Disk Drive Partition Sizes and File Systems
NOTE: Windows 2000 and Windows XP scan the bus itself, ignoring the BIOS, your Operating System should see the full size of the drive. Partition Size limits are a different story, however.
|
Operating System |
File Systems |
|
MS-DOS |
FAT |
|
Windows 3.1 |
FAT |
|
Windows NT |
FAT, NTFS |
|
Windows 95 |
FAT |
|
Windows 95OSR2 |
FAT, FAT32 |
|
Windows 98 |
FAT, FAT32 |
|
Windows Me |
FAT, FAT32 |
|
Windows 2000 |
FAT, FAT32, NTFS |
|
Windows XP |
FAT, FAT32, NTFS |
FAT12 - is the only format used on floppy diskettes.
FAT16 (also called FAT) – used with DOS, Win95A, and WinNT 1.0 through 4.0 Service Pack 3 - but can be recognized by all Windows operating systems. See MS Article Q100108 for info on FAT, HPFS (not covered here – rare) and NTFS. See MS Article Q140365 for default cluster sizes with FAT and HPFS. FAT16 has no backup copy of the indices!!
FAT32 – used with Win95B (Win95 OSR2), Win98, Win98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP - DOS, Win95A, and WinNT cannot read a FAT32 volume !! The boot record on FAT32 drives is expanded to include a backup copy of critical data structures. MS-DOS, the original version of Microsoft Windows 95, and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-and-earlier do not recognize FAT32. File size limit is one byte less than 4 GB on a FAT32 partition. However, for AVI files the limit is 2 GB.
See MS Article Q154997 for general info on FAT32 and Q253774 for a FAT32 FAQ and MS Article Q310525 for info on FAT32 on WinXP. See MS Article Q184006 for FAT32 limitations.
NOTE1: Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions up to a size of 32 GB !! Also, A FAT32 volume cannot be compressed by using Microsoft DriveSpace.
NOTE2: for Win2000 and XP, NTFS is recommended over FAT32 – more stable. To convert a FAT32 volume to NTFS see MS Article Q307881 – use the included file, “convert.exe” by opening a DOS box and typing :
convert drive letter: /fs:ntfs
*** if the system cannot gain exclusive use of the drive – it will ask you if you want to convert upon the next reboot – say “Y” and then reboot
NTFS – used with WinNT 4 Service Pack 4 (and up), Windows 2000, and Windows XP - DOS, Win95A, Win95B (Win95 OSR2)Win98, Win9898 SE, and Windows ME cannot read an NTFS Volume !! Only Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP have full access to files on an NTFS volume (NT 4.0 SP4 and up have some imitations with recent versions of NTFS).
1.DOS 6.22 or LESS: DOS 6.22 or less
Does not support drives greater than 8.4. There are no solutions at this time.
2.Windows 95: Windows 95 version A (standard version)
Does support extended interrupt 13 so it can support drives with capacities greater than 8.4 GB. Because of the limitation of the FAT16 file system, a minimum of five partitions will need to be created on the hard drive. This is caused by the 2.048 GB partition limitation of a FAT 16 Operating System. Partition quantities will increase as the hard drive's capacity increases (e.g., an 11 GB hard drive WILL require a minimum of six partitions). Microsoft has identified that Windows 95 does NOT support drive capacities greater than 32 GB. They recommend that users either upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 4 (or newer). Reference Microsoft Article Q246818 for more information.
NOTE: Windows 95 Upgrade is NOT considered a standard version. It requires that MS-DOS or Windows 3.1x be installed. This means that a Windows Upgrade will NOT support drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB.
3.Windows 95B / OSR2, Windows 95C and Windows 98: Windows 95B (OSR2), Windows 95C, Windows 98, Windows 98SE, and Windows ME
Supports extended interrupt 13 which allows the operating system to support drives larger than 8.4 GB. These operating systems also support FAT 32. This file system lets the user create partitions larger than 2.048 GB. FAT 32 can only be used on hard drives whose capacity exceeds 512 megabytes. Microsoft has identified that Windows 95 does NOT support drive capacities greater than 32 GB. They recommend that users either upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 4 (or newer). Reference Microsoft Article Q246818 for more information.
Microsoft has also identified occasions when the operating system may misreport cluster
sizes (and/or disk capacities) on drives whose capacities exceed 32 GB. Reference Microsoft Article Q243450 for the fix to this issue.
Hard disks and other media larger than 32 GB in size were not available at the time Windows 95 and subsequent Windows 95 OEM Service Releases were developed. The changes required to support media larger than 32 GB in Windows 95 would require architectural changes that cannot be supported on these platforms. Microsoft Windows 98 does support IDE hard disks larger than 32 GB in size. If using Phoniz BIOS with “BitShift” then use the hotfix documented in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q243450: ScanDisk Errors on IDE Hard Disks Larger Than 32 GB
NOTE: if you have the more common “LBA” there is no problem with disks larger than 32 GB and no need for the hotfix.
Clusters cannot be 64 kilobytes (KB) or larger. If clusters were 64 KB or larger, some programs (such as Setup programs) might calculate disk space incorrectly. A volume must contain at least 65,527 clusters to use the FAT32 file system. You cannot increase the cluster size on a volume using the FAT32 file system so that it ends up with less than 65,527 clusters. The maximum possible number of clusters on a volume using the FAT32 file system is 268,435,445. With a maximum of 32 KB per cluster with space for the file allocation table (FAT), this equates to a maximum disk size of approximately 8 terabytes (TB). The ScanDisk tool included with Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98 is a 16-bit program. Such programs have a single memory block maximum allocation size of 16 MB less 64 KB. Therefore, The Windows 95 or Windows 98 ScanDisk tool cannot process volumes using the FAT32 file system that have a FAT larger than 16 MB less 64 KB in size. A FAT entry on a volume using the FAT32 file system uses 4 bytes, so ScanDisk cannot process the FAT on a volume using the FAT32 file system that defines more than 4,177,920 clusters (including the two reserved clusters). Including the FATs themselves, this works out, at the maximum of 32 KB per cluster, to a volume size of 127.53 gigabytes (GB). You cannot decrease the cluster size on a volume using the FAT32 file system so that the FAT ends up larger than 16 MB less 64 KB in size. You cannot format a volume larger than 32 GB in size using the FAT32 file system in Windows 2000 unless you use the Windows 2000 FastFAT driver (it can mount and support volumes larger than 32 GB that use the FAT32 file system (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create one using the Format tool. This behavior is by design. If you need to create a volume larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system instead.
4. Windows 2000
Supports FAT 16, FAT 32 and NTFS file systems. As menioned above, FAT 16 file system supports partition sizes up to 2.048 GB. FAT 32 file system supports up to two Terabytes and, according to Microsoft, two Terabytes should be considerd the partition size limit for NTFS file systems. For further information on partition and volume size limitations for Windows 2000 please see Microsofts Windows 2000 Article on Maximum Volume Sizes
5. Windows XP - see Microsoft Article Q314463
Note the following limitations when you use the FAT32 file system with Windows XP:
Clusters cannot be 64 kilobytes (KB) or larger.. There is a maximum of 32 KB per cluster, along with the space required for the file allocation table (FAT). Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk. (see MS Article Q255867 - How to Use Fdisk and Format to Partition/Repartition a Hard Disk) NOTE: When you attempt to format a FAT32 partition that is larger than 32 GB during the Windows XP installation process, the format operation fails near the end of the process, and you may receive the following error message: Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.
For additional information about the FAT32 file system, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Q310525 Description of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP For additional information about how to convert a FAT32 volume to NTFS, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Q307881 HOW TO: Convert a FAT16 or FAT32 Volume to NTFS
5.Windows NT 3.5: Windows NT 3.5 does not support drives greater than 8.4 GB.
6.Windows NT 4.0: Windows NT 4.0 WILL support drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB provided: NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 is used along with the ATAPI.SYS file linked to in article Q183654 on the Microsoft Website. The system is upgraded to NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.
NOTE: Reference Microsoft Article # Q197667 "Installing Windows NT Server on a Large IDE Hard Disk " for proper installation/upgrade procedures.