- FAT (File Allocation Table) was the original file system developed by Microsoft for early versions of Windows to organize files on disks. It stored metadata in a file allocation table and used a linked list data structure.
- NTFS (New Technology File System) was developed later to replace FAT as disk sizes increased. NTFS uses more advanced data structures like B-trees and provides features like security, compression, encryption, and journaling.
- In NTFS, files are stored in clusters across the disk. The master file table stores metadata about every file and directory, including attributes like security and extended properties. System files also store information to enable features like recoverability.
2. History
In the early days of computing, Microsoft developed
a file system, in collaboration with IBM ,which was
named as FAT file system.
FAT file system was developed to meet the
requirements of storage devices at that time, which
used to be very limited in size.
Later on as the size of storage devices grew, FAT file
system encountered many problems, so NTFS came
into existence.
3. Sectors, Clusters
and Volume.
Sector: The smallest physical
storage unit on the disk.
In windows, size of each sector
is 512(bytes).
Cluster: Group of one or more
contiguous sectors is called a
cluster.
Volume: logical partitioning of
a disk, consisting of one or
more clusters.
Volume consist of files, system
information and unallocated
space, that can be allocated to
files
4. What is FAT file system?
FAT stands for file allocation table.
FAT was used in MSDOS and in early versions of
windows such as 95 and 98.
This System consist of a table known as FILE
ALLOCATION table, which can be viewed as table of
content.
It stores information about all the files on the disk.
Uses linked-list as its data structure.
5. FAT - Table lay-out
Boot
Sector
FAT
TABLE
ROOT
DIRECTORY
Data
Area
Boot sector: located at the sector 0 of the disk.
It contains the information like, how many clusters are
there in a track.
How many sectors are there on each cluster.
What is the size of each sector.
6. FAT Table
It contains pointers to every cluster on the disk.
It indicates the no. of the next cluster on the disk
It indicates the end of a cluster.
Tells whether a particular cluster is empty or not.
8. Root Directory: It is the Primary directory of
the disk.
Data Area
This is the place where actual data is stored on
the disk.
It spans across the remaining sectors of the
disk.
9. Problems in FAT
Fat file system was designed for disk of small size(up to few
GBs),but later on the as the high capacity disks came into use,
FAT file system could not support them.
FAT file system could not support the application required
Recoverability, fault tolerance and file security.
Especially in corporate world, where recoverability and
reliability was of great importance, FAT file system loose it
ways to NTFS
10. NTFS-New Technology File System
Developed by Microsoft and was included in
Windows like XP, Vista ,2007 and 2008.
NTFS supersedes FAT and has many technical
improvements which was missing in FAT.
It uses advanced data structures like B+ trees.
It is more reliable as compared to FAT.
Includes features like security, compression
encryption, journaling, Indexing.
11. How Does NTFS file system stores data
on disk?
In NTFS every sector is of 512 bytes. Each cluster consist of 2
sectors.
Size of each cluster =2*512Bytes
1024 Bytes or 1KB
Let the size of the file = 2000Bytes.
So NTFS will allocate 2 clusters(or 4 sectors).
First cluster will store= 1024 Bytes.
Second cluster will store =976 Bytes
13. NTFS table Lay-out
Partitioning
Boot
Sector
Master File
TABLE
System
Files
File
Area
Partitioning boot sector: Contains information about
volume.
Size of each cluster.
No of sectors in each cluster and size of each sector.
Contains details about boot startup.
14. Mater File Table
Its is like an Index
Stores Information about every file and table
which is stored in the volume on a disk.
There is at least one record for every file and
directory.
It stores the details like , type, size, date/time
of the creation of the file, date/time about the
recent modification and author identity.
15. Master File Table
Standard
Information
File
Name
Security
Descriptor
Data Extended
Attributes
Standard Information: Include access attributes such as read only,
read/write etc.
File Name: A file or a directory must have a name.
Security descriptor : Specifies who owns the file and who else can
access it.
Data: The actual content of the file.
Extended attributes: Any additional attributes that the author
wants to define.
16. System Files
Log file-Tells about transaction steps used for
NTFS recoverability.
Cluster bit map-Shows which clusters are free
or in use.
Attribute Definition-Tells about the attribute
types supported on a volume.
17. Advantages of NTFS over FAT
Recoverability: In case of system crash or disk
failure, it has the ability to reconstruct its
volume and bring it to the consistent state.
Recoverability comes from the fact, that it
uses TRANSACTION processing model.
Each operation is considered as atomic, either
it is entirely completed or not at all.
18. Availability
NTFS system maintains multiple copies of the
critical files, so in event of the failure of a
portion of a disk, files can be accessed from
other location.
Journaling
NTFS keeps a log of all changes made to files
on the volumes .
19. Security:
NTFS is more secure as compared to FAT in
the sense that there is a security descriptor
attribute, that defines the access rights and
prevents unauthorised access to the file.
Compression and Encryption:
Entire directory or any Individual file can be
compressed and encrypted transparently.