Be File-System Independent

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

Best Practice   (Designed for Microsoft® Windows® Logo)

An application written for the Windows operating system must exhibit its full functionality regardless of the file system of the partition upon which it is installed.

For most applications, this guideline is not a problem (most applications are file-system independent).

However, some applications and device drivers such as disk utilities and anti-virus utilities specifically rely on a partition type. For example, a disk defragmenter written for a FAT16 partition will not work for a FAT32 partition. The disk defragmenter should include support to defragment both FAT16 and FAT32 partitions.