# Does exFAT take up significently more storage space than NTFS on an external HD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576 "2019-08-12T20:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/21 "2019-08-17T00:33:31Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > If by “tons of stuff you’ll read later” you mean tiny text files and HTML pages, file compression might make a huge difference for you (40-50%) at minimal performance loss, since you’re mostly just hoarding and rarely reading them anyway. If you actually meant millions of images, like porn, file compression won’t help. Yes its mostly text files, pdf and internet pages, I’m not a guy and porn isn’t really my thing _(the visual kind certainly and the written kind rarely)_. Thanks for the answers everyone! I’ve reformatted with NTFS and I’m making the backup again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/22 "2019-08-17T04:17:24Z")
That is an impressive collection; reading a million or so books or web pages sounds like it would keep anyone occupied for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/23 "2019-08-17T07:39:38Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > If you switch to NTFS, you can also turn on Window’s native file compression: [https://www.howtogeek.com/133264/how-to-use-ntfs-compression-and-when-you-might-want-to/](https://www.howtogeek.com/133264/how-to-use-ntfs-compression-and-when-you-might-want-to/) > > If by “tons of stuff you’ll read later” you mean tiny text files and HTML pages, file compression might make a huge difference for you (40-50%) at minimal performance loss, since you’re mostly just hoarding and rarely reading them anyway. If you actually meant millions of images, like porn, file compression won’t help (jpeg is already compressed). This should work with RAID too, though I suppose at some conceptual level it would be harder to ignore an error in a compressed file than a plaintext file, though you’d hope this is the sort of thing that RAID error checking would catch and fix to begin with. OP should convert each web page to a compressed single-file format like MHT or MAFF… but it’s prpbably too late for that. The native NTFS file compression only compresses files. For small files, you don’t get much benefit from compression because each file is still at least 1 cluster in size. I wonder if the exFat system is reserving space at the end of each file? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/24 "2019-08-17T09:00:24Z")
Yeah, good point, MHT would’ve been great. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/25 "2019-08-17T13:18:04Z")
Nice thread. I am sure there is a lot to learn about file systems! Someone should start a thread about what are the most common choices, what are the the best choices, how do file systems work, there are lots of questions! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576/26 "2019-08-17T20:21:30Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > That is an impressive collection; reading a million or so books or web pages sounds like it would keep anyone occupied for a while. Oh I don’t kid myself that I’m ever going to read a fraction of it, but I tend to get interested in a subject and devour that for a while before moving onto something else, and I’m never sure what will catch my attention next. > [@Melbourne](#): > > OP should convert each web page to a compressed single-file format like MHT or MAFF… but it’s prpbably too late for that. > > The native NTFS file compression only compresses files. For small files, you don’t get much benefit from compression because each file is still at least 1 cluster in size. > > I wonder if the exFat system is reserving space at the end of each file? Well I’ve already started transferring it, I’m not actually short of storage space, its just the exFat system that was causing concerns! On a side-note though does anyone know why Firefox _(yes I know other browsers are available)_ doesn’t always save webpages correctly? I have to go into the ‘library’ tab and download them again before they’ll save with all the information. Thanks again 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-exfat-take-up-significently-more-storage-space-than-ntfs-on-an-external-hd/838576.md?page=1)