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File Allocation Table (FAT)

Vangie Beal
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:43 am

A table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. Due to fragmentation, a file may be divided into many sections that are scattered around the disk. The FAT keeps track of all these pieces.

In DOS systems, FATs are stored just after the boot sector.

The FAT system for older versions of Windows 95 is called FAT16, and the one for new versions of Windows 95 and Windows 98 is called FAT32.