PS3-HW ExFat or NTFS for Ext HDD?

RinMaru90

RinMaru90

Member
are there any Pros and cons to either format. I've read around and I know ntfs is supposed to be faster than exfat but does the ps3 take advantage of that or does exfat have advantage somehow? I'm just backing up ISOs and playing them from webman but I'm curious if one is more stable and or faster than the other?
 
Just glancing through the Webman-MOD repo and history, it seems like both the NTFS and exFAT drivers are both pretty stable these days.

I'll have to do a speed comparison once I get my PS3 set up, but from a theoretical perspective there shouldn't be any real difference between using exFAT or NTFS for your ISOs. Their general performance is pretty similar (e.g. see this Tom's benchmark), and for the purpose of reading game data, I don't think you'll see a big change either way.

(If it does turn out that the particular NTFS/exFAT implementations that webman uses do make a difference, I'd love to know!)
 
indig0 said:
Just glancing through the Webman-MOD repo and history, it seems like both the NTFS and exFAT drivers are both pretty stable these days.

I'll have to do a speed comparison once I get my PS3 set up, but from a theoretical perspective there shouldn't be any real difference between using exFAT or NTFS for your ISOs. Their general performance is pretty similar (e.g. see this Tom's benchmark), and for the purpose of reading game data, I don't think you'll see a big change either way.

(If it does turn out that the particular NTFS/exFAT implementations that webman uses do make a difference, I'd love to know!)
Click to expand...
I'm using a usb 3.0 Seagate 5400RPM 2TB HDD with two partitions ones 1.5TB I'm trying to decide the format I've used NTFS once and find it kind of lags at 32K clusters. 64K cluster makes the drive unreadable. the other partition is FAT32 for backups

what ive read.
NTFS- Best suited for internal drives and faster.
exFAT- Best for external Drives and less overhead than NTFS and generally faster on Flash or external drives.
ext4- The newest filesystem Linux uses and specifically designed for Linux with more features and Faster that all the above.

so not sure if ps3 takes advantage of any of them despite the ease of use of the first two
 
Thats me lol. But yea Im gonna give exFAT a test first since ive tested NTFS for awhile and noticed a bit of lag.

Edit. Forwarding my findings here for anyone to compare. All Tested from 2TB 5400RPM HDD USB3.0

NTFS 32K Clusters - Max Size Seen by PrepISO & Simple File Manager
exFAT 32K Clusters - Max Size PrepISO can find games on.
exFAT 64K Clusters - Max Size (AFAIK) Simple File Manager can Detect

Update. Tried exFAT128KB Clusters and at that point Simple File Manager can no longer recognize the drive.

32K Cluster size seems to be the max at which everything can still function. anything higher is limited to the app.

Updated Results
  • NTFS 32K Clusters/ Single and Multi Partition ( Example- NTFS & FAT32) - Max Size Seen by PrepISO & Simple File Manager
  • exFAT 128K Clusters/ Single Partition - "Max Size Tested" PrepISO & Simple File Manager can find games on.
Speed Diff in cluster size beyond 64k is negligible and is completely up to the drive at that point. exFAT seems to be hit or miss and support is spotty. it works but lacks the support NTFS in minor areas like reading the Param.sfo in the isos isn't possible on exFAT and exFAT being seen at all requires PrepISO, only then will webMAN read the files.

Id like to request if anyone can test a 64k Cluster NTFS. on my end NTFS 64k Cluster size no longer shows up on ps3. prepISO seems to access the drive but finds nothing and webMAN and Simple File Manager dont even list the drive. If this is a limitation to HFW on Super Slim PS3 is unknown.
 
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RinMaru90 said:
Updated Results
  • NTFS 32K Clusters/ Single and Multi Partition ( Example- NTFS & FAT32) - Max Size Seen by PrepISO & Simple File Manager
  • exFAT 128K Clusters/ Single Partition - "Max Size Tested" PrepISO & Simple File Manager can find games on.
Speed Diff in cluster size beyond 64k is negligible and is completely up to the drive at that point. exFAT seems to be hit or miss and support is spotty. it works but lacks the support NTFS in minor areas like reading the Param.sfo in the isos isn't possible on exFAT and exFAT being seen at all requires PrepISO, only then will webMAN read the files.

Id like to request if anyone can test a 64k Cluster NTFS. on my end NTFS 64k Cluster size no longer shows up on ps3. prepISO seems to access the drive but finds nothing and webMAN and Simple File Manager dont even list the drive. If this is a limitation to HFW on Super Slim PS3 is unknown.
Click to expand...

It's likely that the 64k NTFS cluster size is causing compatibility issues with your Super Slim PS3. I'd recommend reformatting the drive with a 4KB cluster size and testing again with WebMAN or Simple File Manager. If the issue persists, consider switching to exFAT for better overall compatibility and ease of use on the PS3.
 
OGSmuggy said:
It's likely that the 64k NTFS cluster size is causing compatibility issues with your Super Slim PS3. I'd recommend reformatting the drive with a 4KB cluster size and testing again with WebMAN or Simple File Manager. If the issue persists, consider switching to exFAT for better overall compatibility and ease of use on the PS3.
Click to expand...
my ps3 can sense 32k allocation units AKA cluster size on NTFS just fine. exFAT it can see even 128k. but speed improvement's aren't there. plus exFAT is pretty limited PrepISO can only read exFAT on a single partition disk otherwise in my case exFAT 1.5TB partition 1 and FAT32 500GB partition 2 only FAT32 will be seen. so I wouldn't call that better compatibility. you cant even have PrepISO read the internal Param.sfo inside the iso like NTFS. you should read the github link me and the dev have been going back and forth with my results
 
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RinMaru90 said:
Id like to request if anyone can test a 64k Cluster NTFS. on my end NTFS 64k Cluster size no longer shows up on ps3. prepISO seems to access the drive but finds nothing and webMAN and Simple File Manager dont even list the drive. If this is a limitation to HFW on Super Slim PS3 is unknown.
Click to expand...

Finally got some free time and can confirm that NTFS with 64 kiB clusters doesn't work with prepISO; ntfsMountAll() doesn't return anything, so the issue might be in libntfs. Going to take a look into that tonight.

Also finished the work with libfatfs I mentioned in the github issue: all supported cluster sizes work for exFAT, with the exception of 32 MiB clusters (largest possible size), which I think is a bug. Still have some testing to do to make sure my patch doesn't break anything, but than can make PR or submit it upstream to elm (original implementer of libfatfs.)
 
indig0 said:
Finally got some free time and can confirm that NTFS with 64 kiB clusters doesn't work with prepISO; ntfsMountAll() doesn't return anything, so the issue might be in libntfs. Going to take a look into that tonight.

Also finished the work with libfatfs I mentioned in the github issue: all supported cluster sizes work for exFAT, with the exception of 32 MiB clusters (largest possible size), which I think is a bug. Still have some testing to do to make sure my patch doesn't break anything, but than can make PR or submit it upstream to elm (original implementer of libfatfs.)
Click to expand...
Glad to have someone confirm this. In my testing on exFAT 64k didnt make much a difference and 128k really didnt do much. It could be that my external hdd is just slow so speed diff may need to be tested by someone with a newer hdd

@indig0
Tried ext4 today and it does seem to be faster on slower drives (Less data stream stutter) it takes PrepISO a LONG time to scan everything though. if you have 1TB of games expect an hour sitting at a black screen while it goes through it. If you have a modern HDD then by all means use ntfs. if you have a old slow drive like mine thats 5200rpm than definitely jump into a live Linux USB and use ext4
 
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