3 ms·

correct me if I am wrong but it's still patented by Microsoft. Also time precision is up to even seconds (i.e. it can not store file stamp 'modified at 10:00:01

• zaarn 9y ago
  FAT is only patented if you want long filenames. If 8~3 filenames are long enough (and for EFI boot they are) then you can use FAT32 with short names. Additionally the specific EFI FAT32 implementation grants various patent rights which means you can implement EFI FAT32 (atleast, last time I checked by the situation) The other restrictions of the FS barely matter since 99.9% of the time it's used as /boot it will be read from and has barely any activity. The data integrity can be insured by setting up secureboot (MS or User/Setup mode) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#Patents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#Patents
• chungy 9y ago
  > Also time precision is up to even seconds (i.e. it can not store file stamp 'modified at 10:00:01') In the pure form of the file system, yes, but with VFAT (which also adds long file names, creation time stamps, and access time stamps), the precision is exactly 1 second increments.
  • thriftwy 9y ago
    My main memory of VFAT comes from Windows 95 (or was it 98), I remember that when you saw this word anywhere, this meant your operating system is now borked beyond any repair.
• userbinator 9y ago
  If the patents haven't already expired, they're probably expiring very soon. Windows 95 which was the first to have the LFN feature came out more than 20 years ago.
  • xxs 9y ago
    With the sibling comment references: 2001-09-04 US6286013B1, so 2021. However that affect only long filenames which should be ok for EFI