How to format a pen drive?

[Mike McCarty]

John Wendel wrote:
> Mike McCarty wrote:
> 
>> Aaron Konstam wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 2006-11-05 at 23:15 +0000, Paul Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 11/5/06, Aaron Konstam <akonstam at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> How can one format a pen drive?
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Just as you would any other drive with mkfs, but don't do it. Leave it
>>>>> as DOS formatted for comptability with Windows machines.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The command that I cited before works fine and the compatibility with
>>>> MS Windows machines is not lost.
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>
>>> It is if you format it as a ext2 or ext3 drive.
>>
>>
>> And both of these will result in premature wearout.
>>
>> Mike
> 
> 
> I've never used it, but there is a filesystem made specially for flash 
> devices, JFFS2. It's available in the standard kernel. Google has more 
> details.

I read the Wikipedia entry for that, and it looks like it will
ALSO result in premature wear out.

AFAICT, the very best FSs for Flash based devices are MSDOS or
VFAT. Both from the standpoint of portability and wearout.

Mike
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