What file system to choose on external backup drive that also can be seen in Windows?

Last updated on 04 Jan 2022 📧 Subscribe

What partition format would you recommend to use on the USB drive that receives the Hyperbackup so that it’s compatible with DSM and still be readable on a Windows machine in the event my NAS brakes and Hyperbackup Explorer remains my only option to get into my backup?

What file system is supported on Synology?

The file system of the destination supports ext4, Btrfs, FAT, exFAT, NTFS, HFS+, and PetaSpace.

What are the five file systems supported by Windows?

There are five types of Windows file system, such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT.
The golden middle way will be exFAT file system. Both Synology and Windows supports it.


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3 thoughts on “What file system to choose on external backup drive that also can be seen in Windows?”

  1. “The golden middle way will be exFAT file system. Both Synology and Windows supports it.” ?? Both support FAT (FAT32) and NTFS as well. And of the 3, NTFS is the most robust. So why would you choose ExFAT?

    Reply

      1. NTFS and ExFAT both support file sizes up to 256TB, which is far larger than any NAS. NTFS supports journaling and other data integrity features, though, whereas ExFAT doesn’t.

        In any case, I went with ExFAT on my external drive, as NTFS has a rep. for slow write speeds with Synology.

        Reply