What Is the Installable File System?

Installable File System (English: Installable File System, IFS for short) is also called installable file system , it is a file system API in MS-DOS / PC DOS 4.x, IBM OS / 2 and Microsoft Windows, enabling operation The system is able to identify and load drivers for the file system.

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IFSHLP.SYS (Installable File System Helper) is a

The IFS API is part of the Windows Driver Kit.

When Microsoft stopped developing OS / 2 and focused on what was then called OS / 2 NT, they adopted the idea of IFS and the HPFS file system.

Compared with the original four solutions, NT IFS was redesigned into two solutions, microIFS and miniIFS were removed from the solution, and IFS and Helper remained unchanged. Added in Windows NT 4.0

File Allocation Table (English: File Allocation Table , acronym: FAT ), is a file system invented by Microsoft and has some patents for MS-DOS and is also a file system used by all non-NT core Microsoft Windows .

The FAT file system was not complicated, considering that the computer had limited performance at the time, so almost all personal computer operating systems supported it. This feature makes it an ideal floppy disk and memory card file system, and it is also suitable for data exchange in different operating systems. Now, generally speaking FAT refers specifically to FAT32.

However, FAT has a serious disadvantage: when new data is written after the file is deleted, FAT will not organize the file into complete fragments and then write it. After long-term use, the file data will gradually become scattered, which slows down the reading and writing speed. Defragmentation is a solution, but it must be frequently reorganized to maintain the efficiency of the FAT file system. ^[2]