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Cluster Sizes

Partitions under 16 megabytes use FAT12 while partitions larger than 16 megabytes use FAT16. As a result, cluster sizes can range from 2 kilobytes to 256 kilobytes. Partitions under 16 megabytes have 4 kilobyte clusters. Partitions between 16 and 127 megabytes have 2 kilobyte clusters. Partitions between 128 and 255 megabytes have 4 kilobyte clusters. Partitions between 256 and 511 megabytes have 8 kilobyte clusters. Partitions between 512 megabytes and just under one gigabyte have 16 kilobyte clusters. Partitions between one gigabyte to just under two gigabytes have 32 kilobyte clusters. Beyond two gigabytes, the cluster size gets larger and larger. [Int97a]



Barnett Hsu
1998-10-31