Editing File system (section)

===Microsoft Windows===
[[File:Dir command in Windows Command Prompt.png|thumb|right|300px|Directory listing in a [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] command shell]]
Windows makes use of the [[File Allocation Table|FAT]], [[NTFS]], [[exFAT]], [[Live File System]] and [[ReFS]] file systems (the last of these is only supported and usable in [[Windows Server 2012]], [[Windows Server 2016]], [[Windows 8]], [[Windows 8.1]], and [[Windows 10]]; Windows cannot boot from it).

Windows uses a ''[[drive letter]]'' abstraction at the user level to distinguish one disk or partition from another. For example, the [[path (computing)|path]] {{mono|C:\WINDOWS}} represents a directory {{mono|WINDOWS}} on the partition represented by the letter C. Drive C: is most commonly used for the primary [[hard disk drive]] partition, on which Windows is usually installed and from which it boots. This "tradition" has become so firmly ingrained that bugs exist in many applications which make assumptions that the drive that the operating system is installed on is C. The use of drive letters, and the tradition of using "C" as the drive letter for the primary hard disk drive partition, can be traced to [[MS-DOS]], where the letters A and B were reserved for up to two floppy disk drives. This in turn derived from [[CP/M]] in the 1970s, and ultimately from IBM's [[CP/CMS]] of 1967.

====FAT====
{{Main|File Allocation Table}}

The family of [[File Allocation Table|FAT]] file systems is supported by almost all operating systems for personal computers, including all versions of [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[MS-DOS]]/[[PC&nbsp;DOS]], [[OS/2]], and [[DR-DOS]]. (PC&nbsp;DOS is an OEM version of MS-DOS, MS-DOS was originally based on [[Seattle Computer Products|SCP]]'s [[86-DOS]]. DR-DOS was based on [[Digital Research]]'s [[Concurrent DOS]], a successor of [[CP/M-86]].) The FAT file systems are therefore well-suited as a universal exchange format between computers and devices of most any type and age.

The FAT file system traces its roots back to an (incompatible) 8-bit FAT precursor in [[Standalone Disk BASIC]] and the short-lived [[MIDAS (operating system)|MDOS/MIDAS]] project.{{Citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Over the years, the file system has been expanded from [[FAT12]] to [[FAT16]] and [[FAT32]]. Various features have been added to the file system including [[subdirectory|subdirectories]], [[codepage]] support, [[extended attribute]]s, and [[long filenames]]. Third parties such as Digital Research have incorporated optional support for deletion tracking, and volume/directory/file-based multi-user security schemes to support file and directory passwords and permissions such as read/write/execute/delete access rights. Most of these extensions are not supported by Windows.

The FAT12 and FAT16 file systems had a limit on the number of entries in the [[root directory]] of the file system and had restrictions on the maximum size of FAT-formatted disks or [[partition (computing)|partitions]].

FAT32 addresses the limitations in FAT12 and FAT16, except for the file size limit of close to 4&nbsp;GB, but it remains limited compared to NTFS.

FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 also have a limit of eight characters for the file name, and three characters for the extension (such as [[.exe]]). This is commonly referred to as the [[8.3 filename]] limit. [[VFAT]], an optional extension to FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32, introduced in [[Windows 95]] and [[Windows NT 3.5]], allowed long file names ([[Long File Name|LFN]]) to be stored in the FAT file system in a backwards compatible fashion.

====NTFS====
{{Main|NTFS}}

[[NTFS]], introduced with the [[Windows NT]] operating system in 1993, allowed [[Access control list|ACL]]-based permission control. Other features also supported by [[NTFS]] include hard links, multiple file streams, attribute indexing, quota tracking, sparse files, encryption, compression, and reparse points (directories working as mount-points for other file systems, symlinks, junctions, remote storage links).

====exFAT====
{{Main|exFAT}}

[[exFAT]] has certain advantages over NTFS with regard to [[file system overhead]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

exFAT is not backward compatible with FAT file systems such as FAT12, FAT16 or FAT32. The file system is supported with newer Windows systems, such as Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11.

exFAT is supported in macOS starting with version 10.6.5 (Snow Leopard).<ref name="encase-book" /> Support in other operating systems is sparse since implementing support for exFAT requires a license. exFAT is the only file system that is fully supported on both macOS and Windows that can hold files larger than 4&nbsp;GB.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/dsku19ed921c/mac|title=File system formats available in Disk Utility on Mac|website=Apple Support}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/exfat-specification|title=exFAT file system specification|website=Microsoft Docs}}</ref>