FAT32 Features

FAT32 Features

• FAT Partition Boot Sector
• FAT File Allocation Table
• FAT Root Folder
• FAT Folder Structure
• FAT32 Features

The following topics describe the FAT32 file system.

• File System Specifications
• Boot Sector and Bootstrap Modifications
• FAT Mirroring
• Partition Types

File System Specifications

FAT32 is a derivative of the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system that supports drives with over 2GB of storage.

Because FAT32 drives can contain more than 65,526 clusters, smaller clusters are used than on large FAT16 drives. This method results in more efficient space allocation on the FAT32 drive.

The largest possible file for a FAT32 drive is 4GB minus 2 bytes.

The FAT32 file system includes four bytes per cluster within the file allocation table.

Note that the high 4 bits of the 32-bit values in the FAT32 file allocation table are reserved and are not part of the cluster number.