A table stored on a hard disk that identifies the physical location of each & every file on the disk.
The File Allocation Table consists of consecutive sectors of a logical drive and contains a table allocating files to the logical sectors of the storage medium. It is located in the sectors after the boot sector. It also contains information about free and defective sectors on the storage medium.
n. In IBM personal computers, a table used to allocate space on a disk for a file and to locate and chain together parts of the file that may be scattered on different sectors so that the file can be used in a random or sequential manner.
A table that is maintained by DOS which lists which clusters on a hard disk are being utilized and what files they are associated with. Since each entry in the FAT is a fixed size (16 bits), the cluster size must increase as the hard disk size increases. The largest hard disk partition available with FAT16 is approximately 2GB. When Microsoft released Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2 or Release B), they included the ability to utilize a 32-bit FAT called FAT32. This new FAT permits up to 2TB drives while maintaining a cluster size of only 4,096 bytes.
MS-DOS's method of storing and keeping track of files on a disk.
identifies the clusters comprising each file.
FAT is used by the operating system to keep track of which clusters are allocated to specific files and which are available for use.
the prt of a floppy disk or hard disk where information is stored about the location of each piece of information on the disk (and about the location of unusable areas of the disk)
a list maintained by the operating system that keeps track of where these separate pieces of data are held
The File Allocation Table is a kind of index which exists at the start of every disk, and is used by the operating system to locate entries for files.
File system used by DOS and Windows. FDDI
A table or list maintained by some operating systems to manage disk space used for file storage. Files on a disk are stored, as space allows, in fixed-size groups of bytes (characters) rather than from beginning to end as contiguous strings of text or numbers. A single file can thus be scattered in pieces over many separate storage areas. A file allocation table maps available disk storage space so that it can mark flawed segments that should not be used and can find and link the pieces of a file. In MS-DOS, the file allocation table is commonly known as the FAT.
A DOS file system that uses a file allocation table to store information locations, sizes, and properties of files saved on the disk.
A file system based on a file allocation table (FAT) maintained by some operating systems, including Windows NT and Windows 2000, to keep track of the status of various segments of disk space used for file storage.
The part of a hard drive located in the first few sectors of each partition that contains the location and size of all of the files. It stores the cluster which make up each file, along with the name of each file, and the file's attributes.
(FAT or FAT32) DOS uses the FAT to manage the disk data area. The FAT tells DOS which portions of the disk belong to each file. The FAT links together all of the clusters belonging to each file, no matter where they are on disk. The FAT is a critical file: you should be sure to back it up regularly. FAT32 is a newer type of FAT that was designed to handle large hard disks. The older FAT (FAT16) can only support partitions up to two gigabytes in size. FAT32 can handle partitions that are thousands of gigabytes.
abbreviated as "FAT"] You probably already know that the data in your computer --the files and programs-- are not all stored in one continuous block on a disk drive. Files are stored as space allows in fixed groups of bytes. Think of the file allocation table as the phone book that keeps track of where everything is. The two most common FATs are FAT16 and FAT32 for MS-DOS/Windows. FAT16 (as in 16-bits) was created back in the bad ol' days before hard drives and is therefore not very efficient (and limits drives to 2.6GB in size). FAT32 (32-bits), introduced with Win98, does a much more efficient job of file allocation and does not have the 2.6GB size restriction. Your computer always keeps two copies of the FAT in case one gets corrupted. If both become corrupted, you're in deep do-do.
Microsoft operating systems store data in fixed length blocks of bytes called clusters, with the size of these blocks depending on the type of storage device and the size of the storage device. A File Location Table (FAT) is used to track the clusters that have been allocated to a specific file for Microsoft DOS, Windows, Windows 95, and Windows 98. The operating system relies upon the FAT to locate the data associated with a specific file and references in the FAT act as pointers to identify clusters by numeric reference.
An area on the disk (floppy or logical drive) set aside to reference file locations on that disk. The table is a chain identifying where each part of a file is located. It acts similarly to a table of contents for a book.
This is one way to index the contents of storage media, such as your hard drive. The operating system looks here to know where on the drive files are located....
FAT is a table in a hard disk drive that maintained by the operating systems. It records where your physical your files are being placed, that is which clusters.
Filesystem used by DOS and Windows . FDDI
(FAT) The operating systems uses a file allocation table to keep track of which clusters are allocated to which files and which are available for use.
A map on every disk that tells the operating system where the files on the disk are stored. It's sort of like a seating chart for files.
Common file format of file cataloging for DOS and Windows operating systems; physical method of storing and accessing files from a hard disk. The FAT contains a list of all files on the physical or logical drive.
A table that the operating system on a personal computer uses to locate files on a disk. Due to fragmentation, a file may be divided into many sections that are scattered around the disk. The FAT keeps track of all these pieces.
An area of the disk drive that serves as a sort of road map, indicating to the operating system where data is stored. It operates in conjunction with the directory structure.
A table or list maintained by an operating system to keep track of the status of various segments of disk space used for file storage.
A file system used by MS-DOS and other Windows-based operating systems to organize and manage files. The file allocation table (FAT) is a data structure that Windows creates when you format a volume by using the FAT or FAT32 file systems. Windows stores information about each file in the FAT so that it can retrieve the file later. See also: FAT32; file system; NTFS file system
Table of information that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. 8.15
File Allocation Table (FAT) is a partially patented file system developed by Microsoft for MS-DOS and is the primary file system for consumer versions of Microsoft Windows up to and including Windows Me. FAT as it applies to flexible/floppy and optical disk cartridges (FAT12 and FAT16 without LFN support) has been standardized as ECMA-107 and ISO/IEC 9293.