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Lexikon

File Allocation Table

(FAT) The component of an ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=MS-DOS">MS-DOS or {Windows 95} {file system} which describes the {files}, {directories}, and free space on a ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=hard disk">hard disk or ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=floppy disk">floppy disk. A disk is divided into ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=partitions">partitions. Under the FAT {file system} each partition is divided into {clusters}, each of which can be one or more ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=sectors">sectors, depending on the size of the partition. Each cluster is either allocated to a file or directory or it is free (unused). A directory lists the name, size, modification time and starting cluster of each file or subdirectory it contains. At the start of the partition is a table (the FAT) with one entry for each cluster. Each entry gives the number of the next cluster in the same file or a special value for "not allocated" or a special value for "this is the last cluster in the chain". The first few clusters after the FAT contain the ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=root directory">root directory. The FAT file system was originally created for the ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=CP/M">CP/M[?] ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=operating system">operating system where files were catalogued using 8-bit addressing. ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=MS DOS">MS DOS' s FAT allows only ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=8.3">8.3 filenames. With the introduction of MS-DOS 4 an incompatible 16-bit FAT (FAT16) with 32-kilobyte ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=clusters">clusters was introduced that allowed ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=partitions">partitions of up to 2 gigabytes. Microsoft later created ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=FAT32">FAT32 to support partitions larger than two gigabytes and ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=pathnames">pathnames greater that 256 characters. It also allows more efficient use of disk space since ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=clusters">clusters are four kilobytes rather than 32 kilobytes. FAT32 was first available in ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=OEM">OEM Service Release 2 of ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Windows 95">Windows 95 in 1996. It is not fully ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=backward compatible">backward compatible with the 16-bit and 8-bit FATs. {IDG article (http://www.idg.net/idgframes/english/content.cgi?vc=docid_9-62525.html)}. ref="http://home.c2i.net/tkjoerne/os/fat.htm">. ref="http://www.teleport.com/~brainy/">. ref="http://209.67.75.168/hardware/fatgen.htm">. ref="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/9/97.asp">. Compare: ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=NTFS">NTFS. [How big is a FAT? Is the term used outside MS DOS? How long is a FAT16 filename?] (2000-02-05)

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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

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