Chapter 4 Flashcards
A design for storing and managing files on a disk drive. They are associated with operating systems such as UNIX/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows
File systems.
An organizational structure that contains files and may additionally contain sub-directories (or folders) in it. In Unix/Linux, this is simply a special file on a disk drive that is used to house information about other data stored on a disk. In other systems, it is a “container object” that houses files and sub-folders. It contains information about files, such as file names, file sizes, date of creation, and file type.
Directory (Folders)
Files characteristics stored with the file name in the disk directory, which specify certain storage and operational parameters associated with the file. Attributes are noted by the value of specific data bits associated with the file name. These include Hidden, Read-Only, Archive, and so on.
File Attributes
The highest-level directory (or folder), with no directories above it in the structure of the files and directories in a file system.
Root Directory
A software process that marks tracks and sectors on a disk. This is necessary before a disk can be partitioned and formatted.
Low-Level Formatting
Concentric rings that cover an entire disk like grooves on a phonograph record. Each ring is divided into sectors in which to store data.
Tracks
A portion of a disk track. They can be divided into equal parts of these portions.
Sector
A hard disk configuration scheme in which the disk is divided into logical blocks, which in turn are mapped to sectors, heads, and tracks.
Block Allocation
Note: Whenever operating systems need to allocate some disk space, it allocates based on a block address.
In Windows-based file systems, a logical block of information on a disk containing one or more sectors.
Cluster (Allocation Unit)
Tracks that line up from top to bottom on the platters in a hard disk drive (like a stack of disk tracks).
Cylinders
A file management system that defines the way data is stored on a disk drive. This stores information about the file size and physical location on the disk.
File Allocation Table (FAT)
The file storage system that is the native system in Windows Versions starting with Windows NT.
New Technology File Systems (NTFS)
Files that contain information about the actual data.
Metadata
Blocking a group of tracks and sectoes to be used by a particular files system, such as FAT or NTFS. This is a hard disk management technique that permits the installation of multiple file systems on a single disk or the configuration of multiple logical heard drives that use the same file system on a single physical hard drive.
Partitioning
A process that prepares a disk partition (or removable media) for a specific file system.
High-Level Formatting (also known as formatting)
Hard drive in a computer that you can physically touch and that can be divided into one or more logical drives.
Physical Drive
A software definition that divides a physical hard drives into multiple drives for file storage.
Logical Drive
Table containing information about each partition on a disk. such as the type of partition size, and location. Also, the partition table provides information to the computer about how to access the disk.
Partition Table
The Unix/Linux and Mac OS X equivalent of the Windows Master Boot Record (MBR), the area of the hard disk that stores partition information fo the disk.
Boot Block
An area of a hard disk in MS-DOS and Windows that stores partition information bout that disk. These are not found on disks that do not support multiple partitions.
Master Boot Record (MBR)
The logical portion of a hard disk drive that is currently being used to store data. In a PC system, the partition that contains the bootable operating system.
Active Partition
An operating system command option that changes the way certain commands function. These are usually entered as one or more letters, separated from the main command by a forward slash (/) in Windows and by a dash (-) in Unix/Linux
Switch
Used in FAT file systems so that when a file is written to disk, each cluster containing that file’s data has a pointer to the location of the next cluster of the data.
Linked List
On a hard disk drive, areas of the surface that cannot be used to safely store data, They are usually identified by the format command or one of the hard drive utilities, such as chkdsk or e2fsck.
Bad Clusters
