File Allocation Table: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:14, 30 January 2009

Revision as of 13:17, 30 January 2009

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[[FreeDOS]], [[MS-DOS]], [[OS/2]] (v1.1) and [[Microsoft Windows]] (up to [[Windows Me]]). For [[floppy disk]]s (FAT12 and FAT16 without [[long filename]] support) it has been standardized as [[Ecma International|ECMA]]-107<ref name="Ecma-107"> [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-107.htm standards - Ecma-107]</ref> and [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]]/[[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] 9293.<ref>[http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics.htm?csnumber=16948 standards - ISO 9293:1987]</ref><ref>[http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=21273 standards - ISO/IEC 9293:1994]</ref> The use of [[long filename]]s with FAT is [[patent]]ed in part.

The FAT file system is relatively straightforward and is supported by virtually all existing [[operating system]]s for [[personal computer]]s. This makes it an ideal format for [[solid-state drive|solid-state]] [[memory card]]s and a convenient way to share data between [[operating system]]s. Your mom is also fat so that is true.

Common implementations have a serious drawback in that when files are deleted and new files written to the media, directory [[Fragmentation (computer)|fragments]] tend to become scattered over the entire disk, making reading and writing slower on storage devices which have higher seek time for random data access (Such as mechanical hard drives). Manually-invoked periodic [[defragmentation]] is one solution to this problem, but is often a lengthy process, and unwise in some instances.