What Is the FAT Virus?

FAT32 refers to a file allocation table that uses a 32-bit binary number record management disk file management method. Because the core of a FAT-type file system is a file allocation table, the name is derived from it. FAT32 is developed from FAT and FAT16. Its advantages are good stability and compatibility, full compatibility with Win 9X and previous versions, and easy maintenance. The disadvantage is that the security is poor, and it can only support a maximum of 32GB partitions, and a single file can only support a maximum of 4GB.

Windows file system in each

The internal space of each logical disk using the FAT32 file system can be divided into three parts, which are the boot area (BOOT area), file allocation table area (FAT area), and data area (DATA area). The boot area and the file allocation table area are collectively called the system area, occupying a small space at the front of the entire logical disk and storing related management information. The data area is the area where the logical disk is used to store the file content. This area is used with clusters as the allocation unit.

The following are some of the characteristics of FAT32:

(1) The FAT32 file system still divides the logical disk space into three parts, which are the boot area (BOOT area), file allocation table area (FAT area), and data area (DATA area). The boot area and file allocation table area are collectively called the system area.

(2) The structure of MBR and extended partition of FAT32 is still the same as that of DOS. It's just that the bootloader code is different. The previous section introduced the bootloader used by MBR. I won't repeat them here.

(3) The FAT32 boot area starts from the first sector and uses three sectors. It stores the important parameters and boot records of the logical disk per sector, such as the number of sectors per cluster, and other sectors. Several reserved sectors remain afterwards.

(4) The structure of the FAT32 file allocation table is the same as that of FAT16 under DOS, and the cluster chain structure is still used to manage the files, except that one entry of FAT32 uses 4 bytes or 32 bits, so that the file allocation table can have more clusters You can manage large disk space.

(5) A cluster of FAT32 systems corresponds to 8 logically adjacent sectors. Theoretically, the upper limit of the logical disk capacity that can be managed by this usage is 16TB, and the capacity is greater than 16

Generally, a FAT32 partition can be created (using Windows 95OSR2 or Windows 98) only if:

The total hard disk capacity must be greater than 528MB.

The size of each partition must be greater than 528MB.

The user needs to have an OSR2 installation disk, or an OSR2 boot disk (or an appropriate Windows 98 boot disk) made by another PC on which OSR2 is installed.

When FDISK of 0SR2 / 98 prompts Do you wish to enable large disk support? Y or N (Do you want to enable large hard disk support?), You should answer Y. If you answer N, then a FAT16 disk partition will be created. ^[4]

1.Speed of FAT32

FAT32 is usually as fast as FAT16, and in some cases it can be slightly faster. There are typically no significant performance differences. The main advantage of FAT32 is that it makes more efficient use of large disks than FAT16.

In real mode MS-DOS or Windows98 safe mode, FAT32 will be much slower than FAT16. If you want to run the program under MS-DOS, it is best to run SMARTDRV.

3.Dual boot and FAT32

You cannot use FAT32 on a machine that requires dual-booting another operating system, such as Windows 95. Windows NT, Windows 3.1, or MS-DOS6.x. Other operating systems cannot access the FAT32 partition table. As long as the C drive is FAT16, other systems can also boot, but the remaining FAT32 partitions are not visible to other operating systems. If you use FAT16, then Windows 98 also supports dual boot between Windows98 and the previous MS-DOS operating system, and use F4 to switch, but cannot switch between Windows95 and Windows98.

4.FAT32 and antivirus software

Using anti-virus software in FAT32, changing the drive will cause the partition table and boot record to be updated. If the antivirus software starts, it may intercept requests to update the partition table or boot record and ask if updates are allowed. Also, when the computer is restarted after changing the drive, the antivirus software will notice that the partition table or boot record has been changed and will request a "repair". Don't let your anti-virus software repair the boot record or partition table, otherwise the drive and all data on it will be lost. ^[1]