FAT16
E37469
FAT16 is an older 16-bit File Allocation Table file system widely used on early DOS and Windows systems, known for its simplicity and limitations in maximum partition and file sizes.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| FAT16 canonical | 16 |
| FAT16 file system | 1 |
| MS-DOS FAT | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T286957 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: FAT16 Context triple: [Windows, previousFileSystem, FAT16]
-
A.
VFAT
VFAT is a Linux-compatible variant of the FAT file system that adds support for long filenames and improved interoperability with Windows systems.
-
B.
ISO 9660
ISO 9660 is an international standard file system format primarily used for optical disc media such as CD-ROMs to ensure cross-platform data compatibility.
-
C.
ext2
ext2 is a widely used early Linux disk file system known for its simplicity, robustness, and lack of journaling.
-
D.
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is a command-line operating system that became the foundational software platform for early IBM-compatible personal computers in the 1980s and early 1990s.
-
E.
XFS
XFS is a high-performance 64-bit journaling file system originally developed by SGI, widely used on Linux for handling large files and parallel I/O workloads.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: FAT16 Target entity description: FAT16 is an older 16-bit File Allocation Table file system widely used on early DOS and Windows systems, known for its simplicity and limitations in maximum partition and file sizes.
-
A.
VFAT
VFAT is a Linux-compatible variant of the FAT file system that adds support for long filenames and improved interoperability with Windows systems.
-
B.
ISO 9660
ISO 9660 is an international standard file system format primarily used for optical disc media such as CD-ROMs to ensure cross-platform data compatibility.
-
C.
ext2
ext2 is a widely used early Linux disk file system known for its simplicity, robustness, and lack of journaling.
-
D.
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is a command-line operating system that became the foundational software platform for early IBM-compatible personal computers in the 1980s and early 1990s.
-
E.
XFS
XFS is a high-performance 64-bit journaling file system originally developed by SGI, widely used on Linux for handling large files and parallel I/O workloads.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
FAT file system
ⓘ
computer file system standard ⓘ file system ⓘ |
| allocationUnit | cluster ⓘ |
| bitWidth | 16-bit ⓘ |
| bootSectorContains | BIOS Parameter Block ⓘ |
| clusterAddressSize | 16 bits ⓘ |
| commonlyUsedIn |
Windows 3.x
ⓘ
early DOS systems ⓘ early Windows 95 installations ⓘ |
| compatibleWith |
digital cameras (legacy)
ⓘ
many embedded systems ⓘ memory cards (legacy) ⓘ |
| dataStructureType | linked allocation table ⓘ |
| designedFor |
MS-DOS
ⓘ
early Windows operating systems ⓘ simplicity of implementation ⓘ |
| developedBy | Microsoft ⓘ |
| directoryStructure | tree of directories and files ⓘ |
| doesNotSupport |
compression
ⓘ
file-level encryption ⓘ |
| FATCopies | typically 2 ⓘ |
| fileNameCharacterSet | limited ASCII subset ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
inefficient space usage with large partitions
ⓘ
limited number of clusters ⓘ no access control lists ⓘ no built-in journaling ⓘ no file permissions model like Unix ⓘ |
| introducedIn | 1984 ⓘ |
| longFilenameSupportAddedIn |
Windows 95
ⓘ
surface form:
Windows 95 (VFAT extension)
|
| maximumFileSize | 2 GB (commonly, with 32 KB clusters) ⓘ |
| maximumPartitionSize | 2 GB (standard implementation) ⓘ |
| metadataStoredIn |
FAT tables
ⓘ
boot sector ⓘ root directory region ⓘ |
| originallyDidNotSupport | long filenames ⓘ |
| rootDirectory | fixed-size region on disk ⓘ |
| sectorSize | typically 512 bytes ⓘ |
| standardizedAs | part of Microsoft FAT specification ⓘ |
| supersededBy |
FAT32
ⓘ
NTFS ⓘ |
| supports |
bootable partitions
ⓘ
read and write operations ⓘ short 8.3 filenames ⓘ |
| usedHistoricallyFor | system boot disks ⓘ |
| usedOn |
floppy disks
ⓘ
small hard disk partitions ⓘ |
| uses | File Allocation Table ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: FAT16 Description of subject: FAT16 is an older 16-bit File Allocation Table file system widely used on early DOS and Windows systems, known for its simplicity and limitations in maximum partition and file sizes.
Referenced by (18)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
MS-DOS FAT
subject surface form:
Memory Stick
subject surface form:
FAT table
this entity surface form:
FAT16 file system