On Thu, 12 Jan 2006, Tim wrote: > Ian Malone: > >>> Alternatively they could just revert to 8.3 support for files, it > >>> wouldn't affect usb key applications as windows is handling the file > >>> system then (but it's a blow to interoperability, USB keys wouldn't > >>> work between Win and Mac or Linux). > > Tim: > >> They're just a storage medium, so they use what's put on them. It's up > >> to the computers using them as to how. We don't have "FAT" hard drives, > >> CDs, etc. We simply have drive and discs. > > Mike McCarty: > > This is untrue. Many discs and pseudo-discs come pre-formatted. > > Some do, some don't. That doesn't mean that they're a FAT disk, it's > just a disk with an obese filesystem on it. You're, generally, not > prevented from reformatting them, either. I have had one flash drive that would not take a new file system. (Well it would, but not in a way that worked.) > An IDE HDD is not a Windows IDE HDD, it's an IDE HDD that can be used on > a variety of different PCs. The same goes for floppies, USB disks, etc. I have not seen an ide drive come formatted in the last 10+ years. Because of how some drive controllers act, they do that on purpose. (I used to see partition alignment errors occasionally when moving drives from one motherboard to another.) As for floppies... I bought a box a couple of years ago. I think I have used maybe five in all that time. I don't remember if they came formatted or not. (Usually burned a memtest86 image to them.) -- "George W. Bush -- Bringing back the Sixties one Nixon at a time."
