History of FAT(File Allocation Table)
Introduced in the year 1977, The original FAT file system (or FAT structure, as it was called initially) was designed and coded by Marc McDonald. The FAT name was derived out of the fact that the original FAT (8 Bit FAT), utilizes an index table extensively throughout its architecture. Throughout the years, since the release of FAT several later iterations of the same family have been introduced such as FAT32, exFAT, etc. which aspire to cope with the drawbacks of their previous iterations as well as trying to comply with the latest standard while preserving backward compatibility with existing software.
Out of the aforementioned FAT, variations stated earlier, FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT are the most popular ones. Out of which the first three are used primarily for backward compatibility. Since the FAT filesystem is considered as a family of file systems, We would take a look at one of its versions to describe its merits/demerits. For this purpose, we will be using FAT32 as a discipline throughout the length of this article.
FAT Full Form
FAT stands for File Allocation Table. It is the name of the computer file system architecture family. The FAT file system has 8-bit FAT, FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32, ExFAT, FATX and FAT+ variants. It is one of the best filesystems when it comes to being lightweight and compatible.