File Allocation Table (FAT)

*** FAT16

    FAT16 is a file system that uses the allocation unit that has a limit of up to 16-bit, so it can store up to 2¹⁶ Units allocation (65536 pieces). This file system has a capacity limit of up to 4 Gigabyte sizes only. Allocation unit size used by the FAT16 partition depends on the capacity that was about to be formatted. if the partition size is less than 16 megabytes, then windows will use the FAT12 file system, and if the partition size larger than 16 megabytes, then windows will use the FAT16 file system. The following table contains information any operating system that supports the FAT16 file system.

How a file is stored in a FAT16 volume

Fat16 file system using the allocation unit (or cluster) as the smallest unit of how he can save the file. FAT16 supports the cluster from 1 to 128 sectors. furthemore, there is also a directory entry that provides enaough space to accommodate the file with a file name format 8.3 (eight plus three names the file name extension). Directory entries in FAT16 file system has an entry of 32 bytes for each of the files and subdirectories contained by the directory. The directory entry contains the following fields.

The organizational structure of the FAT16 file system is not too complicatedcomplicated. The files will be given the location of which was first discovered bythe file system in a partition. Furthermore, the file system will provide a number oflocations, called the cluster number, which is the address of the location of the cluster where the file begins. Each cluster contains a pointer (pointer) to the nextcluster for the same file, or an indication that the cluster in question is the end of the series of clusters of a file that is marked by the number base 16 (hexadecimal)0xFFFF (FAT16), or 0xFFF (FAT12). For example, in a file that uses 10 pieces ofthe cluster, the file will have 10 pieces of entries in the file allocation table, andalso 9 units link to the file allocation table, while the last cluster contains a sign thathe is the last cluster, and contains number 0xFFFF. Generally, the file systemstructure is called a linked-list structure.

*** FAT32

    FAT32 is a version of the FAT file system is the most recent, which was introduced when Microsoft released Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (Windows 95 OSR2). Table Windows operating system that supports the FAT32 file system is as follows.

Because it uses large file allocation table (32-bit), FAT32 can theoretically address on the allocation of up to 2³²  units (4,294,967,296 pieces). nevertheless, ist implementation, the number of allocation units that can be addressed by FAT32 is 228 (268 435 456 pieces). The maximum allocation unit size can reach 32 768 bytes (64 sectors), so that theoretically can put 8 terabytes (8192 gigabytes), although not recommended. in addition, the installation program a family of operating systems Windows NT 5.x upwards only allow the creation of up to 32 Gigabyte FAT32 partitions (if partitions larger than 32 GB, the Windows installation program only provides NTFS file system). In the Windows NT operating system installation 5.x and above, if the size of the partition on which Windows is installed less than 2 Gigabytes, the installation program uses the FAT16 file system, and vice versa, if the partition on which Windows is about to be installed more than 2 Gigabytes, the installation program will use the FAT32 file system.

FAT32 uses allocation unit size is smaller than the file system FAT12/FAT16, so FAT32 is more efficient when applied on a large partition (size greater than 512 Megabytes). The savings made by comparison with FAT16/FAT12 FAT32 is approximately 20% to 27%. Windows 98 has a utility that can be used to convert the FAT16 partition to FAT32 without losing data.

*** NTFS (New Technology File System)

NTFS on first introduced in Windows NT and the file system that is completelydifferent compared to FAT technology. NTFS offers better security, filecompression, clusters, and even support data encryption. NTFS is the default file system for Windows XP and Windows if you do a regular upgrade you will beasked whether you want to upgrade to NTFS or keep using FAT. But if you areupgrading to Windows XP and NTFS do not make changes did not matterbecause you can convert it to NTFS at any time. But remember that if you areusing NTFS will arise a problem if you want to downgrade to FAT without losingdata.

On NTFS generally not compatible with other Operating System installed on the same computer (Double OS) was not detected even when you do a startup-bootusing a floppy. For it is advisable to you to provide a small partition that uses theFAT file system at the beginning of the partition. This partition allows you to save the Recovery Tool if get into trouble.

*** Ext 2 (2rd Extented)

EXT2 is a powerful file system in linux. EXT2 is also one of the most powerful filesystem and the foundation of all linux distributions. In the EXT2 file system, filedata is stored as data blocks. This block of data has the same length, andalthough the length varies between EXT2 file system, a large block is determined when the file system is created with the command mk2fs. If a large block is 1024bytes, then a large file with 1025 bytes will be wearing two blocks. This means thatwe throw away a half a block per file.

EXT2 defines the file system topology by providing the sense that every file on the system diasosiasiakan the inode data structure. A shows the block where theinode in a file on every file access rights, file modification time, and file type. Eachfile in the EXT2 file system consists of a single inode and each inode has a unique identification number. Inode inode-stored in the file system inode table.Directory in the EXT2 file system is a special file that contains a pointer to theinode of each directory contents.

*** Ext 3 (3rd Extended)

Is increased from EXT2 EXT3 file system. This increase has several advantages,including:

a.Setelah failure of resources, "unclean shutdown", or damage to the system,EXT2 file system must go through the process of checking with e2fsck program.This process can be a waste of time so that the boot process becomes very long,especially for large disk that contains lots of data. In this process, all data inaccessible.

Provided by the journal EXT3 cause no longer need to be checked the data aftera system failure. EXT3 is only checked if there is damage to hardware such ashard disk damage, but these events are very rare. The time required EXT3 filesystem after an "unclean shutdown" does not depend on the size of the file systemor file number, but depending on the size of the journal used to maintain consistency. Default of the journal takes about a second to recover, depending on the speed of hardware. Data b.Integritas EXT3 ensure data integrity after damage or "unclean shutdown". EXT3 lets you choose the type of protection and types of data. c.Kecepatan Instead of writing data more than once, EXT3 has a greater throughput than EXT3EXT2 for maximizing hard disk head movement. We can choose three journalmode to maximize the speed, but data integrity is not assured. d.Mudah do migration We can move from EXT2 to EXT3 system without reformatting.