plug in the SD CARD, USB FLASH Card or additional Internal/External Hard Disk Storage that is formated into exFAT file system and then open the Terminal in Linux and type the following!

SUDO SU then press ENTER

Then it will ask for your User Password, type it out and press Enter!

Then type APT-ADD-REPOSITORY PPA:RELAN/EXFAT then press Enter

After you press Enter a PPA (Power Purchase Agreement that Google has bought from Microsoft to use their exFAT file system on Google's Mobile Android Linux Operating System that can be used on mobile devices if you've enabled root access) for the free exFAT file system implementation project message will load up!

Once again you have to press ENTER to Continue or CTRL+C to Cancel.

Then after executing this command in the terminal and a few seconds later you should type
APT-GET UPDATE and press ENTER! This is to make sure that everything that is needed for this package to work is up to date!

And then at last the final command you should type in the terminal is APT-GET INSTALL FUSE-EXFAT press ENTER to finally install the support for exFAT on Linux!

It will ask you one more time if you would like to Continue? then Press Y as in Yes and press ENTER!

As of now after you exit the Terminal you should start enjoying the support of the exFAT file system on Linux!

exFAT for Linux

To Mount exFAT File System for Linux using the terminal isn't quite difficult.

Its a great and stable(less fragmenting) File System that is even available for Linux! Because its is still under development it requires extra steps to use it in Linux today!

Hopefully my YouTube video can help you Mount an exFAT partition into your Linux OS Computer!

exFAT for Windows XP

I respect the exFAT file system so much that I personnaly nicknamed it "DA Extremely Fast File System"

In the Honorable, Long Lasting and Reliable Windows XP, exFAT is available for update download and instalation!

I have formatted all of my USB Flash cards into the exFAT file system cause I know that all the operating systems from XP and above will understand it!

One of my friends has XP and when I plugged in my USB (exFAT formatted) it poped up and it said that I should format my USB! In order to use exFAT for Windows XP all I had to do was download an exFAT update(KB955704) from microsoft!

Although exFAT is designed for USB(removable disks), I risk using it on my second internal Hard Disk for all my web browsing(Temporary Internet Files) and downloads!

Install the following update in order to add support for the exFAT file system format on your computer using Windows XP!

If you are using Microsoft Windows XP Home, Proffesional and/or Media Center and if you like to take advantage of the latest less fragmenting and faster files system exFAT you'll need to download a specific Update for Windows (KB955704) from Microsoft!

This file system is mainly designed for usb flash drives,digital camera memory cards and other external devices in order to transfer files between computers and the devices.

And it's even mainly designed to support over 32GB drives since the old FAT or FAT32 file systems couldn't!

But I tried as personal technical experiment and formated some of my partitions on my computer since they are over 80GB drives as an exFAT file system rather then FAT32 or NTFS using the Command Prompt!

example Command Prompt: FORMAT D: /FS:exFAT /Q and press ENTER

And all I have to tell you is that When the drives used be formated as an NTFS File System my downloads would slow down tremendusly even after the 80GB partitions get to be only 10% full! And they would very quickly be fragmented!

But When I formated them as an exFAT file System, then even when I made the drives over 80% full my downloads still continue to download at a very fast speed as if my drives are still empty at the speed of 1mbps rather the the old and slow 90-230kbps when it was formated as an NTFS!

Format as exFAT file system!

Formatting a drive (a partition) into the latest exFAT file system can be little tricky but its really quite easy at the same time!

Even though Microsoft has enabled the new latest exFAT file system in Windows Vista it hasn't enabled it yet to be in the FORMAT Menu as a choice of a file system you like to format it in!

That means we'll have to be little techy using Command Prompt (a.k.a. DOS)

So after you decided what drive you like to format into the latest exFAT file system then I recommend that you go to "Computer" folder to verify the drive letter(D:\, E:\, F:\ or etc...), because if you format the wrong drive you might lose valuable data! Keep the "Computer" folder open it might become Handy Later

in my case it was drive letter E:\ so lets pretend that yours is E:\ as well for now!

1. Click the Start Button(Windows Logo) and type in the empty search box CMD

2. When Windows finds CMD right click over it with the mouse and select "Run as Administrator", If you've setup password then you type it out and press "Yes"

NOTE: Step Two is critical because in my video I have already disabled "User Account Control Access" that's why you don't see me right clicking the command prompt to run it as Administrator!

3. When Command Prompt opens then type FORMAT E: /FS:exFAT /Q and press Enter

NOTE: Notice that /FS stands for File System that's why we specify it with exFAT! /Q stands for Quick Format which I normally don't recommend but I did it because I wanted the video to be quick and easy for my viewers. Nothing Bad will happen if you do a quick format but it simply means that it doesn't really delete the files but it breaks the addresses of the location files and folders on the drive and it allows them to be overwritten! that's why when you check the drive after quick format it looks empty even though its not when you use recovery tools like RECUVA to recover formatted drives!

4. Remember when I recommended to keep the "Computer" folder Open because now you can Verify how your Formatting Drive is currently labeled. In my case it was Labeled DOWNLOADING! Type the Label Name of the drive you like to format and press ENTER!

5. Warning all Data on Removable Disk(if usb connected)/Non Removable Disk(internal hard disk) DRIVE E: WILL BE LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)?

Type Y as in Yes and Press Enter

6. Volume Label (11 Characters, ENTER for none)?

This Simply suggests a New Label that you would like to name your new formatted drive, just type it out and press ENTER! If you dont want to name the drive then leave it blank and press ENTER and YOU ARE DONE!

If you are still in the command prompt you can close it out by typing EXIT once and PRESS ENTER.

I Prefer exFAT over FAT32 or even NTFS

I Prefer exFAT over FAT32 or even NTFS simply because it works absolutely amazingly fast!

And I am talking about real fast here! You have to understand that when I partitioned my hard drive into three primary partitions, I formatted the other two partitions using the new exFAT file system and the data on those drives can be read and written to the hard disk in a very flying fast speed!

So far only my C:\ drive is formatted into NTFS since that's what windows XP requires to be installed on! But the other two partitions D:\ drive for downloading and E:\ drive for installations is formatted into exFAT and the downloading progress has tripled fast when I download to D:\ drive and the running programs progress has also skyrocketed fast when I run them from E:\ drive !

I tested this on my old computer and the hard drive doesn't really get fragmented quickly anymore! And it doesn't even overheat anymore as it used to, cause in the old days the hard drive would over heat and then my computer would turn off quickly! And I would have to wait until the next day so that it can cool down for me to try to turn it back on again!

Now thanks to exFAT I could use my old computer for over 4 hours a day and it still wouldn't heat up too quickly to turn off unexpectedly !

exFAT is the latest and I consider it the best and fastest!