I have a Sandisk dual drive USB stick which can be plugged into android and PC. I was wondering if I should format it to NTFS before using. I intend to use it for storing my important files from android, which are quite large. I often find my USB sticks and microSD cards becoming corrupt and unable to be read without formatting first. So I wonder if NTFS is more reliable and restorable than FAT32 for storing my important data?
Android does not support NTFS. This is from the FAQ of Transcend (a popular SD card vendor):
Android doesn't support NTFS file system. If the SD card or USB flash drive you insert is NTFS file system, it won't be supported by your Android device. Android supports FAT32/Ext3/Ext4 file system. Most of the the latest smartphones and tablets support exFAT file system. Usually, whether the file system is supported by a device or not depends on the devices software/hardware.
Please check the file system your device supports.
https://www.transcend-info.com/Support/FAQ-897
You might want to consider ext4 for large file sizes.