Most Common FAT (File System's)
Explained:
FAT= File Allocation Table:
The file system that is used/Or ordinarity designed for floppies and used by DOS, W 3.x, W95, Windows NT and OS/2. a FAT directory holds info such as name, file size, date & time stamp, the starting cluster number and the file attributes like (hidden, system & etc.). It's file system can support up to 65,525 clusters and is limited to 2 gigs. Workes best on small 500mb drives because of the cluster size. It seems to be about 2% faster than FAT32 and NTFS but windows is faster if confined to a small area. FAT performance drops off after 400mb's on up.
FAT32= File Allocation Table 32 such as W-95b:
FAT32 will not recognize FAT or NTFS volumes of other operating systems--so you can't use them. It supports drives up to 2 terabytes. It uses smaller clusters (ex; 4k clusters up to 8 gigs).
So--What's the Difference (FAT12/16 or FAT32):
Remember that DOS 6.x or even versions of Windows prior to SR2 won't recognize the front end of a FAT32 partition. So if you must run the occasional old DOS app, move it into a FAT16 drive partition and then restart from an old DOS boot diskette.FAT16 does not support partitions larger than 2GB. FAT32 is an improvement, as it supports drives up to 2 Terabytes in size, and cluster sizes are 4K for partitions smaller than 8GB. So, if you can get FAT32 on the drive, it will work. Fat12/16 and Fat32 is a Partition size/cluster size issue.
FAT32 solves this problem by reducing to 4KB the default file cluster size for partitions between 260MB and 8GB. (Drives or partitions under 260MB use .5KB clusters.) Up to 16GB, FAT32's cluster size is 8KB; to 32GB, it's 16KB; and for partitions of 32GB and greater, the cluster size holds steady at 32KB. FAT32 adds a few other improvements. The root directory on a FAT32 drive is now an ordinary cluster chain, so it can be located anywhere on the drive. This removes FAT16's previous limitation of 512 root directory entries. In addition, the boot record on FAT32 drives has been expanded to allow a backup of critical data structures. This makes FAT32 drives less susceptible to failure.
FAT32 partitions are also invisible to other operating systems, including other versions of Windows. To access a FAT32 partition from a boot floppy, you must create an SR2 start-up disk. You won't see your C: drive if you boot from an older Win95 or DOS start-up disk. If you start out with SR2 on a FAT32 partition and subsequently install Windows NT or OS/2, neither OS will be able to access the FAT32 partition.
In addition, you can't run disk-compression software (such as Microsoft's DriveSpace) on a FAT32 partition. But it is possible to include both FAT32 and FAT16 partitions on a single hard disk and use DriveSpace compression on FAT16 partitions. (so SR2 includes the same DriveSpace 3 compression Microsoft ships with its Plus pack.)
NTFS= New Technology File System:
This systems structure is the (MFT) or master file table. It uses too much space to use on a (ex; 400mb) hard-drive because it keeps multiple copies of files in the MFT to protect against data loss. It also uses clusters to store data in small noncontiguous clusters and isn't broken up resulting in good performance on large hard-drives. It also suports Hot Fixing where bad sectors are automatically detected and marked.
HPFS= High Performance File System:
This system sorts the directory based on names and is better organized, is faster and is a better space saver. It allocates data to sectors instead of clusters, organized into 8mb bands. This banding improves performance because the read/write heads don't have to return to track zero each time for access.
NetWare File System:
This is quick because Novell developed it for NetWare servers being Netware 3.x and 4.x partitions.
Linux Ext2:
This is also quick because it is a develpoed version of UNIX. The Linux Ex12 volume supports up to 2 terabytes.
I Hope This Helps, Later
