A computer file system most simply described is a process for organizing and storing computer data files. The file system, at a minimum, must ensure that files are stored securely and are readily available for retrieval. At a minimum, a file system must allow the operating system to write new data files to the storage disk and at the same time protect previously stored files, ensuring that they are not overwritten. Finally, a file system must make stored files easy to find and quick to retrieve. A discussion of Microsoft's file systems requires a review of the history of how these file systems were introduced and the needs they sought to meet. Microsoft operating systems have come to dominate the business computer and personal computer market. Since they were starting with their first operating system, it was necessary to develop a file system. And over the years Microsoft has changed its file system as Windows has become more complex and computer hardware has become faster and more powerful. The changes Microsoft made to its file system are shown in the following table. Microsoft file system versions. FAT12 Represents Microsoft's first file system introduced in 1977, was shipped with Microsoft's BASICFAT16 disk Introduced in 1983 with the release of MS-DOS/ PC-DOS 2.0FAT32 Introduced in 1996 with the release of the Windows OEM Service Release 95 2NTFS Introduced in July 1993 with the release of Windows NT 3.1The name FAT is an acronym for File Allocation Table and refers to a table or list of indexes of file names and clusters. This table is used to centralize the information used to identify which physical areas of the disk are used for the st...... middle of paper ......a page related to Windows Vista they go to great lengths to promote the benefits of NTFS."Some features available when you choose NTFS:• File encryption helps protect files and folders from unauthorized access.• You can set permissions on individual files, as well as folders.• Disk quotas let you monitor and control the amount of disk space used by individual users. • Better scalability allows you to use large volumes. The maximum volume size for NTFS is much larger than that for FAT. Additionally, NTFS performance does not decrease as the volume size increases , as occurs in FAT systems • Logging disk activity helps you quickly restore information in the event of a power failure or other system problem.” (TechNet) These same pages also provide a table below that describes the size and domain limits of each file system.