NTFS5 vs. FAT32 One somewhat dated argument for using FAT (or FAT32, in the case of Win2K) on server volumes relates to the boot partition. Before Win2K's release, many administrators used FAT on boot partitions because a DOS or Win9x boot disk can easily access and recover FAT volumes in the event of disaster. However, the addition of the Win2K Recovery Console (RC) invalidates this argument. The RC is a special alternative boot selection that you can install on a Win2K system. (To install this option, run winnt32/cmdcons from the Win2K CD-ROM.) You can use the RC to carry out several recovery-related operations on NTFS volumes, such as file copying and renaming. Now that Win2K includes the RC, your best choice of file systems for all Win2K server volumes is NTFS.

Q253912 - "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache to that size if needed. These addresses are allocated in a range of virtual addresses from 0xC0000000 through 0xFFFFFFFF (3 to 4 gigabytes) known as the system arena.

On computers with large amounts of RAM, the maximum cache size can be large enough that Vcache consumes all of the addresses in the system arena, leaving no virtual memory addresses available for other functions such as opening an MS-DOS prompt (creating a new virtual machine).

High-Tech Dictionary File Types File Types
These extensions at the end of a filename refer to the type of file it is.