-=PCTechTalk=- Re: FAT vs MBR
- From: Gman <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 16:44:49 -0500
Don,
As a teacher, my answers are often geared towards all members who might
be trying to follow a thread rather than just the person asking the
question. But you're right that when I use the word 'Drive', its meaning
sometimes does vary more than I should allow. I normally use the terms
partition or volume to indicate a single storage space and that could mean a
partition or a single physical drive that is not broken up into separate
partitions (it's still a single partition or volume).
To clarify, I was referring to a single physical drive, regardless of
whether it has been broken up into multiple partitions or volumes. I also
said that it 'acts like' a master list ... . As I am sometimes apt to do, I
was intentionally trying to avoid confusing any other readers by not digging
into the specifics of how it all works together.
As Ed stated, the MBR is a special storage area for holding the
partition table as well as the boot loader. By itself, it's nothing more
than a reserved storage space on every hard drive. On the other hand, the
allocation table (FAT, NTFS, etc.) created when you format a volume manages
the placement of files on that volume. To be even more specific, the
allocation tables dictate where these files should be stored on the hard
drive's physical platters.
Peace,
Gman
"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask"
http://www.bornagainamerican.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "dsw32952" <dsw32952@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 3:33 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: FAT vs MBR
> Most people I know use "drive" to include logical drives in a partition on
> a
> physical drive. I usually use "physical drive" or "Drive 0" or "Drive 1"
> when the difference is pertinent to the context.
>
> What you said: "The File Allocation Table (FAT) is basically the index
> for
> all the
> files on the PARTITION it resides on." is basically the same thing that
> Gman said about the MBR: "Just in case you're wondering, the MBR acts
> like a
>> master list that keeps track of all of the parts of every file residing
>> on
>> the drive".
>
> Does the MBR actually track every part of every file on the "physical"
> drive?
>
> Don
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