Ever tried to copy something onto a USB flash drive, only to discover that the file was too big to copy?
This is because most USB Flash drives are formatted using the FAT32[1] filesystem - which only supports individual files up to 4 GB in size, no matter how much free space you’ve got. It also only supports drives up to 2 TB, can’t store symbolic links, can’t store files with these characters in the name: "*/:<>?\| – and is generally pretty crappy.
The solution is to use a better filesystem
There are many filesystems to choose from - but there are a few criteria that a good USB flash drive filesystem needs to meet which cut down the choices quite a bit:
- Compatible with every computer - just plug it in, and it should work
- Has no permissions, or optional …