File Manager Displays Maximum Disk Space of 1.99 GB

 Last reviewed: September 9, 1996
Article ID: Q128794
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.11
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

Windows NT supports the creation of primary partitions and logical drives that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB). When you run File Manager in Windows version 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups version 3.11 to view a large Windows NT drive, the maximum disk space (available or total disk space) displayed is 1.99 GB.

MORE INFORMATION

Since Windows version 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups version 3.11 operate with MS-DOS, they are limited to a 16-bit FAT drive. The maximum cluster size for a 16-bit FAT drive is 64K, or 65,536 bytes (where 1K = 1024 bytes). In addition, the maximum cluster size in MS-DOS is 32K, or 32,768 bytes. Therefore, the maximum logical drive size in MS-DOS is calculated as follows: 

   32K x 64K = 2048 MB = 2 GB
Although the maximum disk space that File Manager reports is 1.99 GB in Windows version 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups version 3.11, you can still access data stored on the FAT, HPFS, and NTFS drives larger than 2 GB. 

 The maximum partition sizes under Windows NT are:

   File System   Maximum Partition Size
   ------------------------------------

   FAT           2^32 bytes (4 gigabytes)
   HPFS          2^41 bytes (2,048 gigabytes)
   NTFS          2^64 bytes (16 exabytes)
NOTE: 16 exabytes equals 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes.

KBCategory: kbinterop
KBSubcategory: ntinterop ntfilesys
Additional reference words: 3.10 3.11 3.50 wfw wfwg win3x prodnt two four
file system high performance greater gb eb 18,446,744,073,709,551,616



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Last reviewed: September 9, 1996
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