Daniel Sears composed on 2021-05-25 14:53 (UTC-0700):
> I've installed FreeDOS 1.3-RC4 with FD13LITE.img on a 4GB USB drive. This
> works and I can boot it just fine, but the primary partition uses FAT12 and
> is 97% full. I would like to expand this partition with gparted, but that
> no longer supports FAT12. Can I ask what the rationale is for using FAT12?
Originally FAT12 was for the smallest sizes on partitioned media, IIRC, only up
to
32MB, but maybe it was 16MB or 20MB. That was a very long time ago, and my
memory
isn't what it used to be. FAT12's type was 0x01, compared to 0x06 for FAT16.
Given
FAT12 and FAT16 partitions of identical size, the FAT16 could be more efficient,
as under 256MB or so in size, FAT16 used 4 sector clusters, while larger FAT16
used 8 or more, depending on size, with FAT12 using only 8, so less cluster
overhang on FAT16 could result in extra freespace using it instead of FAT12.
Thus,
if the FAT12 could be changed to FAT16 without a size change, a wee bit of extra
freespace might materialize. Whether a tool exists that could do this I have no
idea.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata
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