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BuildOrBuy Group Network
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BuildOrBuy News
  1. Clusters
  2. FAT (File Allocation Table)
  1. FAT32
  2. File Systems

 
FAT (File Allocation Table) Comparison Chart:

File Allocation Tables & File Sizes...

 
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  FAT16 FAT32 NTFS

Operating Systems:

 Access is available through MS-DOS, all versions of Windows, Win NT, Win2000, WinXP, and OS/2. Access is available through Win9x, Win2000, and WinXP. A computer running WinXP or Win2000 can access files on an NTFS Partition.

A PC running WinNT 4.0 with SP4 or later might be able to access some files. Other Operating Systems allow no native access.
The following table compares disk and file sizes possible with each File System.
  FAT16 FAT32 NTFS
Recommended Minimum Volume Size: Floppy Disk 512 MB

10 MB. Cannot be used natively by Windows on Floppy Disks.
Maximum Volume Size: 4 GB 2 TB - WinXP only lets you format up to 32GB. Although WinXP can read larger volumes.

Volumes larger than 2 terabytes (TB) are possible by using 64KB clusters to achieve a 256TB volume. Volumes larger than 2TB must be dynamic, not basic.
File Sizes Allowed: 2 GB 4 GB File size limited only by Volume size.
Files Allowed / Volume:

512 files or folders per folder. *

65,534 files or folders per folder. *

4,294,967,295
Domains: Does not support domains. Does not support domains.  

* Using long filenames reduces the number of files per folder.

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Web Development, Gill Boyd & Team - Posted 08/11/2001; Updated 06/04/2004