FAT 32 (Compression)

coldbug

I encountered a question asking about a compression on FAT 32 File system on techexams practice questions.

Does FAT 32 support compression at all? (i am 100% sure it doesn't support encryption)
I am confused, because i went to Microsoft site, and it said FAT 32 does not support compression.

Please help.

tibul

thats correct FAT 32 doesn't support compression natively you would need to use a third party tool or change to NTFS, also if i remember correctly NTFS has to be set up to use 4KB clusters or it wont work for compression either.

coldbug

Here is the question:

10. You want to reduce the amount of space used on one of your FAT32 drive fast, so you decide to compress a folder named Odata with user data such as Word and Excel docs. When you want to enable compression on the folders properties sheet you notice compression is not available. How can you compress the files with the least amount of administrative effort and still be able to read the files?
a. Convert the drive to NTFS using convert.exe /fs:ntfs to enable NTFS File Compression
b. Convert the drive to NTFS using fs.exe /ntfs to enable NTFS File Compression
c. Create a new Compressed Folder and drag all the files from the Odata folder to the Compressed Folder and delete the original Odata folder
d. Use NTbackup.exe to create a file backup with maximum compression and delete the original Odata folder

Correct Answer = C

Since FAT 32 does not support compression, how can i create a new Compressed folder?
i chose A for the answer, but it can still be wrong, because convert.exe will not work on older versions of Windows. Question did not mention any OS being used, so my guess is none of the answers here would apply.

Am i correct?

tibul

To me it is A that is correct, although i have seen questions in the past were it has said that an answer is correct even though i new for a fact that it wasnt.

dynamik

There are two types of compression in Windows XP. You can compress an entire volume, which requires NTFS or you can have "compressed folders", which are literally zip files. You can have compressed folders on a FAT32 volume, but you cannot compress the entire volume.

C is correct because you're making zip file (compressed folder) and adding files to it.

[Edit]
To illustrate this, right-click your desktop > new > compressed (zipped) folder. There's your shiny new "compressed folder".

coldbug

dynamik wrote:

There are two types of compression in Windows XP. You can compress an entire volume, which requires NTFS or you can have "compressed folders", which are literally zip files. You can have compressed folders on a FAT32 volume, but you cannot compress the entire volume.

C is correct because you're making zip file (compressed folder) and adding files to it.

[Edit]
To illustrate this, right-click your desktop > new > compressed (zipped) folder. There's your shiny new "compressed folder".

ahh..i see
So, FAT 32 still supports compression on folders. Didn't know that.
Thanks.

dynamik

NP, but remember all it really is, is built-in support for .zip files. They just call them "compressed folders" to make things confusing (or easier to remember for people like granmma). You can use them on any file system that XP recognizes: FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. It has absolutely nothing to do with the file system.

tibul

dynamik wrote:

NP, but remember all it really is, is built-in support for .zip files. They just call them "compressed folders" to make things confusing (or easier to remember for people like granmma). You can use them on any file system that XP recognizes: FAT, FAT32, or NTFS. It has absolutely nothing to do with the file system.

ah yes im thinking of when you right click a file/folder and select advanced and selecting "compress contents to save disk space" option, completly forgot about that you can create zipped folders.