Operation Manual

Hard Disk And Operating System
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2005
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A.9 File System Main Specifications
Operating systems allow you to work with data by supporting a file system on a disk
partition.
All file systems contain structures required for data storage and control. These
structures usually consist of an OS boot record, files and folders. A file system
performs the following main functions:
1. Monitors used and free disk space (including bad sectors)
2. Maintains folders and filenames
3. Monitors physical file location on a disk
Different operating systems use different file systems. One operating system may
support only one file system; others may support several.
A.9.1 File system specification summary
Below is a summary of the most popular file systems. Each system is briefly
discussed. This information can help you work with Acronis Disk Director Suite.
Table 1. Windows file systems.
File system FAT16 FAT32 NTFS
Operating systems Almost all
Windows
95OSR2/98/Me,
2000/XP, Linux
Windows
NT/2000/XP, Linux
(for reading)
Max. partition size
4 GB (2 GB for
Windows
95OSR2/98/Me)
2 TB 16 EB
Max. file size Limited by
partition size
4 GB
Limited by
partition size
Max. filename length
255 255 32767
Restoration (logging) No No Yes
Max. files in root Set at formatting Unlimited Unlimited
Max. clusters/blocks
~2
16
~2
28
~2
48
Cluster/block size
512 Bytes – 64
KB
512 bytes – 64
KB
512 bytes – 64
KB
File record table/I-node No No Dynamic