Qfyilyi

I want to format a USB storage device from the terminal and I have found several formats to do it. It's the first time I'm going to do this and I have doubts. I want to do it well. I have these options and I want to know which one is convenient that is compatible with all operating systems.

# mkfs.vfat -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.ntfs -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.ext2 -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.ext3 -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.ext4 -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.msdos -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.vfat -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.xfs -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

# mkfs.bfs -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

The answer to your question¹ is simple:

mkfs.msdos -n 'dickEt' -I /dev/sdd1

Hoever, it comes with the following limitations:

• Maximum file size is 4GB


• Maximum partition size is 2TB

OS - File system compatibility (mini) matrix:

                   FAT  NTFS EXT[2..4] BTRFS  XFS HPFS

Amiga               x

MS-DOS, Win95, 98   x

NT, W2K, ... W10    x     x      2

MacOS               x     3                         x

Linux               x     x      x       x      x   x

_{Note 1: You asked for maximum OS compatibility and that's the only answer as it is compatible with most OSes as it's one of the oldest and least capable file systems. (Not ALL OSes! E.G. C64 does not support FAT!)
Note 2: Commercial Tryware if you want write capabilities.
Note 3: Commercial Software if you want write capabilities.}

Use NTFS.

FAT can be also OK, but for large files (> 4GB) you need at least exFAT. Also FAT can end in having all your files on it marked as executable, when viewed from *nix systems.

NTFS should be readable and writable by all major operating systems.
Only at some models of printers and scanners, which generally would support USB sticks as source/target, you can have bad luck with NTFS – these usually than need a msdos partition table (not GPT partition table) with the first primary partition formatted as FAT32.

So if you do not need printer/scanner support, use the whole stick as NTFS, else make a first small primary partition FAT32, and NTFS for the rest. To be on the safe side, use only msdos type partition table, not GPT, as GPT might only be supported by newer systems.

I agree with this other answer. It's important to mention that Linux requires NTFS-3G to mount NTFS. It should be preinstalled/available in repositories for most distribution. But it's not very widespread in embedded systems.