Rugged RAID User Manual 35
OPTIONAL FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING
Standard LaCie storage devices prompt you to run LaCie Setup Assistant when they are first connected to a PC
or Mac. LaCie Setup Assistant helps you to quickly format the storage device according to your needs.
Read the information below carefully if you:
Abort LaCie Setup Assistant while it is formatting.
■
Wish to reformat your storage device after LaCie Setup Assistant has successfully completed.
■
Own a LaCie storage device that does not feature LaCie Setup Assistant.
■
ABOUT FILE SYSTEM FORMATS
You can customize the storage device by reformatting and/or partitioning it with separate file system formats.
Mac
For optimal performance in Mac OS environments, format and partition the storage device as one large Mac OS
Extended volume.
Mac OS Extended (HFS+): Mac OS Extended refers to the file system used by Mac OS X. HFS+ represents an
optimization of the older HFS file system by using hard disk space more efficiently. With HFS+, you are no
longer limited by block size.
FAT32: FAT32 is an older format with a maximum single file size limited to 4GB. Performance is far from
optimal when using FAT32.
exFAT: exFAT is an update of FAT32. It allows for volumes up to 128PB and files up to 16EB. Similar to FAT32,
exFAT is not optimized for Mac and recommended only if you intend to share files with Windows devices.
See the table below for a comparison between HFS+ and exFAT.
Mac file system formats
Use HFS+ if:
…you will be using the storage device on Macs only. Performance is far superior when compared to FAT32 and
exFAT. HFS+ is NOT compatible with Windows.
Use exFAT if:
…you will be using your storage device with both Windows and Mac computers.
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