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How to defrag FAT32 thumb drive in 10.5.2?

S

seasurfer

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
I feel that my fat32 format 4Gb thumb drive is getting slower. I just wonder if there is anything that I can do to make it faster. Defrag it? Thanks.
 
If it's defragged as you think it is, copy the whole thumb drive to your computer. Back it up once in a method of your choosing. Delete all files on the thumb drive. Then copy all the files back to your thumb drive. They are now defragged.

Also, do you need FAT32 compatibility with PCs? If not, format the thumb drive in HFS+. It will be faster than FAT32.
 
brand said:
It is flash based storage and there are no read/write heads so there is no need to defrag.
Click to expand...

The medium of storage (flash based, disk based, etc.) has nothing to do with storage techniques. Any well used drive over time will acquire small spaces in between used storage space (files) that cannot be easily used. Read the wikipedia entry.
 
I'd personally copy all the files from the thumb drive to a directory/folder on a hard drive, format the thumb drive, and copy back.

Formatting should create a fresh file system, which, by definition, is not fragmented.
 
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