File Systems/FAT32
From ReactOS
FAT32 is the file system used by Microsoft from Windows 95 B to Windows ME, and can still be used by all following versions of Windows. File size is limited to 4 GB. Minimum partition size is 512 MB. FAT32 is more efficient than FAT16 on bigger partitions (cca >128 MB). FAT32 is simple and easy to understand, and supported by some newer DOSes too. FAT32 partitions have to be defragmented occasionaly.
Numerous other operating systems such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, BeOS, Mac OS X, and recent versions of DOS support FAT32 (often by the outdated term VFAT support.) This makes FAT32 an effective file system for sharing files between operating systems on a multiple-boot machine. It is also commonly used on flash media and external hard drives, which ReactOS intends to be able to read with pending USB mass storage support.
Unfortunately Microsoft has been taking recent legal actions to secure existing patents for FAT32 and previous versions of FAT. Although they lost a critical ruling on October 6th 2005, the prospect of them attempting to charge royalties on Free Operating Systems such as ReactOS lingers. It is entirely possible that support for certain versions of FAT, including FAT32, may have to be removed in the future because of this.
Full support in ReactOS is a high priority.
Current status
Sortof well implemented and usable.
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