BPB (FAT32)

[Windows 95 only.]

The BPB for FAT32 drives is an extended version of the FAT16/FAT12 BPB. It contains identical information to a standard BPB, but also includes several extra fields for FAT32 specific information.

This structure is implemented in Windows OEM Service Release 2 and later.

A_BF_BPB    STRUC
    A_BF_BPB_BytesPerSector       DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerCluster    DB    ?
    A_BF_BPB_ReservedSectors      DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_NumberOfFATs         DB    ?
    A_BF_BPB_RootEntries          DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_TotalSectors         DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_MediaDescriptor      DB    ?
    A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerFAT        DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerTrack      DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_Heads                DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_HiddenSectors        DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_HiddenSectorsHigh    DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_BigTotalSectors      DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_BigTotalSectorsHigh  DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFat     DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFatHi   DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_ExtFlags             DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_FS_Version           DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_RootDirStrtClus      DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_RootDirStrtClusHi    DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_FSInfoSec            DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_BkUpBootSec          DW    ?
    A_BF_BPB_Reserved             DW    6 DUP (?)
A_BF_BPB    ENDS

Members

A_BF_BPB_BytesPerSector
The number of bytes per sector.
A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerCluster
The number of sectors per cluster.
A_BF_BPB_ReservedSectors
The number of reserved sectors, beginning with sector 0.
A_BF_BPB_NumberOfFATs
The number of File Allocation Tables.
A_BF_BPB_RootEntries
This field is ignored on FAT32 drives.
A_BF_BPB_TotalSectors
The size of the partition, in sectors.
A_BF_BPB_MediaDescriptor
The media descriptor. Values in this field are identical to standard BPB.
A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerFAT
The number of sectors per FAT.

Note: This field will always be zero in a FAT32 BPB. Use the values from A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFat and A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFatHi for FAT32 media.

A_BF_BPB_SectorsPerTrack
The number of sectors per track.
A_BF_BPB_Heads
The number of read/write heads on the drive.
A_BF_BPB_HiddenSectors
The number of hidden sectors on the drive.
A_BF_BPB_HiddenSectorsHigh
The high word of the hidden sectors value.
A_BF_BPB_BigTotalSectors
The total number of sectors on the FAT32 drive.
A_BF_BPB_BigTotalSectorsHigh
The high word of the FAT32 total sectors value.
A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFat
The number of sectors per FAT on the FAT32 drive.
A_BF_BPB_BigSectorsPerFatHi
The high word of the FAT32 sectors per FAT value.
A_BF_BPBExtFlags
Flags describing the drive. Bit 8 of this field indicates whether or not information written to the active FAT will be written to all copies of the FAT. The low 4 bits of this field contain the 0-based FAT number of the Active FAT, but are only meaningful if bit 8 is set. This field can contain a combination of the following values.
Value Description
BGBPB_F_ActiveFATMsk (000Fh) Mask for low four bits.
BGBPB_F_NoFATMirror (0080h) Mask indicating FAT mirroring state. If set, FAT mirroring is disabled. If clear, FAT mirroring is enabled.

Bits 4-6 and 8-15 are reserved.

A_BF_BPB_FS_Version
The file system version number of the FAT32 drive. The high byte represents the major version, and the low byte represents the minor version.
A_BF_BPB_RootDirStrtClus
The cluster number of the first cluster in the FAT32 drive's root directory.
A_BF_BPB_RootDirStrtClusHi
The high word of the FAT32 starting cluster number.
A_BF_BPB_FSInfoSec
The sector number of the file system information sector. The file system info sector contains a BIGFATBOOTFSINFO structure. This field is set to 0FFFFh if there is no FSINFO sector. Otherwise, this value must be non-zero and less than the reserved sector count.
A_BF_BPB_BkUpBootSec
The sector number of the backup boot sector. This field is set to 0FFFFh if there is no backup boot sector. Otherwise, this value must be non-zero and less than the reserved sector count.
A_BF_BPB_Reserved
Reserved field. Do not use.