1-4 OS Fundamentals part 4

Partitioning/Formatting/File System

FAT File allocation table refers to a disk format, which is a way of organizing the storage space on a hard disk. The table organizes information about the files on the hard disk, representing each one as a chain of numbers that identifies where each part of a file is located. The operating system uses it to look up a file and find which clusters that file is written to on the hard disk.

FAT16 Supports drives up to 2 gigabytes in size. Fat16 is the most compatible file system, not only can all windows versions use it but many other OS's also.

FAT32 Supports drives of up to 2 terabytes in size. FAT32 also reduces the cluster size on large drives, freeing up more space.

Cluster sizes of FAT16 and FAT32

Drive	Fat 16	Fat 32
256 MB – 511 MB	8 KB	Not supported
512 MB – 1023 MB	16 KB	4 KB
1024 MB – 2 GB	32 KB	4 KB
2 GB – 8 GB	Not supported	4 KB
8 GB – 16 GB	Not supported	8 KB
16 GB – 32 GB	Not supported	16 KB
>32 GB	Not supported	32 KB

 

NTFS4 New Technology File System used with win NT 4 provides greater security than FAT, and better disk compression. Support for large hard disks, up to 2 terabytes and as drive size increases, performance with NTFS doesn't degrade as it does with FAT.

NTFS5 Updated NTFS for windows 2000,NTFS The NTFS file system is the recommended file system for use with Windows 2000. NTFS has all of the basic capabilities of FAT, and it provides the following advantages over the FAT and FAT 32 file systems:

• Better file security with encrypting file system (EFS)
• Better disk compression.
• Support for large hard disks, and as drive size increases, performance with NTFS doesn't degrade as it does with FAT.

HPFS High Performance File System is the file system used with OS/2. Windows NT 3.51 supported partitions formatted with HPFS , but it did not support formatting new drives as HPFS. In Windows NT 4.0, the support for HPFS was eliminated.

File Systems that windows supports

	Win 95	98/ME	NT 3.51/4	2000
Fat	yes	yes	yes	yes
Fat 32	95/ORS2	yes	no	yes
NTFS4	no	no	NT 4	yes
NTFS5	no	no	NT 4 with service pack 4	yes
HPFS	no	no	NT 3.51	no

Windows-based utilities

ScanDisk Used to check your hard disk for logical and physical errors. ScanDisk can then repair the damaged areas. All window versions except NT come with scandisk.

If you do not shut down the computer properly win 95 OSR2 and 98 will run scandisk automatically next time you start up your computer.

Device manager Access it from control panel system icon.

With Device Manager you can

• view and print reports about system settings
• change a device’s resource settings
• view what IRQ, DMA, I/O, and memory addresses a device is using
• disable/enable devices
• add, change or remove device drivers

Computer Manager The Computer Management Console in Windows 2000 brings a variety of the win 2000 system and disk tools together in one user interface.

Some Tools you can access with Computer Manager

• Local Users and Groups
• System Information
• Event Viewer
• Device Manager
• Disk Management

MSCONFIG.EXE This is the System Configuration Utility located at c:\windows\system\msconfig.exe. This program lets you troubleshoot system configuration problems, by removing entries with check boxes, reducing the chance of typing errors which may happen if you use Notepad or the System Configuration Editor. It also allows you to create a backup of your system files before you change anything. It allows you to remove programs that are automatically started when windows starts.

REGEDIT.EXE is installed in the systemroot folder. REGEDIT is used to edit the registry.

REGEDT32.EXE (32-bit) is the win 2000 registry editor and is installed in the systemroot\system32 folder.

ATTRIB.EXE Displays or changes file attributes.

attrib [+r|-r] [+a|-a] [+s|-s] [+h|-h] [[drive:][path] filename] [/s[/d]]

• +r Sets the read-only file attribute.
• -r Clears the read-only file attribute.
• +a Sets the archive file attribute.
• -a Clears the archive file attribute.
• +s Sets the file as a system file.
• -s Clears the system file attribute.
• +h Sets the file as a hidden file.
• -h Clears the hidden file attribute

EXTRACT.EXE can be found in the \Windows\Command directory. In Windows 98/2000 you can view and extract CAB files using Windows Explorer. In Windows 95, you had to use the command-line Extract.exe program to extract CAB files.

DEFRAG.EXE Is a utility that checks your hard disk for logical (lost clusters, cross-linked files, directory structure) and physical errors on the drive. ScanDisk can then repair the damaged areas. All window versions except NT come with scandisk. If you are using win 3.1 you have to exit to DOS and use its version.

If you do not shut down the computer properly win 95 OSR2 and 98 will run the DOS version of scandisk automatically next time you start up your computer.

Win 9x provides two versions of ScanDisk: a graphical windows-based version Scandskw.exe and an DOS-based version Scandisk.exe. No matter which version name you type while in windows, either from the run box or a DOS prompt the windows version will run, you must exit to DOS to run its version.

Windows 2000 automatically optimizes disk use. To optimize a disk manually, right-click it in My Computer, click Properties, and then, on the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.

EDIT.COM Starts Dos-based text editor.

FDISK.EXE is an MS-DOS-based application that is run from the DOS command line. You use fdisk to partition your hard drives.

If you enable large disk support, any drives created will be FAT32. You will have to use a boot disk created from the OS you used to partition the drive, as win 95/NT cannot read FAT32 partitions (win95 ORS 2 does support Fat32)

Fdisk is not needed with windows 2000 as Disk Management prepares hard disks.

SYSEDIT.EXE Starts System Configuration Editor , can be found in c:\windows\system. This program allows you to edit protocol.ini, system.ini, win.ini, config.sys, and your autoexec.bat files.

SCANREG Runs the Registry Checker program, which scans your registry. If Registry Checker notices a problem, it automatically replaces the registry with the backup copy. Registry Checker runs each time Windows starts.

Windows comes with a DOS version Scanreg.exe located in \windows\command and an windows version Scanregw.exe located in \windows (Click here for Command Line Info)

WSCRIPT.EXE Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a simple, powerful, and flexible scripting solution for the 32-bit Windows platform. WSH allows scripts—including those written in VBScript and JavaScript—to be run directly on the Windows desktop without being embedded in an HTML document. This low-memory scripting host is ideal for non-interactive scripting needs, such as logon and administrative scripting. WSH can be run from either the Windows-based host (Wscript.exe) or the command-shell–based host (Cscript.exe).

HWINFO.EXE Hardware Diagnostic command line tool provides the same information as the Microsoft System Information Tool, it is color coded with blue text as warnings and red text as problems. To run type hwinfo.exe /ui switch. It will not run without the switch.

ASD.EXE (Automatic Skip Driver) Detects devices that prevent Windows from starting. Located at c:\windows It will automatically disable device drivers or operations that fail during startup. You can start the Automatic Skip Driver Agent from the tools menu in the System Information Utility.

Cvt1.EXE (Drive Converter FAT16 to FAT32) This utility converts a hard drive from FAT16 to FAT32. Win 98 does not include a utility for converting a drive back to FAT16 once you have converted it to FAT32.