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FAT32 File Format

A project log for OSI SD Card Operating System (OSISDOS)

Ohio Scientific / UK101 SD Card based Operating System under Multicomp FPGA Computer

land-boardscomland-boards.com 07/21/2020 at 11:290 Comments

When you search google for FAT file format you get tons of pages on formatting disks. It's harder to pull out the detailed format of the SD card. Wikipedia to the rescue (Design of the FAT file system). A less technical FAT32 Wikipedia page is File Allocation Table. Here's a helpful page in the references at the end of the Wikipedia page (The FAT filesystem).

I used my PC running Windoze to format an 8GB SDHC card. I can view the raw data on the card using HxD (How to use HxD as Disk Editor to save Sectors as Binary Files). Here is what the boot sector (first sector on the SD card) looks like:

.From the page  (The FAT filesystem):

Here the FAT32 version of the boot sectors. Values from HxD <>.

Bytes   Content
0-2     BS_jmpBoot
        Jump to bootstrap (E.g. eb 3c 90; on i86: JMP 003E NOP.        
        One finds either eb xx 90, or e9 xx xx. 
        The position of the bootstrap varies.
        <0xEB5890>
3-10    BS_OEMName
        OEM name/version (E.g. "IBM  3.3", "IBM 20.0", "MSDOS5.0", "MSWIN4.0".
        Various format utilities leave their own name, like "CH-FOR18".
        Sometimes just garbage. Microsoft recommends "MSWIN4.1".)
        <"MSDOS5.0   ">
        /* BIOS Parameter Block starts here */
11-12   BPB_BytsPerSec
        Number of bytes per sector (512)
        Must be one of 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.
        <0x0200> = 512
13      BPB_SecPerClus
        Number of sectors per cluster (1)
        Must be one of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128.
        A cluster should have at most 32768 bytes. 
        In rare cases 65536 is OK.
        <0x08> = 8 sectors per clusters
14-15   BPB_RsvdSecCnt
        Number of reserved sectors (1)
        FAT12 and FAT16 use 1. FAT32 uses 32.
        <0x083a> = 2106 decimal
16      BPB_NumFATs
        Number of FAT copies
        <0x02>
17-18   BPB_RootEntCnt
        Number of root directory entries (224)
        0 for FAT32.
        <0x0000> = 0 root directory entries
19-20   BPB_TotSec16
        Total number of sectors in the filesystem (2880)
        (in case the partition is not FAT32 and smaller than 32 MB)
        <0x0000>
21      BPB_Media
        Media descriptor type
        <0xF8> = Non-removable media
22-23   BPB_FATSz16
        Number of sectors per FAT (9)
        0 for FAT32.
        <0x0000> = FAT32
24-25   BPB_SecPerTrk
        Number of sectors per track (12)
        <0x003F> = 63 decimal
26-27   BPB_NumHeads
        Number of heads (2, for a double-sided diskette)
        <0x00FF> = 255 decimal
28-31   BPB_HiddSec
        Number of hidden sectors (0)
        <0X00002000>
32-35   BPB_TotSec32
        Total number of sectors in the filesystem
        <0X00ECC000> = 15,514,648 sectors (8GB)
36-39   BPB_FATSz32
        This field is the FAT32 32-bit count of sectors occupied by ONE FAT.
        Sectors per FAT
        <0x00003BE3> = 15331 dec
40-41   BPB_ExtFlags
        Mirror flags
        Bits 0-3: number of active FAT (if bit 7 is 1)
        Bits 4-6: reserved
        Bit 7: one: single active FAT; 
               zero: all FATs are updated at runtime
        Bits 8-15: reserved
        <0x0000>
42-43   BPB_FSVer
        Filesystem version
        <0x0000>
44-47   BPB_RootClus
        First cluster of root directory (usually 2)
        <0x00000002>
48-49   BPB_FSInfo
        Filesystem information sector number in FAT32 reserved area 
        (usually 1)
        <0x0001>
50-51   BPB_BkBootSec
        Backup boot sector location or 0 or 0xffff if none (usually 6)
        <0x0006>
52-63   BPB_Reserved
        Reserved
64      BS_DrvNum
        Logical Drive Number (for use with INT 13, e.g. 0 or 0x80)
        <0x80>
65      BS_Reserved1
        Reserved - used to be Current Head (used by Windows NT)
        <0x00>
66      BS_BootSig
        Extended signature (0x29)
        Indicates that the three following fields are present.
        <0x29>
67-70   BS_VolID
        Serial number of partition
        <0xD086111A>
71-81   BS_VolLab
        Volume label
        "NO NAME   "
82-89   BS_FilSysType
        Filesystem type ("FAT32   ")
        "FAT32   "
The old 2-byte fields "total number of sectors" and "number of sectors per FAT" are now zero; 
this information is now found in the new 4-byte fields.
An important improvement is the "First cluster of root directory" field. 
Earlier, the root directory was not part of the Data Area, and was in a known place with a known size, 
and hence was unable to grow. Now the root directory is just somewhere in the Data Area.
The signature is found at offset 510-511. 
This will be the end of the sector only in case the sector size is 512.

 FirstDataSector = BPB_RsvdSecCnt + (BPB_NumFATs * BPB_FATSz32) + RootDirSectors;

                           = 2106 + (2 * 15331)

                           = 32,768

The sector there is:

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