Disk Organisation

Question 1

File transfer

Answer 1

File transfer is the ability to transfer data from one location to another. This can be done by simply copying a file from one folder to another, or from one storage medium to another. You may wish to carry out either of these tasks in order to organise your files better, using subfolders or to back-up your work onto a secondary storage device, such as a flash memory stick.

Question 2

Formatting

Answer 2

Formatting is the process of preparing a disk for use. During this process, a new file system is installed on a disk and all data may be erased in readiness for new data to be stored.

Question 3

Compression

Answer 3

Compression is the process of making a file size smaller. This may be advantageous as it allows more data to be stored on the disk, and files may also be transferred more quickly. There are two methods of achieving disk compression; one is software based and the other hardware based.

Software based disk compression is often included as a facility of an operating system and so it is readily available on most computer systems. The disadvantage of this is that it slows down the process of reading and writing to disk.
Hardware disk compression requires specialist hardware, which can be expensive. However, it does not affect the speed of access as much as software based disk compression.
Disk based compression is always lossless.