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This article introduces the relevant knowledge of "what is the difference between FAT16 and FAT32". In the operation of actual cases, many people will encounter such a dilemma, so let the editor lead you to learn how to deal with these situations. I hope you can read it carefully and be able to achieve something!

Before we explain the FAT file system, we must know what FAT is. FAT (File Allocation Table) means "file allocation table". As the name implies, it is used to record the location of the file table, it is very important for the use of the hard disk, if the file allocation table is lost, then the data on the hard disk can not be used because it cannot be located. Different operating systems use different file systems. In the commonly used operating systems on personal computers, MS-DOS 6.x and below use FAT16;OS/2 and HPFS;Windows NT use NTFS;, while MS-DOS 7.10 and ROM-DOS 7.10 provide both FAT16 and FAT32 for users to choose from. Among them, the file systems we have most contact with are FAT16 and FAT32.

I. FAT16 file system

FAT16 uses 16-bit space to represent the case of each sector (Sector) profile, so it is called FAT16.

Due to the inherent limitations of FAT16, after each partition exceeds a certain capacity, the size of the cluster (Cluster) it uses must be expanded to accommodate more disk space. The so-called cluster is the allocation unit of disk space, just like an one-grid bookshelf in a library. Each file to be saved to disk must be configured with a sufficient number of clusters before it can be stored on disk. The relationship between FAT16 partitions and cluster size is as follows:

Partition size FAT16 cluster size

16MB-127MB 2KB

128MB-255MB 4KB

256MB-511MB 8KB

512MB-1023MB 16KB

1024MB-2047MB 32KB

If you store 50KB files in a partition of 1000MB, because the size of the partition cluster is 16KB, it needs 4 clusters. If it is a 1KB file, it must also be stored in a cluster. So can the remaining space in each cluster be used? The answer is no, so when using disks, there will be more or less loss of disk space.

As we can see from above, the FAT16 file system has two biggest disadvantages:

(1) the maximum disk partition can only reach 2GB. At present, as long as you buy a computer, you must have at least 2GB in the size of the hard disk, while the hard drives above 3.2GB and 4.3GB can be found everywhere and are good and cheap. The FAT16 file system can no longer adapt to the current high-capacity hard disk and must be forced to partition into several disk spaces. And the size of the partition disk also involves the problem of clusters, which can be said to have a great impact.

(2) the size of the cluster is not appropriate. Just imagine, if a file the size of 1KB is placed in a 1000MB disk partition, the space it takes up is not 1KB, but 16KB, which is a waste of 15KB! At present, most of the popular HTML files are 1KB and 2KB, but dozens of HTML files are often used to make a website. If you have 100 of these small files on your hard drive, the disk space you waste can range from 700KB (partition of 511MB) to 3.1MB (partition of 2047MB).

The above two problems often make users wander in the choice of "how big a partition to save space, and at the same time make the use of the hard disk more convenient and efficient".

II. FAT32 file system

In order to solve the problems existing in FAT16, a FAT32 system is developed. FAT32 uses 32-bit space to represent each sector (Sector) profile. Using the single partition that can be used by FAT32, the maximum can reach 2TB (2048GB), and the size of the cluster that can be used by partitions of various sizes is also appropriate. The above two advantages make the use of the hard disk more efficient. Now the size of the partition and cluster will be integrated as follows, we can make a careful comparison:

Partition size FAT16 cluster size FAT32 cluster size

16MB-32MB 2KB does not support

32MB-127MB 2KB 512bytes

128MB-255MB 4KB 512bytes

256MB-259MB 8KB 512bytes

260MB-511MB 8KB 4KB

512MB-1023MB 16KB 4KB

1024MB-2047MB 32KB 4KB

2048MB-8GB does not support 4KB

8GB-16GB does not support 8KB

16GB-32GB does not support 16KB

32KB is not supported above 32GB

Under the circumstances that the current hardware can support, if the 8GB hard disk is divided into a single partition, the size of the cluster is only 4KB, which really saves a lot of space compared with the previous FAT16.

III. Restrictions on the use of FAT32

Seeing these advantages, you can't wait to convert FAT16 to FAT32. However, before you convert, note the following points:

(1) it is incompatible with other PC operating systems. Currently, the only operating systems that support FAT32 are MS-DOS 7.10, ROM-DOS 7.10, FreeDOS, and Windows 2000 and above, while other operating systems cannot read FAT32 partitions at all. For example, if you boot with an old version of DOS, such as MS-DOS 6.x, the FAT32 partition on your hard drive will disappear and you won't see it at all. In addition, if you want to use multiple reboots to boot multiple different operating systems, it is recommended that you do not change the C: partition to FAT32. Because some operating systems will be forced to install and boot from the main partition C:, if you change C: to FAT32 and the operating system does not recognize FAT32, you will not be able to boot.

(2) some disk tools and antivirus software do not recognize FAT32, which may result in that the disk tool software cannot process the disk of the partition of FAT32 after conversion, and the antivirus software will not recognize this file system and misjudge it as poisoning.

(3) some older versions of the software cannot be executed in FAT32 partitions, such as Office 95.

(4) partitions smaller than 512MB are generally not allowed to be converted to FAT32. Although we found from the previous list that partitions smaller than 512MB only use clusters the size of 512Bytes, in Windows 98, you can only convert partitions above 512MB. If you want to convert the partition from 32MB to 512MB, you must use the / MIN command in CVT.EXE, such as CVT D: / CVT32 / MIN, or FDISK / FPRMT.

(5) disk compression cannot be done in FAT32 partitions, even using disk compression in Windows 98 is not feasible.

(6) if the BIOS of your motherboard supports the "suspend-to-disk" function, please turn this function off because it cannot be used in the FAT32 partition.

(7) the conversion tools provided by Windows 98 can only convert FAT16 to FAT32, not from FAT32 to FAT16. The only way to convert back is to repartition (Partition), format (Format), and then reinstall the system, applications, and so on.

To convert from FAT32 to FAT16, you can also use a tool: Partition Magic 3.0 or above of PowerQuest. This is a set of software that allows you to freely change the partition size and file system without damaging disk data. You can use this software to convert FAT32 to FAT16 without having to reformat your favorite hard drive. If you do not have the software, then have the idea of "ready to regret", please make a backup before FAT16 converts FAT32. At the same time, we remind you that if your computer configuration is not very high (that is, not P Ⅱ or the same level of CPU), it is best not to convert the partition table to FAT32, as this will affect the hard disk read speed.

This is the end of the content of "what's the difference between FAT16 and FAT32". Thank you for reading. If you want to know more about the industry, you can follow the website, the editor will output more high-quality practical articles for you!

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