File Systems

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An operating system's ability to access files on a volume depends on the file system with which the volume was formatted. Table 17.1 shows the file system formats supported by various operating systems.

Table 17.1 Operating System and File System Compatibility

Operating System

File System Format

Windows 2000

NTFS
FAT16
FAT32

Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0

NTFS
FAT16

Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) and Windows 98

FAT16
FAT32

Windows 95 (prior to version OSR2)

FAT16

MS-DOS

FAT16

You can use long and short file names in both NTFS and FAT volumes. A long file name (LFN) can be up to 255 characters long. Short file names have the 8.3 format and are compatible with MS-DOS and other legacy operating systems.

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Note

8.3 format means that files can have between 1 and 8 characters in the file name. The name must start with a letter or a number and can contain any characters except the following:

. / \ [ ] : ; | = , * ? (space)

An 8.3 file name typically has a file name extension between one and three characters long with the same character restrictions. A period separates the file name from the file name extension.

Several special file names are reserved by the system and cannot be used for files or folders:

CON, AUX, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, PRN, NUL