# What is allocation size and what should be used for my SD card?



## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

I just bought a Sandisk Micro SD card. Now while formatting it as FAT32 I was wondering what allocation size I should use? Should I use default, or the largest value or what? What does it basically do?

TIA.


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## harshilsharma63 (Apr 17, 2013)

Use the default allocation size.

Use the default allocation size.


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## Vignesh B (Apr 17, 2013)

Higher the allocation size, faster is its access time but lesser the available space. Since, you are having a Class 10 card, you may not feel much a difference. Alternatively, if you don't have less storage issue, and you want the performance out of your card, go for the largest size.
I do suggest you to go with the default size; it works fine in most cases(unless you have a discerning eye and are performance addict).


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## Gaurav265 (Apr 17, 2013)

use default allocation size.


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## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

Okay this seems to be a problem. I formatted it keeping allocaiton size as default and as FAT32 and now when I try to copy a 12 GB file it says 'too big for destination'! Then I tried formatting it with exFAT and now the file is copied successfully. What am I missing?


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## Vignesh B (Apr 17, 2013)

ithehappy said:


> Okay this seems to be a problem. I formatted it keeping allocaiton size as default and as FAT32 and now when I try to copy a 12 GB file it says 'too big for destination'! Then I tried formatting it with exFAT and now the file is copied successfully. What am I missing?


The maximum file size on a FAT32 formatted drive is 4GB. In exFAT maximum file size is 16 exabytes.


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## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

Oops, yeah right, I forgot that! So I need to use either exFAT or NTFS!


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## Vignesh B (Apr 17, 2013)

ithehappy said:


> Oops, yeah right, I forgot that! So I need to use either exFAT or NTFS!


Try to avoid using NTFS on flash memories. Its a journalling file system, which means that it logs changes, not just the end result, causing more writes to the drive.
NTFS on flash memory has been known to be inefficient. exFAT’s smaller footprint/overhead makes it ideal for this purpose.


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## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

Okay I am having problem with exFAT. If I format with exFAT the card is not being recognised on my phone! Searching some XDA topics now. What's ext4 btw?


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## Vignesh B (Apr 17, 2013)

ithehappy said:


> Okay I am having problem with exFAT. If I format with exFAT the card is not being recognised on my phone! Searching some XDA topics now. What's ext4 btw?


Hmm, xda has plenty of threads over this issue. exFAT works flawlessly on my phone(s3) though. So, I guess, it should be compatible with note 2 too.
Ext4 is linux based. Windows won't recognize it then.


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## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

Oh that Linux, I need to forget it now. So you just formatted yours on PC as exFAT and it was recognised by your S3 without any problem? Are you on stock kernel?


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## Vignesh B (Apr 17, 2013)

ithehappy said:


> Oh that Linux, I need to forget it now. So you just formatted yours on PC as exFAT and it was recognised by your S3 without any problem? Are you on stock kernel?


Yes, not rooted, anything.


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## ithehappy (Apr 17, 2013)

Damn, it was my kernel! Just flashed Stock and now it's working. Oh damn!


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