įor FAT32 file systems, the reserved sectors include a File System Information Sector at logical sector 1 and a Backup Boot Sector at logical sector 6. The total count of reserved sectors is indicated by a field inside the Boot Sector, and is usually 32 on FAT32 file systems.

Important information from the Boot Sector is accessible through an operating system structure called the Drive Parameter Block ( DPB) in DOS and OS/2. It includes an area called the BIOS Parameter Block ( BPB) which contains some basic file system information, in particular its type and pointers to the location of the other sections, and usually contains the operating system's boot loader code. The first reserved sector (logical sector 0) is the Boot Sector (also called Volume Boot Record or simply VBR). It continues to be used on mobile devices and embedded systems, and thus is a well suited file system for data exchange between computers and devices of almost any type and age from 1981 through the present.Ī FAT file system is composed of four regions:įAT file system regions, which includes four main regions The FAT file system is a file system used on MS-DOS and Windows 9x family of operating systems. Read-only, Hidden, System, Volume, Directory, ArchiveįAT12/FAT16: File, directory and volume access rights for Read, Write, Execute, Delete only with DR-DOS, PalmDOS, Novell DOS, OpenDOS, FlexOS, 4680 OS, 4690 OS, Concurrent DOS, Multiuser DOS, System Manager, REAL/32 (Execute right only with FlexOS, 4680 OS, 4690 OS individual file / directory passwords not with FlexOS, 4680 OS, 4690 OS World/ Group/ Owner permission classes only with multiuser security loaded)įAT32: Partial, only with DR-DOS, REAL/ OSįAT12/FAT16: Per-volume, SuperStor, Stacker, DoubleSpace, DriveSpace Modified date/time, creation date/time (DOS 7.0 and higher only), access date (only available with ACCDATE enabled), deletion date/time (only with DELWATCH 2) Microsoft, SCP, IBM, Compaq, Digital Research, Novell, CalderaįAT32 (32-bit version with 28 bits used),įAT16B: November 1987 ( Compaq MS-DOS 3.31)ĮxFAT: November 2006 ( Windows Embedded CE 6.0)Ĥ,294,967,295 bytes (4 GB - 1) with FAT16B and FAT32 Ĩ.3 filename, or 255 UCS-2 characters when using LFN

For broader coverage of this topic, see File Allocation Table.

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