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Explain what a File Allocation Table is and why it is essential for a hard drive to work properly. Write your answer in 1-2 sentences.

(2 points)

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Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
A File Allocation Table (FAT) is a data structure used by certain file systems that maps each file to the disk clusters it occupies and tracks which clusters are free or in use. It is essential because the operating system relies on it to locate, read, write and manage files and free space—without it the drive could not find or maintain files correctly.