Open FCB File
FCB extension files are used as File control block which is the method used in Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system to keep information in memory of an open file before directories existed.
More about File Control Block
The File control block (FCB) is an internal file control structure used in Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system to maintain basic information about a file in memory.
This contains information about drive name, file name, file type, among other information, that is required by the system when a file is accessed or created.
This information is usually stored in secondary memory and is passed to primary memory when the file is opened.
The FCB can be multiple blocks on the disk: for example, if the pointers to the data blocks require more space than they can hold in a single block on the disk.
The FCB file also contains flags and fields that indicate whether the file is open, closed, in the process of being deleted, among others.
This provides the ability to protect the system from potentially disastrous situations, such as a file being deleted while another process is using it.
The composition of an FCB file differs between operating systems, however, most FCBs include the following parts:
- File Name
- Location of the file in secondary storage
- File size
- Date and time or the creation or last access of a file
Software to open and work with a FCB file
- MS-DOS