Strange standard for FAT32 files> 4gb

Question

I recently came across an embedded system with IDE disks that are FAT32 but have> 4gb files. It seems like you need this by setting the file size in the directory entry 32 bytes to the number of bytes that the last cluster uses, instead of the actual file size. This allows files to have arbitrary FAT networks. The downside is the only way to find out that file sizes are streams through chains that are huge.

I've never seen this before. Is this a well-known standard or variation and does something for Windows or Linux?

Are there any “quirky” modifications of FAT32 that are more standard, which allows files larger than 4 GB?

Answer 1

Probably exFAT

Answer 2

This, I think, is a complete hack.

I implemented FAT32 and I have never seen or heard anything like it. I will be very surprised if there is any support for this.

Answer 3

You can use some virtual file system that splits it into x GB, and then you have a virtual disk that can contain more than 4 GB of files. For example, TrueCrypt does this (2 GB pieces).