FAT AND FAT32#DIFFERENCE FAT (File Allocation Table) is a file system used on computers. Its function is to map out which areas of the drive are unused and which areas of the drive contain files. A file system is very important as it facilitates the seamless reading and writing files to the drive. FAT32 is just one of the variants of FAT that appeared as it evolved to adapt to the increasing requirements of computing. Itis the latest and most widely used in the succession of FAT variants. FAT32, as could be easily discerned by the32 suffix, uses 32 bits torepresent each cluster value. The more notable FAT variant that preceded FAT32, commonly known as FAT16, uses 16 bits; older versions of FAT used 12 and 8 bits. More bits directly translate to more locations that can be addressed and more total usable storage. FAT32 can have partitions of up to 2TB or 2000GB, which is significantly more compared to the 4GB limit that can be addressed by FAT16. FAT32 also has a 4GB limit to the size of individual files. Although hard drives with capacities of 2TB or more are not yet very common, a certain shortcoming of FAT32 has prompted the move towards other more superior file systems like NTFS and Ext3. Despite falling out of favor in most operating systems, FAT32 still manages to persist. Due to its age and popularity, FAT32 has become the file system of choice for removable media like flash cards, USB drives, and even for the internal memories of cameras and mobile phones. Using FAT32 means that the device will very likely work with whatever operating system it is connected to. Right now, FAT32 is the only version of FAT that is still widely used. However, as capacities of storage media begin to increase, the weaknesses of FAT32 would become clearer. There are other FAT replacements on the horizon like exFAT, but it is meant for newer, removable media like SDXC. For current media with capacitites of under 32GB, FAT32 is still the most appropriate version of FAT to use .There are additional differences between FAT32 and FAT16: *. FAT32 allows finer allocation granularity (approximately 4 million allocation units per volume). *. FAT32 allows the root directory to grow (FAT16 holds a maximum of 512 entries, and the limit can be even lower due to the use of long file names in the root folder). Advantages of FAT16 Advantages of FAT16 are: *. MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000,and some UNIX operating systems can use it. *. There are many tools available to address problems and recover data. *. If you have a startup failure, you can start the computer with an MS-DOS bootable floppy disk. *. It is efficient, both in speed and storage, on volumes smaller than256 MB. Disadvantages of FAT16 Disadvantages of FAT16 are: *. The root folder can manage a maximum of 512 entries. The use of long file names can significantly reduce the number of available entries. *. FAT16 is limited to 65,536 clusters, but because certain clusters are reserved, it has a practical limit of 65,524. Each cluster is fixed in size relative to the logical drive. If both the maximum number of clusters and their maximum size (32 KB) are reached, the largest drive is limited to 4 GB on Windows 2000. To maintain compatibility with MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows 98, a FAT16 volume should not be larger than 2 GB. *. The boot sector is not backed up. *. There is no built-in file system security or file compression with FAT16. *. FAT16 can waste file storage space in larger drives as the size of the cluster increases. The space allocated for storing a file is basedon the size of the cluster allocation granularity, not the file size. A10-KB file stored in a 32-KB cluster wastes 22 KB of disk space. Advantages of FAT32 FAT32 allocates disk space much more efficiently than previous versions of FAT. Depending on the size of your files, there is a potential for tens and even hundreds of megabytes more free disk space on larger hard disk drives. In addition, FAT32 provides the following enhancements: *. The root folder on a FAT32 drive is now an ordinary cluster chain,so it can be located anywhere on the volume. For this reason, FAT32 does not restrict the number of entries in the root folder. *. It uses space more efficiently than FAT16. FAT32 uses smaller clusters (4 KB for drives up to 8 GB), resulting in 10 to 15 percent more efficient use of disk space relative to large FAT16 drives. FAT32 also reduces the resources necessary for the computer to operate. *. FAT32 is more robust than FAT16. FAT32 has the ability to relocate the root directory and use the backup copy of the FAT instead of the default copy. In addition, the boot record on FAT32drives has been expanded to include a backup of critical data structures. This means that FAT32 volumes are less susceptible toa single point of failure than FAT16 volumes. Disadvantages of FAT32 Disadvantages of FAT32 include: *. The largest FAT32 volume Windows 2000 can format is limited insize to 32 GB. *. FAT32 volumes are not accessible from any other operating systems other than Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98. *. The boot sector is not backed up. *. There is no built-in file system security or compression with FAT32. Summary: 1.FAT32 is just a variant of FAT. 2.FAT32 uses 32 bits while other variants of FAT use less. 3.FAT32 has the highest capacity among different FAT variants. 4.FAT32 is the only variant of FAT still in widespread use today.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 07:36:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015