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Function 1Ch (27) Get FAT Information for Specified Drive
Gets disk characteristics and the media descriptor byte for any drive.
On entry: AH 1Ch
DL Drive number (0=default, 1=A, 2=B, etc.)
Returns: AL Number of sectors per cluster
CX Sector size in bytes
DX Total number of disk clusters
DS:BX Pointer to the media descriptor byte (FAT ID
byte)
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Media Descriptor (FAT ID) Byte
The media descriptor byte is limited to the values F0 through FF. This
range is no longer sufficient to provide unique identifiers for each
media type. The following values are defined:
FFh Double-sided 5 1/4" floppy, 8 sectors
FEh Single-sided 5 1/4" floppy, 8 sectors or
Single-sided 8" floppy, 26 sectors or
Single-sided 8" floppy, 8 sectors
FDh Double-sided 5 1/4" floppy, 9 sectors or
Single-sided 8" floppy, 26 sectors
FCh Single-sided floppy, 9 sectors per track
F9h Double-sided 5 1/4" floppy, 15 sectors or
Double-sided 3 1/2" floppy, 9 sectors
F8h Hard disk
F0h Double-sided 3 1/2" floppy, 18 sectors or
Any other undefined media type
For more reliable information about media type, use Interrupt 25h to
read the BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) in the boot record.
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Notes: This function changes the current value of DS. To
ensure the stability of your program, it's best to
PUSH DS before calling this service.
See Also:
1Bh
36h
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