| A | B |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Microsoft, NCR, SCP, IBM, Compaq, Digital Research, Novell, Caldera |
| Full name | File Allocation Table |
| Variants | 8-bit FAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32, exFAT, FATX, FAT+ |
| Introduced | 1977 with Standalone Disk BASIC-80 |
| Partition IDs | MBR/EBR:• FAT12: 0x01 e.a. (Extended Attribute)• FAT16: 0x04 0x06 0x0E e.a.• FAT32: 0x0B 0x0C e.a.• BDP : EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 |
| Structures | … |
| Directory contents | Table |
| File allocation | Linked list |
| Bad blocks | Cluster tagging |
| Limits | … |
| Max volume size | • FAT12: 32 MB (256 MB for 64 KB clusters) • FAT16: 2 GB (4 GB for 64 KB clusters) • FAT32: 2 TB (16 TB for 4 KB sectors) |
| Max file size | 4,294,967,295 bytes (4 GB − 1) with FAT16B and FAT321 |
| Max no. of files | • FAT12: 4,068 for 8 KB clusters • FAT16: 65,460 for 32 KB clusters • FAT32: 268,173,300 for 32 KB clusters |
| Max filename length | 8.3 filename, or 255 UCS-2 characters when using LFN2 |
| Features | … |
| Dates recorded | • Modified date/time, creation date/time (DOS 7.0 and higher only), • access date (only available with ACCDATE enabled), 3 • deletion date/time (only with DELWATCH 2) |
| Date range | 1980-01-01 to 2099-12-31 (2107-12-31) |
| Date resolution | • 2 seconds for last modified time, • 2 seconds for creation time, • 1 day for access date, • 2 seconds for deletion time |
| Forks | Not natively |
| Attributes | Read-only, hidden, system, volume, directory, archive |
| File system permissions | • FAT12/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 with only 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 • FAT32: Partial, only with DR-DOS, REAL/32 and 4690 OS |
| Transparent compression | • FAT12/FAT16: Per-volume, SuperStor , Stacker , DoubleSpace , DriveSpace • FAT32: No |
| Transparent encryption | • FAT12/FAT16: Per-volume only with DR-DOS • FAT32: No |
FAT
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Footnotes
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“File Systems”. Microsoft TechNet. 2001. Archived from the original on 2011-08-12. Retrieved 2011-07-31. ↩
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Since Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows uses UTF-16 instead of UCS-2 for the internal “Unicode”. In UTF-16, a “character” (code point) may take up two code units. ↩
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Microsoft (2006-11-15). Windows 95 CD-ROM CONFIG.TXT File Archived 2020-07-31 at the Wayback Machine Article 135481, Revision: 1.1, retrieved 2011-12-22: “For each hard disk, specifies whether to record the date that files are last accessed. Last access dates are turned off for all drives when your computer is started in safe mode, and are not maintained for floppy disks by default. Syntax:
ACCDATE=drive1+|- [drive2+|-]...” ↩