<file system> (FAT) The component of an MS-DOS or {Windows 95} file system which describes the files, directories, and free space on a hard disk or floppy disk. A disk is divided into partitions. Under the FAT {file system} each partition is divided into clusters, each of which can be one or more sectors, depending on the size of the partition. Each cluster is either allocated to a file or directory or it is free (unused). A directory lists the name, size, modification time and starting cluster of each file or subdirectory it contains. At the start of the partition is a table (the FAT) with one entry for each cluster. Each entry gives the number of the next cluster in the same file or a special value for "not allocated" or a special value for "this is the last cluster in the chain". The first few clusters after the FAT contain the root directory. The FAT file system was originally created for the CP/M[?] operating system where files were catalogued using 8-bit addressing. MS DOS's FAT allows only 8.3 filenames. With the introduction of MS-DOS 4 an incompatible 16-bit FAT (FAT16) with 32-kilobyte clusters was introduced that allowed partitions of up to 2 gigabytes. Microsoft later created FAT32 to support partitions larger than two gigabytes and pathnames greater that 256 characters. It also allows more efficient use of disk space since clusters are four kilobytes rather than 32 kilobytes. FAT32 was first available in OEM Service Release 2 of Windows 95 in 1996. It is not fully backward compatible with the 16-bit and 8-bit FATs. {IDG article (http://idg.net/idgframes/english/content.cgi?vc=docid_9-62525.html)}. http://home.c2i.net/tkjoerne/os/fat.htm. File Allocation Tablebrainy/">http://teleport.com/File Allocation Tablebrainy/. http://209.67.75.168/hardware/fatgen.htm. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/9/97.asp. Compare: NTFS. [How big is a FAT? Is the term used outside MS DOS? How long is a FAT16 filename?] (2000-02-05)

File Allocation Table

<operating system> A standard developed by Microsoft to enable long file names on standard FAT partitions. VFAT suffers from all the drawbacks of FAT and adds more problems but moving to it is very easy. (1996-12-23)

Virtual File Allocation Table (Reference: MS, Windows 95)

In economics, resource allocation is the assignment of available resources to various uses. In the context of an entire economy, resources can be allocated by various means, such as markets, or planning.

Filé is a cajun music ensemble from Louisiana founded in 1983. The group is named after filé powder, a spice used in cajun food.

The File URI Scheme is a URI scheme defined in , typically used to retrieve files from within one's own computer.

<file format> The kind of data stored in a file. Most modern operating systems use the filename extension to determine the file type though some store this information elsewhere in the file system. The file type is used to choose an appropriate icon to represent the file in a GUI and the correct application with which to view, edit, run, or print the file. Different operating systems support different sets of file types though most agree on a large common set and allow arbitrary new types to be defined. See also MIME. {FileInfo.net - The File Extensions Resource (http://fileinfo.net)} (2006-07-11)

A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.

A file folder (or simply folder) is a kind of folder that holds paper] for organization and protection. File folders usually consist of a sheet of heavy paper stock or other thin, but stiff, material which is folded in half, and are used to keep paper [[documents.