MS-DOS Partitioning Summary (Q69912)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system

Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft Windows 98

SUMMARY
This article contains a summary of MS-DOS partitioning information. For information on how
MS-DOS assigns drive letters, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
Q51978 Order in Which MS-DOS Assigns Drive Letters
A hard disk's master boot record (MBR) is located in the first sector of the disk (cylinder 0,
side 0, sector 1). The partition table is located at offset 01BE, containing up to four 16-byte
entries. The fourth byte of each partition table entry is used to mark the partition type.
MS-DOS began supporting hard disks in version 2.0.

MS-DOS Versions 2.x

MS-DOS 2.x supports one type 01 partition of up to 15 megabytes (MB) in size, which uses
a 12-bit file allocation table (FAT). Fdisk creates only one MS-DOS partition per drive.

MS-DOS 3.0
MS-DOS 3.0 supports partitions larger than 15 MB using a 16-bit FAT, which allows a
smaller cluster size and more efficient disk usage. As a result, MS-DOS 2.x hard disks
larger than 15 MB are incompatible with later versions of MS-DOS. Fdisk creates only one
MS-DOS partition per drive.

MS-DOS 3.3
MS-DOS 3.3 introduces support for more than one logical drive per hard disk. Logical drives
are treated as completely separate disks under MS-DOS, even though they may occupy the
same physical hard disk.
This is supported by using nonbootable MS-DOS partitions known as extended MS-DOS
partitions. Fdisk reports these as EXT DOS; other MS-DOS partitions are reported as PRI
DOS (for primary MS-DOS). Each primary MS-DOS partition is a logical drive, and extended
MS-DOS partitions contain from 1 to 23 logical drives (MS-DOS supports drive letters up to
Z). Logical drives in extended MS-DOS partitions have the same FAT type as a primary MSDOS partition of the same size.
Only one PRI DOS partition and one EXT DOS partition is allowed per drive. On computers
with two physical hard disks, a PRI DOS partition is not required on the second physical

disk. A PRI DOS partition is required on the first physical disk. (MS-DOS does not support
more than two physical disks.)

MS-DOS 4.0
MS-DOS versions 4.0 and later support logical drives larger than 32 MB. Full usage of these
logical drives requires the MS-DOS program Share.exe to be loaded in MS-DOS 4.0.
The following table explains the versions 4.x and later MS-DOS partition types:
Partition Fdisk
Starting in
Type
Reports
Size
FAT Type MS-DOS version
-----------------------------------------------------------------01
PRI DOS
0-15 MB
12-Bit
2.0 (a)
04
PRI DOS
16-32 MB
16-Bit
3.0
05
EXT DOS
0-2 GB (b)
n/a
3.3
06
PRI DOS
32 MB-2 GB (b) 16-bit
4.0
(a) 15-MB size limitation extended in version 3.0.
(b) 2 GB (gigabytes) includes a limit of 1024 cylinders per drive
imposed by the standard AT ROM BIOS interrupt 13 protocol.

MS-DOS 5.0
MS-DOS versions 5.0 and later support up to eight physical hard disks. Share.exe is not
required for full large-drive support; this support is included in the MS-DOS kernel.
MS-DOS versions 5.0 and later support the same partitioning strategy as version 4.x,
including Fdisk's inability to create more than one primary MS- DOS partition on a physical
disk. However, because some original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partitioning software
allows you to create more than one primary MS-DOS partition, MS-DOS versions 5.0 and
later have kernel support for up to four primary MS-DOS partitions. This makes it easier to
upgrade from previous versions of OEM-modified MS-DOS. Fdisk still creates only one PRI
DOS partition on a physical disk.
NOTE: Many OEMs have changed their versions of MS-DOS to support more than one
primary MS-DOS partition, larger type 04 partitions, and new partition types.

Windows 95
Windows 95 supports two new partition types (0E and 0F) to support the logical block
addressing (LBA) INT13h extensions as specified in the Windows 95 Driver Development Kit
(DDK).
Partition Fdisk
Starting in
Type
Reports
Size
FAT Type version
-----------------------------------------------------------------01
PRI DOS
0-15 MB
12-Bit
MS-DOS 2.0
04
PRI DOS
16-32 MB
16-Bit
MS-DOS 3.0
05
EXT DOS
0-2 GB
n/a
MS-DOS 3.3
06
PRI DOS
32 MB-2 GB
16-bit
MS-DOS 4.0
0E
PRI DOS
32 MB-2 GB
16-bit
Windows 95
OF
EXT DOS
0-2 GB
n/a
Windows 95
Types 0E and 0F require extended Int13 support.
NOTE: Type 0E is the same partition type as 06, and 0F is the same as 05. However,
applications should use the (LBA) INT13h extension's read/write functions to read from or

write to the drive instead of the normal Cylinder/Head/SectorPerTrack (CHS) INT13h

functions because the hard disk has more than 1024 cylinders and/or more than
16,711,680 sectors. Note that earlier versions of FDISK recognize these Windows 95
partitions as NON-DOS partitions.

Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 and Windows 98

Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) and Windows 98 support two new partition
types (0B and 0C) to support the FAT32 file system. For additional information about FAT32,
please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE ID: Q154997
TITLE : Description of the FAT32 File System

The partition types supported by OSR2 and Windows 98 are as follows:

Partition Fdisk
Starting in
Type
Reports
Size
FAT Type version
--------------------------------------------------------------------01
PRI DOS
0-15 MB
12-Bit
MS-DOS 2.0
04
PRI DOS
16-32 MB
16-Bit
MS-DOS 3.0
05
EXT DOS
0-2 GB
n/a
MS-DOS 3.3
06
PRI DOS
32 MB-2 GB
16-bit
MS-DOS 4.0
0E
PRI DOS
32 MB-2 GB
16-bit
Windows 95
0F
EXT DOS
0-2 GB
n/a
Windows 95
0B
PRI DOS
512 MB - 2 terabytes 32-bit
OSR2
0C
EXT DOS
512 MB - 2 terabytes 32-bit
OSR2
Types 0E, 0F, and 0C require extended Int13 support.

FAT Type and Cluster Size Depends on Logical Drive Size

(Q67321)
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 3.1 , 3.2 , 3.21 , 3.3 , 3.3a , 4.0 , 4.01 ,
5.0 , 5.0a , 6.0 , 6.2 , 6.21 , 6.22

Microsoft Windows 95

SUMMARY
MS-DOS allocates disk space for files in units of one or more sectors; these units are called
"clusters" or "allocation units." On any MS-DOS disk, a 1-byte file is allocated 1 cluster of
disk space, wasting the unused area of the cluster. A file that is 3.2 clusters large is given 4
clusters. Overall, a smaller cluster size means less waste.
The cluster size for a drive is decided by FORMAT, depending on the size of the logical drive
(see table, below). "Logical drive" refers to an MS-DOS volume accessed by a drive letter
(A:, B:, C:, D:, and so forth). Hard disk users may want to consider cluster size when
choosing how to partition their drive(s).
The cluster size of a floppy drive cannot be changed. The cluster size of a hard drive can be
changed only by changing the size of the logical drive, which is done by repartitioning the
hard drive.
CHKDSK displays the allocation unit size for a logical drive. FDISK's option 4 displays the
size(s) of logical drives on the hard drive(s).
NOTE: DoubleSpace-compressed drives appear to have 8K clusters, but internally vary the
sectors-per-cluster as necessary (this information is recorded in the MDFAT). For example,
a 10K file which compresses by a factor of 2:1 actually uses 5K, or 10 sectors, of drive
space.

MORE INFORMATION
The following is a table of logical drive sizes, FAT (File Allocation Table) types, and cluster
sizes:
Drive Size
FAT Type
Sectors
Cluster
(logical volume)
Per Cluster
Size
---------------- -------- ----------- ------(Floppy Disks)
360K
12-bit
2
1K
720K
12-bit
2
1K
1.2 MB
12-bit
1
512 bytes
1.44 MB
12-bit
1
512 bytes
2.88 MB
12-bit
2
1K
(Hard Disks)
0 MB - 15 MB
12-bit
8
4K
16 MB - 127 MB
16-bit
4
2K
128 MB - 255 MB
16-bit
8
4K
256 MB - 511 MB
16-bit
16
8K
512 MB - 1023 MB 16-bit
32
16K

NOTES:

1024 MB - 2047 MB

16-bit

64

32K

Sectors are 512 bytes in size, except on some RAM drives.

In the past, some OEMs have modified their versions of MS-DOS to support other
sector and/or cluster sizes. The Microsoft MS-DOS 5 Upgrade Setup will, if possible,
convert the logical drive to MS-DOS 5.0 compatible. This entails converting the
sector size to 512 bytes while retaining the nonstandard cluster size.
MS-DOS determines the FAT size based on the number of clusters. If there are 4085
or fewer clusters, a 12-bit FAT is used. If there are 4086 or more clusters, a 16-bit FAT
is used.

Maximum Partition Size Using FAT16 File System (Q118335)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

Microsoft Windows 98

Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system

SUMMARY
Microsoft MS-DOS versions 4.0 and later allow FDISK to partition hard disks up to 4
gigabytes (GB) in size. However, the MS-DOS file allocation table (FAT) file system can
support only 2 GB per partition. Because of this fact, a hard disk between 2 and 4 GB in
size must be broken down into multiple partitions, each of which does not exceed 2 GB.
NOTE: Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2 and later support drives larger than 2
GB using the FAT32 file system. For more information about the FAT32 file system, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q154997
TITLE : Description of the FAT32 File System
MORE INFORMATION

The 2-GB partition limit is imposed by the maximum number of clusters and the largest
cluster size supported by the FAT file system. The FAT file system is limited to 65,525
clusters. The size of a cluster must be a power of 2 and less than 65,536 bytes--this results
in a maximum cluster size of 32,768 bytes (32K). Multiplying the maximum number of
clusters (65,525) by the maximum cluster size (32,768) equals 2 GB.
Note that the hard disk drive must be supported by the computer's ROM BIOS APIs, which
have a 1024-cylinder limitation, in order for FDISK to partition the hard disk.
Because 32K per cluster can waste valuable hard disk space, the FAT file system is not
always the best hard disk management scheme. Microsoft Windows NT uses the NT File

System (NTFS), which uses a different file/cluster scheme. Microsoft OS/2 version 1.3
offered HPFS, which also uses a more conservative method of allocating disk resources.
NOTE: Microsoft Windows NT also supports FAT drives. Windows NT 3.51 supports FAT
drives up to 4 GB in size. FAT drives from 2 GB to 4 GB in size are not supported by MSDOS or Windows. In other words, if you wish to have a FAT drive accessible from MS-DOS
or Windows 95/98 and Windows NT, your FAT drive should be no larger than 2 GB. If you
will be accessing the FAT drive from only Windows NT, then the drive can be 2 GB to 4 GB in
size. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:

Problems Accessing FAT16 Drives Larger Than 2 GB

(Q127851)
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98

Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5 , 3.51 , 4.0

Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 , 3.51 , 4.0

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

SUMMARY
Microsoft Windows NT supports the creation of primary partitions and logical drives of up to
4 gigabytes (GB) using the File Allocation Table 16 (FAT16) file system, but Windows 95/98
and MS-DOS do not support these drives. The size limit for logical drives using the FAT16
file system in Windows 95/98 and MS-DOS is 2 GB.
NOTE : Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 and later support drives larger than 2 GB using
the FAT32 file system. For more information about FAT32, please see the following article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q154997
TITLE : Description of the FAT32 File System
Windows NT 4.0 does not support FAT32, but FAT32 support has been added in Windows
2000.

MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft does not recommend using MS-DOS or Windows 95/98 with a 4 GB FAT16 drive
created in Windows NT. If you use Windows NT's dual boot feature to boot MS-DOS or
Windows 95/98, you may be able to access the drive, but you may experience unexpected
behavior. In particular, some programs or utilities may incorrectly report that no free space
(0 bytes) exists on the drive.

In addition, you cannot run Windows 95/98 Setup if your computer has a FAT16 drive
created by Windows NT.
For example, during Windows 98 Setup you receive the following error message if your
system has a FAT16 drive larger than 2 GB:

Setup has detected that your hard drive has a 64K-cluster FAT partition.
Because ScanDisk does not work on disks with this cluster size, Setup cannot
continue. To complete Setup, you must repartition your hard drive, format
the partition with a FAT file system that has a cluster size of 32K or less, and
then restart Setup.

Other problems accessing FAT16 drives larger than 2 GB in Windows 95/98 may include the
following:

Running the Defrag tool on the drive causes a "Divide by zero" error message or the
Defrag tool stops responding (hangs).

ScanDisk for MS-DOS stops responding (hangs) or causes an "Out of memory" error
message.

The Chkdsk tool may report multiple "allocation errors" on the drive.

ScanDisk for Windows typically runs without error on 64k cluster FAT16 drives and shows
64K clusters/allocation units on the Summary dialog.
Both MS-DOS and the retail release of Windows 95 use a 16-bit FAT for logical drives larger
than 15 megabytes (MB). The maximum number of clusters for a 16-bit FAT drive is 64K. In
addition, the maximum cluster size for a FAT16 drive in MS-DOS, or Windows 95 is 32K.
Therefore, the maximum logical drive size for FAT16 is calculated as follows:
32K x 64K = 2048 MB = 2 GB
The maximum cluster size for a FAT16 drive in Windows 98 is 32K, or 32,768 bytes.
Therefore, the maximum logical drive size for FAT16 is calculated as follows:
32K x 64K = 2048 MB = 2 GB
Windows NT uses a 64K maximum cluster size to allow drives larger than 2 GB using FAT16.
The maximum logical FAT16 drive size in Windows NT is calculated as follows:
64K x 64K = 4096 MB = 4 GB
NOTE: On a FAT drive, space is allocated by clusters. That is, a file that is smaller than the
drive's cluster size is still allocated one full cluster, thus wasting the additional space in the
cluster. Similarly, a file that is large enough to fill 3-1/2 clusters is allocated four full
clusters. Using a smaller cluster size typically results in less wasted space on the drive.
The cluster size for a FAT drive is determined when the drive is formatted and varies
depending on the size of the logical drive. For more information about cluster and logical
drive sizes in MS-DOS, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q67321 Q67321
TITLE : FAT Type and Cluster Size Depends on Logical Drive Size

Windows 95 and MS-DOS use the FDISK utility to partition a disk. When it accesses a hard
disk, FDISK uses the system AT ROM BIOS INT13h interface, which has a maximum of
1024 cylinders, 255 heads, and 63 sectors per track. FDISK can access any drive within the
limits imposed by the AT ROM BIOS, which means that FDISK can access drives of up to 8
GB, calculated as follows:
1024 cylinders x 255 heads x 63 sectors per track x 512 bytes per
sector = 8,422,686,720 bytes, or roughly 8 GB
The original IDE hardware interface is limited to 16 heads, which reduces the maximum
drive size to 504 MB. Newer IDE (ATAPI) technology, however, uses a translation scheme
called Logical Block Addressing (LBA) to exceed the 504 MB limit as imposed by the system
AT ROM BIOS and IDE specifi- cation. SCSI and ESDI hard drive controllers use similar
translation methods that are usually built into the controller card's ROM BIOS to exceed the
504 MB size limit. For more information about the use of large hard disks with MS-DOS and
Windows 95/98, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q126855
TITLE : Windows Support for Large IDE Hard Disks
The FDISK utility in MS-DOS and the retail release of Windows 95 can create an extended
partition larger than 2 GB. FDISK can then create multiple formatted drives of up to 2 GB in
this extended partition that conform to the AT ROM BIOS constraints mentioned earlier.
FDISK does not, however, allow the creation of a primary FAT16 partition or logical FAT16
drives in an extended partition that is larger than 2 GB. Note also that, as mentioned
earlier, logical drives larger than 504 MB cannot be accessed using MS-DOS or Windows 95
unless LBA or geometry translation is used.
In Windows NT, you can create 4 GB FAT16 drives, either as a primary partition or as a
logical drive in an extended partition. Because MS-DOS and Windows 95/98 have a
maximum logical FAT16 drive size of 2 GB, FAT16 drives larger than 2 GB created using
Windows NT cannot be reliably accessed using MS-DOS or Windows 95/98.