dictionary of multimedia and internet applications: a guide for developers and users. francis botto

Print ISBN 0-471-98624-0 Online ISBN 0-470-84178-8

Failover A contingency measure which provides an alternative service

provider should a failure occur.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) A list of questions asked most often

by users or developers.

FAT32 (File Allocation Table) A filing system used by the Windows 98

operating system; it is an enhancement of the FAT16 implementation. It is more efficient than FAT16 because it uses smaller clusters, which are used to store files. FAT32 clusters may be:

● 4 Kbyte for drive capacities between 260 Mbyte and 8 Gbyte ● 8 Kbyte for drive capacities between 8 Gbyte and 16 Gbyte ● 16 Kbyte for drive capacities between 16 Gbyte and 32 Gbyte ● 32 Kbyte for drive capacities that are greater than 32 Gbyte. Each cluster is confined to data from a single file. The larger 32 Kbyte clusters typically used by FAT16 (on relatively small drives) are com-paratively inefficient. For example, when a 34 Kbyte file is written to the hard disk, two 32 Kbyte clusters are used. The second cluster has some 30 Kbyte of unused payload. So even though the file is just 34 Kbyte, it consumes 64 Kbyte of hard disk, which equates to two of its 32 Kbyte clusters. Clearly, FAT32’s dependence on 4 Kbyte clusters (on smaller drives) helps eradicate the unused data capacity of clusters. This yields con-siderable storage capacity gains. The disadvantage of using FAT32 is that it prevents the use of DoubleSpace when using Windows 98.

(See Hard disk.)

Fat client A system within a client/server architecture (such as that of the

Web) that features:

● presentation, which is typically in the form of a Web browser ● complete application(s)

123