exFAT / FAT64 on XP?

[weEvil]

I've just found out about exFAT/FAT64 file system. Vista uses it for external devices and can read/write to it. Can XP have such a capability and would it be a better option than using NTFS for the main system?

Assuming it will work faster or be more reliable than NTFS.

[waruikoohii]

exFAT is an optional filesystem for removable devices in Vista SP1. FAT is still the default, at least in current builds of SP1. exFAT is designed for flash drives, primarily. NTFS is still the best choice for hard disks.

[erpdude8]

exFAT is now possible under WinXP SP2/SP3 with the newly released KB955704 update. (yay!)

[erpdude8]

exFAT is now possible under WinXP SP2/SP3 with the newly released KB955704 update. (yay!)

though that one is only for 32bit editions of XP.

for XP 64bit editions, the KB955704 exFAT update can be downloaded here.

this one was released Aug. 25, 2009 along with the exFAT updates for Windows Server 2003 systems!

[Inki]

I am under the impression, correct or not, that exFAT would be the preferred formatting for a Solid State Drive, when used as a boot/system drive (or even in general), because exFAT would tend to shuffle less overhead data on the disk, thus extending its life expectancy.

I experimented by using KB955704 on XP to format a small, old hard drive with the exFAT file system (no problems doing that), and then trying to install XP on that drive. The experiment failed at nearly the very beginning of the installation process, because XP would not recognize the drive as having a compatible file system. That was not really unexpected, of course, but I had to try it.

The interesting question is, whether there might be any possibility of bringing exFAT litteracy to the text-mode installation phase of XP. If possible at all, I suspect it might require modifying Txtsetup.sif (and Dosnet.inf) to make the exFAT driver files available at the beginning (as may be done to integrate SATA drivers), and possibly modifying registry entries in Setupreg.hiv (as may be done in Win2k to enable 48bit LBA support at installation). Unfortunately, however, I am capable of only suspecting these things.

I wonder, if anybody has more or better information on whether, and how, one might use an exFAT-formatted boot/system drive with XP?

Edited June 14, 2010 by Inki

[allen2]

Installing the hotfix with /integrate switch on an XP source might work if not edit txtsetup.sif section [FileSystems.Load] and add or replace fastfat.sys with exfat.sys.

[Inki]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I am afraid that /integrate: is not the solution. And just to be sure, I did run it and then used Winmerge to see what changes were made to the source. As I suspected, the changes were of the kind that I guess /integrate: typically does, which lead to the hotfix being applied during installation, but do not change the text-mode setup in any way. For it to work, I suspect that the drivers have to be manually slipstreamed.

Your second suggestion seems to me much more promising, and I think it is a clever notion to exchange FAT32 and exFAT. However, my gut feeling is that it might require more than changing that one entry, and I don't really trust myself to be able to implement the idea properly. The most that I have been able to do is integrate some SATA drivers into the source by following instructions on how to do that, and I feel that this might require some deeper understanding just to experiment effectively.

Edited addition:

Hmm, I just realized, that the initiator of this thread seems to have been banned, for whatever reason. Well, I didn't pay any attention to his/her status when I did a search for exFAT, and found that the thread title and the content of the previous posts matched my issue exactly. It is not something that I would normally expect to have to check for, and I am not sure if it should matter. So, I will just hope that it doesn't discourage anybody from contributing to this issue, which I think is interesting and potentially useful. Still, if it is more desirable, I can of course always start a new thread.

Edited June 14, 2010 by Inki

[Rshullic]

I believe that there is more to using the exfat file system than just replacing file system drivers, but I am guessing here, although I know a lot about exfat and the specification.

First of all, it would be interesting to see how, after a xp system is built, how recycle bin would be handled since the directory entries are different as well as how deleted files are handled under exfat.

Building an os on top of exfat, as well asvfat32 would be avail system without file permissions. Vista and windows 7 require the file permissions, so you can't build those systems on fat32 or exfat, but you are talking xp here, which still may be on fat32.

Another issue is the boot sector, that is the VBR, which has a different format, and is 12 sectors, where in fat32 it is 3 sectors, and the bios parm block is different in the first sector. The exfat drivers might not handle this in xp. So an issue is if you could get some of the os to load, if you will succeed in booting it.

I have yet to see any bootable code on an exfat drive, although I am interested to see itvwork

[jaclaz]

Vista and windows 7 require the file permissions, so you can't build those systems on fat32 or exfat, but you are talking xp here, which still may be on fat32.

Not really.

It is possible to install Vista on a FAT32 filesystem, and I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be possible with Windows 7 (though untested/unreported):

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=102556

Another issue is the boot sector, that is the VBR, which has a different format, and is 12 sectors, where in fat32 it is 3 sectors, and the bios parm block is different in the first sector. The exfat drivers might not handle this in xp. So an issue is if you could get some of the os to load, if you will succeed in booting it.

I have yet to see any bootable code on an exfat drive, although I am interested to see itvwork

The problem is that the BOOTMGR (or the NTLDR) knows nothing about exFAT, so they cannot possibly initiate the booting from it.

Maybe (and I am saying maybe) it would be possible to create an "XP Kansas City Shuffle" kicker, but it's another untested/undocumented thing:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21242

jaclaz