Extending cluster allocations in an extensible file system

摘要

An extensible file system format for portable storage media is provided. The extensible file system format includes the specification of primary and secondary directory entry types that may be custom defined. The primary and secondary directory entry types can be further classified as critical and benign directory entries. The directory entry types can define whether a cluster chain corresponding to a file can be contiguously allocated.

主权项

1. A computer-readable storage medium on which computer-executable instructions are stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
access a directory entry that specifies information concerning data in a file system, the directory entry containing a flag that indicates whether the data is stored in a contiguous chain of clusters; determine that the data is stored in the contiguous cluster chain based on the flag; and thereafter, identify the clusters of the contiguous cluster chain that store the data without traversing a file allocation table associated with the file system based on other information, the other information comprising information within the directory entry specifying a starting cluster and information indicative of a size of the cluster chain.