[SOLVED] Windows 10 Installation Media USB Size

[williamosirian]

Hi guys, I have a question regarding a recent Windows 10 re-installation I did with a USB stick. I had corrupt files on my computer and decided to do a fresh install of Windows 10, I created the media on the USB stick and did a full re installation without any problems, although I did notice something today.

Before I created the installation media yesterday, I was using readyboost on my usb stick and formatted it (using FAT32) which I believe afterwards once you format the stick using FAT32, the limit of the stick is now 4GB since FAT32 is old skool, when I looked up the size of the Windows 10 installation media it said that you need 8GB at least on your memory stick before installing Windows 10 on the stick if that makes sense.

I am wondering if that's the case, then how was I able to get the Windows 10 onto my memory stick if the FAT32 limit is 4GB (Keep in mind though that my memory stick size is 32GB, but I am pretty sure I formatted it using FAT32, before installing Windows 10 on it)... anyways I am wondering if this is all true, would Windows 10 have installed correctly on my computer since the size of the installation media is above 4GB?

I was wanting to remove the corrupt files from my PC, would this reinstalltion have removed the files ok?

Just wondering about the size and have things worked correctly ok? Hope this all makes sense as it is hard to explain, but I think you all get the just of what I am saying.

Thank you!

 

[onespeedbiker]

What may be identified as FAT32 is actually exFat, which is used with USBs and has a max size of about a TB.

My bad, Fat32 has a max partition size of 2TB, and a max file size or 4GB.
"FAT32 took over from FAT16 and has a maximum drive size of 2TB. Its
maximum file size is 4GB, which is why you can't copy a 5GB file to
it. Its cluster size is 4KB up to a partition of 8GB. Above 8GB the
cluster size grows up to 32kb."

 

[USAFRet]

Creating the Win 10 via the MediaCreation tool reformats the drive being used.
MS recommends 8GB or larger. If larger, it will be 32GB.

The 4GB you refer to is the max single file size, not the size of the partition or drive.