Definition: FAT (File allocation table): A hidden table of every cluster on a floppy or hard disk. The FAT records how files are stored in distinct - and not necessarily contiguous - clusters. Viruses also like to hide out in the FAT; make sute youur virus-checking software loooks there for malicious programs. A file allocation table uses a simple method, much like a scavenger hunt, to keep track of data. The directory file stores the address of the file's first cluster. In the entry for the second cluster is the address of the third cluster, and so on, until the last cluster entry, which contains an end-of0-file code. Because this table provides only a menas for finding data on a disk, DOS creates and maintains two copies of the FAT in case one is damaged.
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Source: QUECID / Linux Dictionary V 0.16
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Dictionary/html/index.html
Author: Binh Nguyen linuxfilesystem(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)au
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