Microsoft Windows Files Systems
...The file system, at the very least, must ensure that files are stored safely and are readily available for retrieval. At a minimum a file system must allow the operating system to write new files of data to the storage disk while at the same time protecting files previously stored, ensuring they do not get over written. And finally, a file system must make the stored files easy to find and quick to retrieve.
A discussion about Microsoft's file system requires a review of the history related to how these file system were introduced and the needs they were trying meet. The Microsoft operating systems have come to dominate the business and personal computer market. As they were beginning with their very first operating system it was necessary for them to develop a file system. And over the years Microsoft has changed their file system as Windows has become more complex and computer hardware becomes faster and more powerful. The changes Microsoft has made to its files system is charted below on the table below.
Microsoft's file system versions.
FAT12 Represents Microsoft's first file system introduced in 1977, it was provided with Microsoft's Disk BASIC
FAT16 Introduced in 1983 with the release of MS-DOS/PC-DOS 2.0
FAT32 Introduced in 1996 with the release of Windows 95's OEM Service Release 2
NTFS Introduced in July 1993 with the release of Windows NT 3.1
The name FAT is an acronym which stands for File Allocation Table and refers to a table or index listing of file names and clusters. This table is use to centralize the information used to identify which physical areas on the disk that are being used for file storage and which areas are free and available for new file storage. These storage location are commonly referred to cluster addresses, which in essence are sectional divisions mapped onto a physical map of the disk platter.
Microsoft's...
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