Transferring 4GB files

[Mr Haematocrit]

FAT32 is a defacto standard across most operating systems despite being a Microsoft development (Consider that FAT had a maximum partition size of 2GB !!!) but regrettably you wouldn't be able to get Linux, Apple and Microsoft to agree a new larger cross platform standard as Microsoft expect their way to be the standard (see Word document format), Apple expect you to buy their equipment and Linux nerds think Microsoft are the antichrist.
So as such the only cross platform standard for larger partition/file sizes are NAS drives which get around this by acting as fileservers thus alleviating the requirement of connect computers being able to recognise the storage format..
As to letting FAT32 die as already noted it's the only file system that external hard drive manufacturers can use on their devices and be sure that the computer illiterate can use their drives without trying to return them complaining that they don't work.

FAT32 has never been a defacto standard on any products not dependent upon the Microsoft desktop operating system. If it was the defacto standard like you claim why was it not used for CD-ROM Disks which have a maximum capacity of 700mb so falls within the limitations of FAT32?. We all know that CD-ROM disks featured the filesystem ISO 9660.
Equally the desktop industry is a tiny part of the computing industry and the server industry far surpasses the desktop spend yearly. Microsoft have not recommended the use of FAT file systems in a server environment since 27th July 1993 when then released Windows NT Server 3.1 which features a journaling filesystem called NTFS, In fact NT4 ceased support for FAT32..... Percentage wise FAT has not come close to be a standard of any kind and has not existed in any form other than the desktop since 2000 due to its unreliability, poor data recovery and fragmentation.
There is no need to make a filesystem standard as different filesystems have different virtues. I have a Linux desktop running Btrfs filesystem, this has no issues connecting to my rooted android phone which runs the EXT4 filesystem, or communication with my Western Digital NAT drive which runs a rsyc script to do regular backups of this system and all my others, this runs the EXT3 filesystem. I also a have a mini-mac server running OSX lion which runs a thirteen year old filesystem called HFS+ which works and communicates with all these devices no matter what the filesystem used is... The only device which causes any problems with reading filesystems is SWMBO Windows 7 PC and that because the Operating System is shite, its a buggy, bloated POS which does not play well with others.... There is no need to agree to any filesystem standard as Linux and Mac users do not see this as an issue, they can access a wide rage of filesystems without to many problems.
Microsoft have been trying to kill FAT for years and rightly so, its a horrible filesystem in any form.

 

[ian turner]

Standard as in supported not as in the main default format of the harddrives. If you're selling external usb harddrives to a predominantely computer illiterate market (note the number of responses from folks who didn't seem to be aware of the 4gb limit) then you need a format that is supported across the board. This market is unlikely to buy NAS drives as networks confuse them.
Linux has failed to make any serious impact on the consumer market outside of android which is on devices where the main target market is most likely to be accessing data on the internet and oblivious of any file systems. Dell offered pcs with Linux installed and abandoned it. The Linux bandwagon is a severe case of Snakes on a Plane exaggeration as they lack the marketing strength to overturn Apple and Microsofts existing user base.
PS3 seems to only recognise external harddrives in fat32.
Windows only supports ext2 and possibly ext3 via additional drivers.
External drives, flash drives and flash cards are beyond the point where a 4gb limit makes sense so as long as they are a viable market and no other viable cross platform supported option is available then FAT32 will survive unless cloud takes over.