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Groups > alt.lang.asm > #6622

Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12

From "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com>
Newsgroups alt.lang.asm, alt.os.development
Subject Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12
Date 2016-04-01 13:45 -0400
Organization Aioe.org NNTP Server
Message-ID <ndmc55$8n5$1@gioia.aioe.org> (permalink)
References <ndk667$vv8$1@gioia.aioe.org> <qhkrfbhc62mp6kve2n1u6gfj5prnv8o4pt@4ax.com> <ndljqo$s9s$1@gioia.aioe.org> <ji6tfbl4a3tk91mit17ttlns6hm5kp5c3h@4ax.com>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Robert Wessel" wrote:

> I don't understand - is this not the beginning of the
> "normal" FAT32 partition, or is it someplace else?
>  If it's someplace else, how does the BIOS get to the
> partition to boot it?

There are no partitions.

> If it is the beginning of the "normal" FAT32 partition,

Volume.

> what's to prevent the defrag program from moving the
> root directory,

I didn't know that defrag could/would do that.
This is only for simple hobby OS's, etc - just don't defrag.
Out of curiosity, (I always look and see) I wrote many
files to the drive and confirmed in HxD that the root
directory 512 byte clusters (the clusters in the
Virtual Partition can be any size) were severely fragmented
- each 16 entry root cluster was separated on drive by it's
16 - 512 byte files and so on and so on. The defrag analysis
showed 0 fragmentation, I defragged anyways and absolutely
nothing changed.

> or from the OS from simply extending the root directory
> if more than ~255 files (less if there are LFNs, more
> if clusters are bigger than 512 bytes) get written to
> the root directory?

There's nothing stopping it, nor should there be. The
Virtual Partition will still work.

> And again, why is it a problem if the boot code is two
> sectors?  Or three, or four?

It's _absolutely_ no problem at all. The Virtual Partition
changes none of that.

1.  There are no partitions.
2.  The Virtual Partition is _virtual_ - the standard OS
    knows absolutely nothing about it - and it doesn't need
    to know.
3.  Only the simple system FAT32 driver knows about it.
4.  The simple system FAT32 driver is exactly the same as
    the FAT12 driver - the only difference is FAT32.
5.  The simple driver can only see and access the files in
    the first 2048 clusters at the beginning of the volume.
    This is what makes it as simple as FAT12.
6.  The Virtual Partition is aid to the small system
    developer (hobby OS) and absolutely free of cost,
    patents or copyright.
7.  The Virtual Partition in no way hampers the development
    of a full FAT32 driver.
8.  The rest of the world has said goodbye to FAT12 and
    FAT16 a long time ago. Windows won't format anything
    FAT12. The last time I looked a 32GB flash drive was
    selling for 10 dollars, if you're lucky you can still
    get a 8GB or 16GB drive. 2GB is the maximum size for
    FAT16.
9.  Say goodbye to FAT12 and FAT16. Hello simple FAT32.

Mike Gonta
look and see - many look but few see

http://mikegonta.com
http://tawk.to/mikegonta

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Thread

The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-03-31 17:51 -0400
  Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-03-31 20:48 -0500
    Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 06:50 -0400
      Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-04-01 11:06 -0500
        Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 13:45 -0400
          Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-04-01 17:06 -0500
            Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 23:16 +0100
              Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-04-01 17:29 -0500
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-04-01 20:24 -0400
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-04-02 00:10 -0500
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-04-02 12:03 -0400
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 20:19 -0400
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 20:08 -0400
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 20:02 -0400
                Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 19:55 -0400
              Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 19:30 -0400
            Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 18:55 -0400
              Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-04-04 00:40 -0500
  Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2016-04-01 09:20 +0200
    Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 07:01 -0400
      Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2016-04-04 10:42 +0200
        Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-05 15:58 -0400
          Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2016-04-05 22:19 +0200
            Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-05 18:24 -0400
  Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 09:55 +0100
    Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-01 07:11 -0400
  Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-04-01 20:24 -0400
    Re: The Virtual Partition - say goodbye to FAT12 "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-02 21:30 -0400

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