The following is a summary of file interoperability between various popular PC Operating Systems and file system formats. * indicates that software will/may have to be loaded. 'As FAT16' means without long file name support.
OS/File System | FAT12/FAT16 | VFAT | FAT32 | NTFS | HPFS | EXT2 | FAT16 Compressed | Joliet CDROM |
MSDOS/Windows3 | Native | As FAT16 | No | Read Only* | Read Only* | Read Only* | * | * |
Windows 95/98/Me | Native | Native | Native Win95 OSR2 and later | Read Only3* | Read Only* | Read Only* | * | * |
Win-NT/2000 | Native | Native | Native 3.5/2000 | Native | Read Only* | Read Only* | * | * |
OS/2 | Native | Native | * | Read Only* | Native | * | ||
Linux | * | * | * | Read Only* | Native | Native | * | * |
*=With Add In
Read* Only3=Read only with Native/free support. Full capability using 3rd party product
VFAT=FAT16 with Long File Name Support
Refer to the following site for further details
http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~gef/fs/index.htm
Return To Index Copyright 1994-2008 by Donald Kenney.