Method to Enhance NTFS Assistance on Android

NTFS can be expanded as New Technology File System. It is the most famous data format system that is being used in majority flash drives. But still the most of the pen drives comes with FAT32 instead of NTFS. Have you ever wondered why these new generation devices still comes with old generation formatting process. This is because, the multimedia devices that we use today do not have the support of NTFS. Till date even the Android does had the support of NTFS. But now the situation has altered.

Difference between NTFS and FAT32

Among the two, NTFS is the newest one, which was launched by Microsoft long back in 1993 during their Windows NT 3.1 and Windows 2000. These two Operating Systems were designed to please the commercial users of Microsoft Windows. They were not famous among the domestic users of Microsoft Operating System. Till the launch of Windows XP, NTFS was not so popular as a method of drive format. But after the introduction of Windows XP, NTFS gained much popularity among commercial as well as domestic users of Windows.

Also NTFS proved to be superior to FAT32 due to the following reasons:

FAT32 files are not designed to handle files whose sizes were greater than 4GB. But for NTFS, the file sizes were not a problem at all. It could handle any file sizes. This comes in handy especially when you download certain videos in 4K format, which are normally above 4GB.
Also with the introduction of NTFS, the imitation of maximum partition size of hard drive got negated. For instance you are able to part 4TB hard drive to even 3TB without any hassles.
NTFS tend to propose more innate safety for your files and folders.
NTFS provides for much swifter read and write speed than FAT32. Unfortunately this is only possible with USB 3.0 pen drive.

In the midst of above advantages of NTFS over FAT32, it still has certain flaws which are listed as follows:

Writing capabilities of NTFS drives are not supported by Apple Mac OS. This means if you are having a NTFS formatted pen drive connected to your Apple Mac, then you can only read the files. You are not allowed to Copy or Paste those files. But the PCs that have MAC OSX support the NTFS drives. Linux also has the similar compatibility problems. But PC’s that are loaded with latest Linux OS is compatible with NTFS.
Till date Android had no support for NTFS. But with simple tricks, now Android also started supporting NTFS, which we will discuss in the following.
Most of the SD cards and pen drives still rely on FAT32 format.

Why still FAT32?

Even in the midst of all advantages, still the popular formatting option is FAT32 over NTFS. This is because most of the devices like camera, MP3 Player, DVD Player, Blue Ray Player are compatible only to FAT32 format. So till date these devices are loaded with FAT32 format inorder to make the user’s life easy.

Now I think you are familiar with FAT32 and NTFS. So now let us move on how to enhance NTFS for Android. Actually we can make Android compatible to NTFS by following two processes. One is designed to those users who have rooted their devices and another one is for normal users who do not want to root their smartphones.

Enabling NTFS Without Root

Enabling without Root can be carried out with the help of an app called ‘Total Commander’. But for the time being, the app is in a developing stage. In order to perform the process you will require an extra USB plug-in also for Total Commander. After you download and install the plug-in, you have to connect the NTFS formatted device to your handset. Then you have to open the plug-in for Total Commander. In normal case, this would open by itself. But you have manually opened it up, if it doesn’t so.

After that the Plug-in would recognize your storage device and provide you with the option to accumulate it. Tick the option, ‘Enable write mode’. By doing so another dialogue box would appear titled, ‘Paragon_NTFS’, saying that the ‘Write mode enable and so on’. Now you have to click on ‘OK’, shown on the bottom part of the dialogue box. Now you have to click on ‘Open Total Commander’. Now you are able to see the drive in the Total Commander and now you are able to open the contents in your drive. This same process can be done with any kind of external storage devices such as hard disk, pen drive, memory card and so on. You may feel certain problem since the application is in its development stage and we can expect improvements in the future.

Enabling NTFS With Root

This process requires the tools such as Paragon exFAT, NTFS & HFS+ and Super SU. These tools are inevitable for this process. So you are required to download then inorder to continue with the process. Super SU is needed to enhance root permission for Paragon App. Your device will be rebooted in between the process. After setting up Super SU, you have to download Paragon App from the Playstore and install it. You are now set with the device along with NTFS compatibility. If you any doubt regarding its installation, you can refer the video for the purpose.

For Samsung devices you are not required to set up NTFS support. The device itself comes with a default NTFS support. This became possible due to an agreement between the Korean and Redmond giants.