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Microsoft licenses exFAT file system to Sony, others
Various tech companies, including Sony, Canon, and Sanyo, are adopting the exFAT file system, and as a member of the SD Association and Memory Stick standard, SanDisk endorsed the use of the format in new extra capacity storage media. Additionally, the SD Association chose to use exFAT for the SDXC memory card specification because it "supports large volumes, large files, and better contiguous on-disk layout."
Microsoft describes exFAT as the modern version of its predecessor, FAT. Key features include support for up to 256TB of media capacity (versus FAT32's 2TB), the ability to handle more than 4,000 RAW images, 100 HD movies, or 60 hours of HD recording in a single directory, interoperability with future desktop operating systems, and it provides an extensible format, including OEM-definable parameters to customize the file system.
User Comments (8)
Post a comment|
treeski
on December 10, 2009 7:33 PM |
How will this affect future consume products? |
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poundsmack
on December 10, 2009 11:22 PM |
it will affect future consumer products just like every other FAT upgrade. as storage capacities increase so does the need for a file system to facilitate it. the thing that worries me is that Apple said they would not support exFAT. But apple is a prideful company, though they will cave since virtually every single vendor that creates flash based devices is migrating to exFAT. |
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Guest
on December 11, 2009 12:02 AM |
Don't forget the real benefit of exFAT: Support for files > 4GB Makes ReadyBoost extremely usable with an 8GB SDHC. |
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Guest
on December 11, 2009 2:18 AM |
That doesn't sound right FAT32 supports up to 2TB Volumes not 32GB. |
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kimsland
on December 11, 2009 2:34 AM |
You're right http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154997 FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size. NOTE: Microsoft Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions up to a size of 32 GB. I wonder if Mathew made a mistake there? |
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Matthew
on December 11, 2009 2:50 AM |
Yep, a thoughtless mistake. I believe I misinterpreted information provided in the press release. Anyhow, I corrected it in the article -- thanks for pointing it out. |
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compdata
on December 11, 2009 7:28 AM |
Interesting to see the price that MS is charging for this. I guess in the grand scheme that isn't that much if you are going to sell 100s of thousands of devices. |
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Guest
on December 13, 2009 1:43 AM |
For the record: exFAT drivers for XP SP2/SP3, XP-64, Server 2003/Server 2003-64 here http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=955704 |
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