The file system (FAT32 etc) does not impose a maximum drive size. The file
system is only concerned with a maximum partition size. It's the BIOS and
the way that the OS uses the BIOS that imposes a drive size limitation.
The table of cluster sizes and directory files (sic) is wrong - FAT32 allows
65k entries per directory regardless of cluster size and makes no
distinction between entries that are files, folders, or long filenames.
The rest is not related to maximum partition size, except for the bit about
a maximum number of clusters before Scandisk throws the out-of-memory error.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...
"lugnut554" wrote in message
...
I don't think I've run scandisk on this drive--at least not from Windows.
The
drive is 160 Gb and is not partitioned. What is the largest partition
scandisk can work with?
Using FAT32, the largest drive can be up to 2 terabytes [2047 GB],
based on the 32 KB cluster size limitation.
The largest possible file for a FAT32 drive is 4 GB minus 2 bytes.
ScanDisk has a couple of restrictions:
A Maximum Number of Files in a Directory
Drive Cluster Size Max # of Directory Files
--------------------------------------------------
512 bytes (floppy) ~ 1280 give or take 16
2K ~ 5120 give or tak e 64
4K ~10240 give or take 256
8K ~20480 give or take 1024
16K ~40960 give or take 4096
32K ~81920 give or take 16384
B ScanDisk will balk with an out-of-memory error
if you have a hard disk that is larger than 8 GB
that has a cluster size that is smaller than 8 KB.
The standard FAT32 cluster size of 4,096 bytes
applies only to hard disks that are smaller than 8 GB.
You will also receive this error with a very large hard disk
that has a default Windows cluster size of 32 KB.
C If you use the protected-mode (graphical) version of ScanDisk
to perform a thorough scan (which includes a surface scan)
on an IDE hard disk that is larger than 32 GB in size,
ScanDisk may report errors on every cluster
after approximately cluster number 967,393.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243450/EN-US/
D Windows 98 provides two versions of ScanDisk:
a graphical Windows-based version (Scandskw.exe)
that you can run from the Start menu or from Windows Explorer,
and an MS-DOS-based version (Scandisk.exe)
that is contained in the \Windows\Command folder.
Running Scandisk.exe while in Windows will invoke Scandskw.exe.
ScanDisk cannot find or fix errors on CD-ROM drives,
network drives, or drives created by using
Assign, Subst, Join, or Interlnk.
E ScanDisk cannot automatically fix errors if a file name
(including the file's full path) exceeds 259 characters.
This includes file names in the MS IE cache folder.
If this occurs, empty the cache and try ScanDisk again.
F The ScanDisk tool included with Microsoft Windows 95
and Microsoft Windows 98 is a 16-bit program.
Such programs have a single memory block maximum allocation size
of 16 MB less 64 KB. Therefore, The Windows 95 or Windows 98
ScanDisk tool cannot process volumes using the FAT32 file system
that have a FAT larger than 16 MB less 64 KB in size.
A FAT entry on a volume using the FAT32 file system uses 4 bytes,
so ScanDisk cannot process the FAT on a volume using the FAT32
file system that defines more than 4,177,920 clusters
(including the two reserved clusters). Including the FATs themselves,
this works out, at the maximum of 32 KB per cluster,
to a volume size of 127.53 gigabytes (GB).
For a full treatise on ScanDisk, go to this
List of Articles About the ScanDisk Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;287914
See also Chapter 10 [Disks and File Systems] of the Windows 98
Resource Kit at
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...t2/wrkc10.mspx