Question | Answer |
8.3 file name | A standard for naming files first introduced with MS-DOS. The numbers indicate the maximum number of characters that can be used for that part of the name, 8 characters and 3 characters. The 3-character field is also known as the file extension. |
Access Control Entries (ACE) | A specific entry in a file or folder’s ACL that uniquely identifies a user or group by its security identifier and the action it is allowed or denied to take on that file or folder. |
Access Control List (ACL) | For NTFS, the ACL is a property of every file and folder in that file system. It holds a list of ACE items that defines what actions are allowed to be taken on the file or folder to which it is attached. |
Disk quota | A system of tracking owners for file data within an NTFS-formatted partition or volume and the total disk space consumed by each owner. Limits or warnings can be established to restrict disk space usage. |
Drive letter | A letter of the alphabet assigned to a formatted partition or volume as a reference point for future access by the user or their applications. |
Encrypted File System (EFS) | A component of the NTFS file system that is responsible for encrypting individual files. These files are not readable without the correct digital identification. |
Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) | A proprietary Microsoft file system used with external storage media to organize files and folders using a technology similar to FAT but without the space limitations of FAT32. Volume sizes over 32 GB are fully supported. |
FAT | A generic term that refers to early versions of the FAT file system (FAT12, FAT16) or to any FAT file system in general, also see File Allocation Table. |
File Allocation Table (FAT) | A FS used to organize files/folders in a partition or volume. A master FAT is used to indicate what files/folders exist within the file system. The FAT table entries point to the beginning cluster. The common versions of FAT include FAT16 and FAT32. |
File extension | Typically a three-character name at the end of a filename that is used to indicate the type of data contained in the file. Common extension examples include DOC for documents and EXE for executable programs. |
Long filenames | Filenames that can be a maximum of 255 characters in length. |
New Technology File System (NTFS) | A file system introduced with Windows NT. NTFS supports advanced features to add reliability, security, and flexibility that file systems such as FAT and FAT32 do not have. |
Shadow copy | A snapshot of the file system that tracks changes to files and allows the restoration of previous file versions. |
Terabyte | A unit of data that consists of 1024 gigabytes. Commonly abbreviated as TB. |