If youve got a hard drive formatted with the FAT32 file system, you might have found that you cant copy large files to that drive. So how do you fix that, and. File Allocation Table FAT is a computer file system architecture and a family of industrystandard file systems utilizing it. The FAT file system is a legacy file. Fat32 And Ntfs File System' title='Fat32 And Ntfs File System' />File Allocation Table Wikipedia. FATDevelopersMicrosoft, NCR, SCP, IBM, Compaq, Digital Research, Novell, Caldera. Full name. File Allocation Table. Variants. 8 bit FAT, FAT1. FAT1. 6, FAT1. 6B, FAT3. Ex. FAT, FATX, FATIntroduced. Standalone Disk BASIC 8. Partition identifier. MBREBR FAT1. 2 0x. Extended AttributeFAT1. E e. a. FAT3. 2 0x. B 0x. 0C e. a. BDP EBD0. A0. A2 B9. E5 4. C0 6. B6. B7. 26. C7. Structures. Directory contents. Fat32 And Ntfs File System' title='Fat32 And Ntfs File System' />Table. File allocation. Linked list. Bad blocks. Cluster tagging. Limits. Max. volume size. FAT1. 2 3. 2 Mi. B 2. Mi. B for 6. Ki. B clustersFAT1. Gi. B 4 Gi. B for 6. Ki. B clustersFAT3. Ti. B 1. 6 Ti. B for 4 Ki. B sectorsMax. file size. Gi. B 1 with FAT1. B and FAT3. 21Max. FAT1. 2 4,0. 68 for 8 Ki. B clusters. FAT1. Ki. B clusters. FAT3. Ki. B clusters. Max. UCS 2 characters when using LFNFeatures. Dates recorded. Modified datetime, creation datetime DOS 7. Windows-File-System.gif' alt='Fat32 And Ntfs File System' title='Fat32 And Ntfs File System' />ACCDATE enabled,2 deletion datetime only with DELWATCH 2Date range. Date resolution. 2 seconds for last modified time,1. Forks. Not natively. Attributes. Read only, Hidden, System, Volume, Directory, Archive. File system permissions. FAT1. 2FAT1. 6 File, directory and volume access rights for Read, Write, Execute, Delete only with DR DOS, Palm. DOS, Novell DOS, Open. DOS, Flex. OS, 4. OS, 4. 69. 0 OS, Concurrent DOS, Multiuser DOS, System Manager, REAL3. Execute right only with Flex. OS, 4. 68. 0 OS, 4. OS individual file directory passwords not with Flex. OS, 4. 68. 0 OS, 4. OS WorldGroupOwner permission classes only with multiuser security loadedFAT3. Fat32 And Ntfs File System' title='Fat32 And Ntfs File System' />Whether youre formatting an internal drive, external drive, or removable drive, Windows gives you the choice of using three different file systems NTFS, FAT32. Partial, only with DR DOS, REAL3. OSTransparent compression. FAT1. 2FAT1. 6 Per volume, Super. Stor, Stacker, Double. Space, Drive. Space. FAT3. 2 No. Transparent encryption. FAT1. 2FAT1. 6 Per volume only with DR DOSFAT3. No. File Allocation Table FAT is a computer file system architecture and a family of industry standard file systems utilizing it. The FAT file system is a legacy file system which is simple and robust. It offers good performance even in lightweight implementations, but cannot deliver the same performance, reliability and scalability as some modern file systems. It is, however, supported for compatibility reasons by nearly all currently developed operating systems for personal computers and many mobile devices and embedded systems, and thus is a well suited format for data exchange between computers and devices of almost any type and age from 1. Originally designed in 1. FAT was soon adapted and used almost universally on hard disks throughout the DOS and Windows 9x eras for two decades. As disk drives evolved, the capabilities of the file system have been extended accordingly, resulting in three major file system variants FAT1. FAT1. 6 and FAT3. The FAT standard has also been expanded in other ways while generally preserving backward compatibility with existing software. With the introduction of more powerful computers and operating systems, as well as the development of more complex file systems for them, FAT is no longer the default file system for usage on Microsoft Windows computers. FAT file systems are still commonly found on floppy disks, flash and other solid statememory cards and modules including USB flash drives, as well as many portable and embedded devices. FAT is the standard file system for digital cameras per the DCF specification. OvervieweditConceptseditThis section needs expansion with General descriptions of the various FAT file system types per talk page. Alternatively, the missing information could be added to the various existing FAT file system types chapters. The very technical contents previously residing under Technical design were split out to Design of the FAT file system. If you came here via an existing link please fix up the link by pointing it to Design of the FAT file system instead, or leave a note on the talk page for assistance. All previous embedded anchors continue to exist in the new article. You can help by adding to it. May 2. The name of the file system originates from the file systems prominent usage of an index table, the File Allocation Table FAT, statically allocated at the time of formatting. The table contains entries for each cluster, a contiguous area of disk storage. Each entry contains either the number of the next cluster in the file, or else a marker indicating end of file, unused disk space, or special reserved areas of the disk. The root directory of the disk contains the number of the first cluster of each file in that directory the operating system can then traverse the FAT, looking up the cluster number of each successive part of the disk file as a cluster chain until the end of the file is reached. In much the same way, sub directories are implemented as special files containing the directory entries of their respective files. Originally designed as an 8 bit file system, the maximum number of clusters has been significantly increased as disk drives have evolved, and so the number of bits used to identify each cluster has grown. The successive major variants of the FAT format are named after the number of table element bits 1. FAT1. 2, 1. 6 FAT1. FAT3. 2. Except for the original 8 bit FAT precursor, each of these variants is stillwhen in use. The FAT standard has also been expanded in other ways while generally preserving backward compatibility with existing software. The FAT file system has a long history over three decades of usage on desktops and portable computers, and it is frequently used in embedded solutions. FAT offers reasonably good performance and robustness, even in very light weight implementations. It is therefore widely adopted and supported by virtually all existing operating systems for personal computers as well as some home computers and a multitude of embedded systems. This also makes it a useful format for solid statememory cards and a convenient way to share data between operating systems. FAT file systems are the default file system for removable media with the exception of CDs and DVDs and as such are commonly found on floppy disks, super floppies, memory and flash memory cards or USB flash drives and are supported by most portable devices such as PDAs, digital cameras, camcorders, media players, or mobile phones. While FAT1. 2 is omnipresent on floppy disks, FAT1. Lawn Brown Patch Treatment. FAT3. 2 are typically found on the larger media. FAT was also commonly used on hard disks throughout the DOS and Windows 9x eras, but its use on hard drives has declined since the introduction of Windows XP, which primarily uses the newer NTFS. FAT is still used in hard drives expected to be used by multiple operating systems, such as in shared Windows, GNULinux and DOS environments. Due to the widespread use of FAT formatted media, many operating systems provide support for FAT through official or third party file system handlers. For example, OS2, GNULinux, Free. BSD and Be. OS provide built in support for FAT, even though they also support more sophisticated file systems such as ext. Mac OS 9 and mac. OS support FAT file systems on volumes other than the boot disk. Amiga. OS supports FAT through the Cross.