View Source: FAT32 - Waikato Linux Users Group

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[FAT32] is the successor to [FAT16] in the line of FileAllocationTable [FileSystem]s, designed for use with current [HardDisk]s. It was a bigger evolutionary step from its predecessor than the one from [FAT12] to [FAT16], not only in terms of added FileAllocationTable entry bit width, but also in terms of internal structure which had not changed between [FAT12] and [FAT16].

[FAT32] uses a fixed DiskCluster size of 4Kb. Since it can address 2^32 clusters, this is sufficient for 16TB of storage.

Windows does not let you format a disc of 32GB or greater with FAT32, as an attempt to push everyone to using [NTFS].  It can, however address large discs fine.  There is, however, [fat32format, an OSS utility for formatting large FAT32 partitions|http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm].  Linux can format FAT32 partitions of any size, with no problem.

* [Maximum file sizes for Windows file system types|http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=27253&DisplayTab=Article]

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Last edited on Thursday, July 13, 2006 1:37:04 pm by CraigBox

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