Cluster Size
Pamela Kane
disk? Given a drive with x number of sectors (as reported by the BIOS)
what is the formula for fixing the cluster size at 1, 2, 4, or 8 (or
more) sectors per cluster as reported in the BPB?
Tanked in advance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(.signature too stupid for this group)
Wally Bass
(Pamela Kane) writes:
>Does anyone know how DOS determines the cluster size when initializing a
>disk? Given a drive with x number of sectors (as reported by the BIOS)
>what is the formula for fixing the cluster size at 1, 2, 4, or 8 (or
>more) sectors per cluster as reported in the BPB?
This is probably more information than you wanted, but the following are
from some notes that I have on this topic from some time back.
When DOS starts, it scans the partition table and additional partition
subtables in the extended partition area of each drive to find the
partitions that should be accessed. These tables give DOS (a) the
starting sector of each partition, and (b) the size of each partition in
sectors.
For DOS 3 and later, using the starting sector address obtained above
for each partition, DOS reads the first sector (the 'boot record') of
each partition. If the partition has been formatted, the boot record
will normally contain a control block called a BPB (BIOS parameter
block) starting at offset 0Bh in the boot record. DOS does some checks
(more on that later) to see if it thinks that the boot record has a
valid BPB. If so, the cluster size and other mapping information is
taken from the appropriate fields in the BPB. If DOS decides that the
boot record has no valid BPB, then DOS determines and uses a cluster
size and other parameters from an internal table, based soley on the
size of the partition (as previously obtained from the partition table).
I looked at PC-DOS 5 at one time, and it appeared to me that the code
used the following table:
<= 7FA8h sectors then cluster size is 8 (with a 12 bit FAT), else
<= 40000h sectors then cluster size is 4 (with a 16 bit FAT), else
<= 80000h sectors then cluster size is 8, else
<= 100000h sectors then cluster size is 16, else
<= 200000h sectors then cluster size is 32, else
<= 400000h sectors then cluster size is 64, else
<= 800000h sectors then cluster size is 128
I also looked at DOS 3.0 at one time, and it appeared to use a table
which consisted of the same first two entries as above, except that the
limit in the second table item was 0FFFFh sectors (the maximum partition
size supported by DOS 3.x, since two byte quantities were used in
referring to sectors numbers).
Each of these table entries also specifies a root directory size, so for
each of these mappings, there is some specific corresponding root
directory size. When it doesn't get it from the BPB, DOS calculates the
FAT size by calculating how many entries the FAT must contain, which is
determined by the partition size, the cluster size chosen, and whether a
16 bit or 12 bit fat was used.
For DOS 2.x, DOS does not read the BPB, and always determines the
mapping solely on the basis of the partition size, using internal tables
similar to the one above. DOS 2.x, of course, always uses 12 bit fats,
and DOS 2.x and 3.x both only support partitions up to 32 MB. Over time,
I have looked at several DOS versions, and my recollection is that the
various DOS 2 versions from different vendors varied slightly as to the
exact dividing points in their tables. For Compaq's DOS 2.12, the table
is:
> 8000h sectors then cluster size is 16, else
> 2000h sectors then cluster size is 8, else
> 800h sectors then cluster size is 4, else
> 200h sectors then cluster size is 2, else
the cluster size is 1
In looking at both DOS 3 and DOS 5, there appeared to be a second table
present (immediately preceding in memory the table which was actually
used) which gave the same mappings as Compaq DOS 2.12. However, best I
could tell, this table (which basically gives a set of mappings for the
range of 12 bit fat cases case) was 'dead code' (actually, 'dead data')
(a leftover from DOS 2.x, perhaps), and was not actually used.
For all versions of DOS from 3.x on, DOS can handle variations in
cluster sizes and other parameters (size of the root dir, for example)
even if they don't match the values that DOS would normally use for that
size partition. Hence, if you can get some program to format a partition
with a 'non-standard' cluster size for that partition size, DOS will
still be able (after the system has been rebooted) to handle it, *if*
the formatting program installs a BPB that DOS will accepts as valid.
Some third party 'disk manager' programs, such as Speedstore, will let
you to format partition with non-standard values. As long as DOS
correctly maps a partition with unusual cluster size, running DOS FORMAT
(most versions >= 3.0) against that partition will reformat it with the
same mapping. But, with some MS-DOS versions (see below), although
reformatting will not actually change the mapping, reformatting will
leave the boot record in a state where DOS will not accept the BPB as
valid after the next reboot, with the result that DOS will no longer
correctly recognize the partition mapping after the reformat and reboot.
The question of what DOS will accept as a valid BPB (which is important
if one has a non-standard partition and one wants DOS to map it
correctly) is not all that simple, and seems to be some kind of tribute
to the confusion that reigns at Redmond and/or Boca Raton. In addition
to the BPB, a normal DOS boot record contains a jmp (or jmp short)
instruction at offset 0, and contains an 'OEM' (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) identification field at offset 3 (length 8). In deciding
whether the BPB is valid, some versions of DOS examine the jmp
instruction and/or the OEM field in making the decision. The exact
conditions under which a BPB is deemed valid are listed below for some
versions of DOS that I have looked at (in each case, the first
'satisfied' condition in each table determines the final outcome of the
tests):
PC-DOS 3.0
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] != 'IBM '
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
ignore BPB otherwise
Compaq DOS 3.0
Result Condition
------ ---------
use BPB OEM[1-4] == 'CCC ' && OEM[6-7] == '2.'
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] != 'IBM '
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '3.0'
ignore BPB otherwise
PC-DOS 3.1
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] != 'IBM '
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '3.1'
ignore BPB otherwise
PC-DOS & MS-DOS 3.2 and 3.21
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] != 'IBM '
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
ignore BPB OEM[6-7] != '3.'
use BPB OEM[8] == '0'
use BPB OEM[8] == '2'
ignore BPB otherwise
MS-DOS 3.3
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] != 'IBM '
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
ignore BPB OEM[6-7] != '3.'
ignore BPB OEM[8] <= '0'
use BPB otherwise
Compaq DOS 3.31
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB Doesn't start w/jmp or jmp short & nop
ignore BPB Any of the chars in OEM[1-7] < 20h or >6Eh (doesn't
check OEM[8], apparently a bug)
ignore BPB High order nibble of media desc != 0Fh
ignore BPB cluster size not a power of 2
ignore BPB OEM[1-4] == 'IBM ' && OEM[6-8] == '3.0'
use BPB otherwise
PC and MS DOS 5
Result Condition
------ ---------
ignore BPB Doesn't start w/jmp or jmp short & nop
ignore BPB High order nibble of media desc != 0Fh
ignore BPB Sector size not 512
ignore BPB cluster size not a power of 2
use BPB OEM[6-8] == '2.0'
use BPB OEM[5-7] == '10.'
use BPB OEM[5-7] == '20.'
ignore BPB OEM[6-7] == '0.'
ignore BPB OEM[6-7] < '3.' (word compare, OEM[7] most significant)
use BPB OEM[6-7] > '3.' (ditto)
ignore BPB OEM[8] < '1'
use BPB otherwise
Some notes:
All of this data applies only to fixed disks, and not to floppies.
All of the MS-DOS versions looked at here are those distributed
directly by Microsoft (as opposed to versions distributed by some OEM,
which may modified and behave differently).
The DOS FORMAT command is never the entity that decides or defines the
mapping (e.g., cluster size, etc.) of a partition. DOS FORMAT always
formats the partition according the mapping that DOS already assigned
to the partition at boot time. Note that DOS assigns a mapping to a
partition at boot time even if it has not been formatted.
Compaq apparently used 'CCC' (Compaq Computer Corporation?) in the OEM
field at some time, since Compaq DOS 3.0 recognizes that. But all
versions of Compaq DOS that I have looked at since 2.12 initialize the
OEM field to 'IBM'.
MS-DOS 3.2, 3.21, and 3.3 (and perhaps others) place 'MSDOS' in
OEM[1-5], hence these versions of DOS reject *ALL* BPB's in boot
records which they themselves have constructed!! (Quite a tribute to
the testing group that these versions got out the door, isn't it?)
Also note that 3.2 and 3.21 versions of DOS accept 'IBM 3.0' and
reject 'IBM 3.1' BPB's, whereas every other version of DOS since 3.1
specifically rejects 'IBM 3.0' BPB's, and accepts 'IBM 3.1' BPB's.
(Someone at IBM once told me that DOS 3.0 actually wrote invalid BPB's
in some cases, and hence 'IBM 3.0' BPB's were rejected by design in
later DOS versions. The DOS 3.2x behavior is apparently a bug.)
The ONLY OEM field value that I have found that is accepted by ALL
versions of DOS that I have checked is 'IBM 2.0'. (Notice that there
are two spaces between 'IBM' and '2.0'.)
The logic for recognizing whether a BPB is valid is amazingly
inconsistent and buggy in the various DOS versions. However, it rarely
matters, because even when a valid BPB is not recognized, the default
mapping (based on the partition size) will normally be correct if the
partition was formatted by DOS.
Wally Bass