file management

Question 1

File management

Answer 1

is the storing, naming, sorting and handling computer files

Question 2

file

Answer 2

named collection of related information that is recorded on secondary storage such as magnetic disks, magnetic tapes and optical disks

Question 3

File Concept

Answer 3

 A file is a collection of similar records

Question 4

 Path

Answer 4

The path refers to the exact location of the file and indicates to the computer user the entire sequence that must be followed to find the file

Question 5

 File Extension

Answer 5

The file extension appears after the period in the filename and is used to indicate the type of format the file is in.

Question 6

 Zipping (Compressing

Answer 6

Zipping is the process of packaging a folder that contains multiple files into a single file (called a “Compressed” or “Zipped” folder).

Question 7

File Attributes

Answer 7

• Name – only information kept in human-readable form.
• Identifier – unique tag (number) identifies file within file system
• Type – needed for systems that support different types
• Location – pointer to file location on device
• Size – current file size
• Protection – controls who can do reading, writing, executing
• Time, date, and user identification – data for protection, security, and usage monitoring
• Information about files are kept in the directory structure, which is maintained on the disk

Question 8

File Operations

Answer 8

Create: A new file is defined and positioned within the structure of files.
Delete: A file is removed from the file structure and destroyed.
Open: An existing file is declared to be “opened” by a process, allowing the process to perform functions on the file.
Close: The file is closed with respect to a process, so that the process no longer may perform functions on the file, until the process opens the file again.
Read: A process reads all or a portion of the data in a file
Write: A process updates a file, either by adding new data that expands the size of the file or by changing the values of existing data items in the file

Question 9

Operations on Files

Answer 9

Creating a file
Reading a file
Writing a file
Deleting a file
Repositioning in a file
Truncating a file

Question 10

File Types – Name, Extension

Answer 10

File type refers to the ability of the operating system to distinguish different types of file such as text files source files and binary files

Question 11

Ordinary files

Answer 11

• These are the files that contain user information

Question 12

Directory files

Answer 12

• These files contain list of file names and other information related to these files

Question 12

Special files

Answer 12

• These files are also known as device files.
• These files represent physical device like disks, terminals, printers, networks, tape drive etc.

Question 13

Types of special files

Answer 13

• Character special files - data is handled character by character as in case of terminals or printers.
• Block special files - data is handled in blocks as in the case of disks and tapes

Question 14

File Management Systems

Answer 14

A file management system is that set of system software that provides services to users and applications in the use of files

Question 15

objectives for a file management system

Answer 15

• To meet the data management needs and requirements of the user which include storage of data and the ability to perform the aforementioned operations.
• To guarantee, to the extent possible, that the data in the file are valid.
• To optimize performance, both from the system point of view in terms of overall throughput.
• To provide I/O support for a variety of storage device types.
• To minimize or eliminate the potential for lost or destroyed data

Question 16

File-System Mounting

Answer 16

The stem is given the name of the device, and the location within the file structure at which to attach the file system

Question 17

File Access Mechanisms

Answer 17

File access mechanism refers to the manner in which the records of a file may be accessed. There are several ways to access files:
* Sequential access
* Direct/Random access
* Indexed sequential access

Question 18

Sequential access

Answer 18

A sequential access is that in which the records are accessed in some sequence, i.e., the information in the file is processed in order, one record after the other

Question 18

Direct/Random access

Answer 18

• Random access file organization provides, accessing the records directly.
• Each record has its own address on the file with by the help of which it can be directly accessed for reading or writing.
• The records need not be in any sequence within the file and they need not be in adjacent locations on the storage medium

Question 19

Space Allocation

Answer 19

• Contiguous Allocation
• Linked Allocation
• Indexed Allocation

Question 20

Contiguous Allocation

Answer 20

• Each file occupies a contiguous address space on disk.
• Assigned disk address is in linear order.
• Easy to implement.
• External fragmentation is a major issue with this type of allocation technique

Question 21

Linked Allocation

Answer 21

• Each file carries a list of links to disk blocks.
• Directory contains link / pointer to first block of a file.
• No external fragmentation
• Effectively used in sequential access file.
• Inefficient in case of direct access file.

Question 21

Indexed Allocation

Answer 21

• Provides solutions to problems of contiguous and linked allocation.
• An index block is created having all pointers to files.
• Each file has its own index block which stores the addresses of disk space occupied by the file.
• Directory contains the addresses of index blocks of files

Question 22

What is file security?

Answer 22

File security is all about safeguarding your business-critical information from prying eyes by implementing stringent access control measures and flawless permission hygiene

Question 23

Type of File protection

Answer 23

• File Permissions
• Encryption
• Access Control Lists
• Auditing and Logging