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Thread ID: 150482 2022-02-17 06:14:00 External HDD dilemma. Bryan (147) Press F1
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1484347 2022-02-17 06:14:00 I have two PCs. First is running Win 10 under MBR with a legacy bios. The second is running Win 11 under GPT with a UEFI bios. Sometime ago I obtained a 3TB external HDD. It is formatted as exFat and is GPT. I intended to backup my music and movie files but then began to add backups of the 1st and second PCs in folders, I did not use any partitions.

Now that the extHDD has everything together in folders, all saved data except the 2nd PC are MBR. Will this be a problem for doing OS recoveries to the first and second PCs in the future?

I am wondering if I should have created separate partitions for the backups for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Am I going to run into problems in the future or is the setup going to be OK? How would you change this?
Bryan (147)
1484348 2022-02-18 02:48:00 Now that the extHDD has everything together in folders

I am wondering if I should have created separate partitions for the backups for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Am I going to run into problems in the future or is the setup going to be OK? How would you change this?
How did you back up? Images?
If so it doesn't matter.
piroska (17583)
1484349 2022-02-18 06:00:00 Thank you piroska. Yes they are images so you expert advice has relieved a great concern. Thank you. Bryan (147)
1484350 2022-02-23 19:26:00 My question is why would you use exFAT?...

If both computers use Windows, surely NTFS would be a better choice.
Agent_24 (57)
1484351 2022-02-23 20:35:00 My question is why would you use exFAT?...


I bet thats what the USB HD came as.....

I allways format new USB HD's, that also removes any factory installed crud .
1101 (13337)
1484352 2022-02-23 20:45:00 I bet thats what the USB HD came as.....

I allways format new USB HD's, that also removes any factory installed crud .

Seems pretty odd. I've bought several external HDDs from 2TB to 6TB and none of them used exFAT. All came as NTFS.
Agent_24 (57)
1484353 2022-02-23 21:43:00 Seems pretty odd. I've bought several external HDDs from 2TB to 6TB and none of them used exFAT. All came as NTFS.

Not really that uncommon.

The new USB HD I remotely setup 3 days ago was exFat out of the box . (Seagate)
I guess if aimed at consumers, exfat is compatible with more differing systems ? incl TV's , Mac's etc
1101 (13337)
1484354 2022-02-24 00:41:00 My question is why would you use exFAT?...

If both computers use Windows, surely NTFS would be a better choice.

And why not use exFat? As good as NTFS and some say better!
Bryan (147)
1484355 2022-02-24 03:29:00 And why not use exFat? As good as NTFS and some say better!

I dont know how true or relevant this is but ..

"exFAT is relatively fragile since it is not journaled, so if you have file system corruption, you can't recover. NTFS has robust cross-platform tools to recover a corrupt file system. Furthermore, exFAT uses only a single File Allocation Table unlike the redundancies present in NTFS and FAT32, so if that gets corrupt, you have no backup."

Also if doing a basic file copy or sync , NTFS will (should) keep file permissions

Any backup is better than none.
As many hundreds are now finding out after a worldwide Hack on Asustore NAS's
1101 (13337)
1484356 2022-02-24 03:42:00 Not really that uncommon.

The new USB HD I remotely setup 3 days ago was exFat out of the box . (Seagate)
I guess if aimed at consumers, exfat is compatible with more differing systems ? incl TV's , Mac's etc

All mine in question are Seagate and all used NTFS from the box. Maybe the one you had was not so targeted to just desktop use?


And why not use exFat? As good as NTFS and some say better!

I can't see why anyone would think exFAT better than NTFS, except in the sense that is has less file-system overhead and thus may have better performance on slower flash media.
On the other hand, the lack of journaling as opposed to NTFS, Ext3/4 and others, can lead to a higher risk of corruption and data loss, which will be exacerbated on a flash or external HDD, where people often remove the device without ejecting/unmounting it first.

Unless you absolutely *need* it for something like a 'Smart' TV, I just don't see the point.
Agent_24 (57)
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