Fat

[ACM]

Since the FAT files system divides the hard drive into clusters, which are only logical, and the hard drive has to be presented with a sector number (since it does not understand what a cluster is), how does this translation occur between the built-in FAT driver in Windows and the hard disk?

[Tuf]

I am not completely sure what your question is.


Every FAT partition has definition a file allocation table that Windows uses to know which clusters are in use and which clusters are available for use. Which is why FAT is so easily damaged. Your data could be just fine but without this "address book" the Operating system wouldn't be able locate anything.

[doctorgonzo]

ACM,

I am pretty sure that is usually handled by the BIOS and drive controller. Some older BIOSes could not handle drives larger than a certain size, which required a software overlay to do the logical translation.

Check out this site for more info: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/geom/geom-c.html