<P> Windows makes use of the FAT, NTFS, exFAT, Live File System and ReFS file systems (the last of these is only supported and usable in Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10; Windows cannot boot from it). </P> <P> Windows uses a drive letter abstraction at the user level to distinguish one disk or partition from another . For example, the path C: \ WINDOWS represents a directory WINDOWS on the partition represented by the letter C. Drive C: is most commonly used for the primary hard disk drive partition, on which Windows is usually installed and from which it boots . This "tradition" has become so firmly ingrained that bugs exist in many applications which make assumptions that the drive that the operating system is installed on is C. The use of drive letters, and the tradition of using "C" as the drive letter for the primary hard disk drive partition, can be traced to MS - DOS, where the letters A and B were reserved for up to two floppy disk drives . This in turn derived from CP / M in the 1970s, and ultimately from IBM's CP / CMS of 1967 . </P> <P> The family of FAT file systems is supported by almost all operating systems for personal computers, including all versions of Windows and MS - DOS / PC DOS, OS / 2, and DR - DOS . (PC DOS is an OEM version of MS - DOS, MS - DOS was originally based on SCP's 86 - DOS . DR - DOS was based on Digital Research's Concurrent DOS, a successor of CP / M - 86 .) The FAT file systems are therefore well - suited as a universal exchange format between computers and devices of most any type and age . </P> <P> The FAT file system traces its roots back to an (incompatible) 8 - bit FAT precursor in Standalone Disk BASIC and the short - lived MDOS / MIDAS project . </P>

What are the file system types in linux