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<html>
<!-- http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/fat16.htm -->
<head>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 3.0">
<title>FAT16 Structure Information</title>
</head>
<body>
<p align="center"><strong><u><big>FAT16 Structure Information - Written by Jack Dobiash</big></u></strong></p>
<p align="center"><em><small>Updated : June 17th, 1999</small></em></p>
<p>Looking for FAT32 Info?&nbsp; Go <a href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/fat32.htm">here</a>.<br>
Looking for Informaton on how to Read and Write to your Hard Drive?&nbsp; Go <a
href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/diskaccess.htm">here</a>.</p>
<p>I've written this page for anyone who wishes to write software that can do low-level
reading and writing of a hard drive, and needs to know what the underlying structure of a
FAT16 Drive is, in order to interpret the information properly.&nbsp; Basically I've
searched all over the web, and have compiled this information in one spot. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Hopefully it can be of use to someone.&nbsp; I don't guarantee that all of this
information is correct or complete, but so far is seems to have been working for me.
&nbsp;</p>
<p>A lot of the number references I've made in this document are in Hexadecimal.&nbsp; Any
that are have an 'h' after them.&nbsp; Also, just in case my terminology may be different
from yours; a 'WORD' is 2 Bytes and a 'DOUBLE WORD' is 4 Bytes.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><u><strong>Master Boot Record</strong></u></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Master Boot Record is the same for pretty much all Operating Systems.&nbsp; It is
located on the first Sector of the Hard Drive, at Cylinder 0, Head 0, Sector 1.&nbsp; It
is the first piece of code that your computer runs after it has checked all of your
hardware (POST) and turned control of loading software over the hard drive.&nbsp; It also
contains the partition table, which defines the different sections of your hard
drive.&nbsp; Basically if anything happens to this little 512 byte section, your hard
drive is brain dead.&nbsp; Kinda scary, eh? :)</p>
</blockquote>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="455" height="79">
<tr>
<td width="44" height="25">Offset</td>
<td width="269" height="25">Description</td>
<td width="52" height="25">Size</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="25">000h</td>
<td width="269" height="25">Executable Code (Boots Computer)</td>
<td width="52" height="25">446 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="22">1BEh</td>
<td width="269" height="1">1st Partition Entry (See Next Table)</td>
<td width="52" height="22">16 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="17">1CEh</td>
<td width="269" height="17">2nd Partition Entry</td>
<td width="52" height="17">16 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="12">1DEh</td>
<td width="269" height="12">3rd Partition Entry</td>
<td width="52" height="12">16 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="20">1EEh</td>
<td width="269" height="20">4th Partition Entry</td>
<td width="52" height="20">16 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="44" height="16">1FEh</td>
<td width="269" height="16">Executable Marker (55h AAh)</td>
<td width="52" height="16">2 Bytes</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><br>
<strong>Partition Entry (Part of MBR)</strong></p>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="523" height="236">
<tr>
<td width="47" height="7">Offset</td>
<td width="328" height="7">Description</td>
<td width="130" height="7">Size</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="8">00h</td>
<td width="328" height="8">Current State of Partition (00h=Inactive, 80h=Active)</td>
<td width="130" height="8">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="18">01h</td>
<td width="328" height="18">Beginning of Partition - Head</td>
<td width="130" height="18">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="19">02h </td>
<td width="328" height="19">Beginning of Partition - Cylinder/Sector (See Below)</td>
<td width="130" height="19">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="15">04h</td>
<td width="328" height="15">Type of Partition (See List Below)</td>
<td width="130" height="15">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="13">05h</td>
<td width="328" height="13">End of Partition - Head</td>
<td width="130" height="13">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="15">06h</td>
<td width="328" height="15">End of Partition - Cylinder/Sector</td>
<td width="130" height="15">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="22">08h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Number of Sectors Between the MBR and the First Sector in the
Partition</td>
<td width="130" height="22">1 Double Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47" height="22">0Ch</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Number of Sectors in the Partition</td>
<td width="130" height="22">1 Double Word</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><br>
<strong>Cylinder/Sector Encoding</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I guess back in the days of 10MB hard drives and 8086's, code was at a premium. &nbsp;
So they did everything they could to preserve space.&nbsp; Unfortunately now we have to
live with it, but luckily they created new ways of translating the system so the 1024
Cylinder Limit (2^10) isn't too big of a problem, for newer computers, at least. &nbsp;
Older ones usually need some sort of Disk Overlay program to make them see the whole hard
drive.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>
<p>Anyway, to get the Sector out of this, you need to apply an AND mask ($3F) to it.
&nbsp; To get the Cylinder, you take the high byte and OR it with the low byte that has
been AND masked with ($C0) and then Shifted Left Two.&nbsp; It's not very easy to explain,
so I'll just show you how I did it with two routines I made (In Pascal) for Encoding and
Decoding the Cylinder/Sector.&nbsp; Hopefully even if you don't know Pascal you'll be able
to read it.</p>
<p>Function CylSecEncode(Cylinder, Sector : Word) : Word;<br>
Begin<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; CylSecEncode := (Lo(Cylinder) shl 8) or (Hi(Cylinder) shl 6) or Sector;<br>
End;<br>
<br>
Procedure CylSecDecode(Var Cylinder, Sector : Word; CylSec : Word);<br>
Begin<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cylinder := Hi(CylSec) or ((Lo(CylSec) and $C0) shl 2);<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sector := (CylSec and $3F);<br>
End;<br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="418" height="48">
<tr>
<td width="10" height="23">15</td>
<td width="13" height="23">14</td>
<td width="18" height="23">13</td>
<td width="7" height="23">12</td>
<td width="12" height="23">11</td>
<td width="20" height="23">10</td>
<td width="19" height="23">9</td>
<td width="20" height="23">8</td>
<td width="36" height="23">7</td>
<td width="29" height="23">6</td>
<td width="20" height="23">5</td>
<td width="22" height="23">4</td>
<td width="21" height="23">3</td>
<td width="22" height="23">2</td>
<td width="25" height="23">1</td>
<td width="23" height="23">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="184" height="13" colspan="8">Cylinder Bits 7 to 0</td>
<td width="67" height="13" colspan="2">Cylinder Bits 9+8</td>
<td width="149" height="13" colspan="6">Sector Bits 5 to 0</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><br>
<strong>Partition Type Listing</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are more than just these shown, but I've only included that ones relevant to MS
Operating Systems.</p>
</blockquote>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="418" height="57">
<tr>
<td width="52" height="23">Value</td>
<td width="354" height="23">Description</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="10">00h</td>
<td width="354" height="10">Unknown or Nothing</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="13">01h</td>
<td width="354" height="13">12-bit FAT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="0">04h</td>
<td width="354" height="0">16-bit FAT (Partition Smaller than 32MB)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="8">05h</td>
<td width="354" height="8">Extended MS-DOS Partition</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="7">06h</td>
<td width="354" height="7">16-bit FAT (Partition Larger than 32MB)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="6">0Bh</td>
<td width="354" height="6">32-bit FAT (Partition Up to 2048GB)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="10">0Ch</td>
<td width="354" height="10">Same as 0BH, but uses LBA<sub>1</sub> 13h Extensions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="12">0Eh</td>
<td width="354" height="12">Same as 06H, but uses LBA<sub>1</sub> 13h Extensions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="52" height="1">0Fh</td>
<td width="354" height="1">Same as 05H, but uses LBA<sub>1</sub> 13h Extensions</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><br>
<u><strong>Reading Multiple Partitions</strong></u></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Since FAT16 is limited to 2GB per partition, drives that use it tend to have multiple
partitions.&nbsp; The first partition is the Primary Partition, and everything else is
stored in the Extended Partition.&nbsp; It's a little tricky when it comes to reading
those extra partitions though (not a lot, just a little).&nbsp; The first record in the
partition table shows where the Primary partition is (how big it is, where it starts, and
where it ends).&nbsp; The second entry in the partition table shows where the Entire
Extended Partition is (which may include more than just one partition).&nbsp; To read any
more partitions, you go to the where it says the Extended Partition starts, and read the
first sector.&nbsp; It acts just like the MBR.&nbsp; It'll have blank where the code is
supposed to be, and in the partition table it will have for it's first entry the next
Partition in the Drive, and if there are anymore, there will be another Extended
partition, just like before.&nbsp; However, all references to Sector Numbers are made
using the that new MBR point as the reference, making it a virtual drive.&nbsp; Just
incase this doesn't make much sense (and by the way I explain things I can understand if
it doesn't), let me show you how a drive with three partitions is setup.</p>
<p>MBR of Whole Drive</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Entry #1 - Points to Partition #1<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Entry #2 - Points to the Entire Extended Partition</p>
<p>You would read the first sector of that Extended Partition, and see another MBR
Structure.</p>
<p>MBR of Extended Partition</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Entry #1 - Points to Partition #2<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Entry #2 - Points to Rest of Extended Partition after Partition #2</p>
<p>Now, all references to Sector Numbers (most specifically the entry at Offset 08h) in
those Entries wouldn't be referenced from the start of the drive, but from the start of
the Extended Partition.&nbsp; However, the CHS (Cylinder, Head, Sector) numbers would
still be right.</p>
<p>Once again, you would read the first sector of that Extended Partition, and see the
next MBR.</p>
<p>MBR of Rest of Extended Partition</p>
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Entry #1 - Points to Partition #3<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; No Entry #2, since this was the Last Partition</p>
<p>If there were another partition, the pattern would continue just like before, until the
last one was reached.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><br>
<u><strong>FAT16 Boot Record</strong></u></p>
<blockquote>
<p>This information is located in the first sector of every partition.</p>
</blockquote>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="518" height="192">
<tr>
<td width="60" height="19">Offset</td>
<td width="329" height="19">Description</td>
<td width="110" height="19">Size</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="10">00h</td>
<td width="329" height="10">Jump Code + NOP</td>
<td width="110" height="10">3 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="25">03h</td>
<td width="329" height="25">OEM Name</td>
<td width="110" height="25">8 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="6">0Bh</td>
<td width="329" height="6">Bytes Per Sector</td>
<td width="110" height="6">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="7">0Dh</td>
<td width="329" height="7">Sectors Per Cluster</td>
<td width="110" height="7">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="12">0Eh</td>
<td width="329" height="12">Reserved Sectors</td>
<td width="110" height="12">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="7">10h</td>
<td width="328" height="7">Number of Copies of FAT</td>
<td width="111" height="7">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="4">11h</td>
<td width="328" height="4">Maximum Root Directory Entries</td>
<td width="111" height="4">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="5">13h</td>
<td width="328" height="5">Number of Sectors in Partition Smaller than 32MB</td>
<td width="111" height="5">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="8">15h</td>
<td width="328" height="8">Media Descriptor (F8h for Hard Disks)</td>
<td width="111" height="8">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="60" height="4">16h</td>
<td width="328" height="4">Sectors Per FAT</td>
<td width="111" height="4">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="14">18h</td>
<td width="328" height="14">Sectors Per Track</td>
<td width="111" height="14">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="23">1Ah</td>
<td width="328" height="23">Number of Heads</td>
<td width="111" height="23">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">1Ch</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Number of Hidden Sectors in Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="22">1 Double Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">20h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Number of Sectors in Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="22">1 Double Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">24h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Logical Drive Number of Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="22">1 Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">26h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Extended Signature (29h)</td>
<td width="111" height="22">1 Byte</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">27h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Serial Number of Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="22">1 Double Word</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">2Bh</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Volume Name of Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="22">11 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">36h</td>
<td width="328" height="22">FAT Name (FAT16)</td>
<td width="111" height="22">8 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">3Eh</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Executable Code</td>
<td width="111" height="22">448 Bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="61" height="22">1FEh</td>
<td width="328" height="22">Executable Marker (55h AAh)</td>
<td width="111" height="22">2 Bytes</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><br>
<br>
<u><strong>FAT16 Drive Layout</strong></u></p>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="521" height="64">
<tr>
<td width="374" height="23">Offset</td>
<td width="111" height="23">Description</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="374" height="10">Start of Partition</td>
<td width="111" height="10">Boot Sector</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="374" height="14">Start + # of Reserved Sectors</td>
<td width="111" height="14">Fat Tables</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="374" height="-1">Start + # of Reserved + (# of Sectors Per FAT * 2)</td>
<td width="111" height="-1">Root Directory Entry</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="374" height="3">Start + # of Reserved + (# of Sectors Per FAT * 2) + ((Maximum
Root Directory Entries * 32) / Bytes per Sector) </td>
<td width="111" height="3">Data Area (Starts with Cluster #2)</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><u><strong>Cluster Meaning (FAT Table Entries)</strong></u></p>
<blockquote>
<p>A Cluster is a Group of Sectors on the Hard Drive that have information in them. &nbsp;
A 16K Cluster has 32 Sectors in it (512*32=16384).&nbsp; Each Cluster is given a spot in
the FAT Table.&nbsp; When you look at an Entry in the FAT, the number there tells you
whether or not that cluster has data in it, and if so, if it is the end of the data or
there is another cluster after it.&nbsp; All Data on a Partition starts with Cluster #2
(Right after Root Directory). &nbsp;&nbsp; If the FAT Entry is 0, then there is no data in
that cluster.&nbsp; If the FAT Entry is FFFFh, then it is the last entry in the
chain.&nbsp; </p>
</blockquote>
<div align="left">
<table border="1" width="430" height="78">
<tr>
<td width="247" height="19">FAT Code Range</td>
<td width="171" height="19">Meaning</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="247" height="11">0000h</td>
<td width="171" height="11">Available Cluster</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="247" height="10">0002h-FFEFh</td>
<td width="171" height="10">Used, Next Cluster in File</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="247" height="7">FFF0h-FFF6h</td>
<td width="171" height="7">Reserved Cluster</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="247" height="4">FFF7h</td>
<td width="171" height="4">BAD Cluster</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="247" height="9">FFF8h-FFFF</td>
<td width="171" height="9">Used, Last Cluster in File</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p><u><strong>Directory Table</strong></u></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Another aspect when looking at a File System at Low Level is the Directory Table.
&nbsp; The Directory Table is what stores all of the File and Directory Entries.
&nbsp;Someone else has already written a good resource for this information on the net, so
go <a href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/lfn.htm">here</a> to look at it.&nbsp; The
link doesn't work anymore, but luckily I saved the page a while back, so i'll just post it
on my site.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Footnotes</p>
<p>1 - LBA = Logical Block Addressing - Uses the Int 13h Extensions built into newer
BIOS's to access data above the 8GB
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
barrier, or to access strickly in LBA mode, instead of CHS (Cylinder, Head, Sector).</p>
<p align="center"><a href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy">Home</a> <a
href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/rps.html">Reference Point Software</a> <a
href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/fat32.htm">FAT32 Structure Information</a> FAT16
Structure Information <a href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/diskaccess.htm">Disk Access
Information</a> <br>
<a href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/bio.html">About Me</a> <a
href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/links.html">Links</a> <a
href="http://home.teleport.com/~brainy/dobiash.html">Dobiash?</a></p>
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