High Performance File System (HPFS)

HPFS (High Performance File System)

HPFS (High Performance File System) is the file system introduced with IBM’s OS/2 version 1.2. HPFS is noted for handling large file (2 gigabytes) across multiple hard disk volumes (addressable up to 2 terabytes) and long file names (up to 256 bytes). HPFS was designed to get around several limitations at the time in MS-DOS, among them its eight-character name restriction. HPFS uses a centrally-located root directory and B-tree lookup to speed access. HPFS can coexist with the MS-DOS file system, File Allocation Table (FAT), or run independently.