File Managment Flashcards
File
A file is a collection of specific data - e.g. a collection of records, an executable program, an image
Files are stored disks, flash drives, cloud repositories
File Management
File Management is the process of manipulating files in a computer system
The O/S provides access to these physical devices and a logical view of the files
File Management - File Operations
File Operations - Create Rename Move Read Delete Write
In Order to retrieve data from a file, the computer needs to know:
Which storage device it is held on
Where it is stored on the device
How files are organised on the device
How much data is in it
The protocol needed to communicate with it
It is the job of the OS to maintain this information for other programs, and it does this by providing a file system
File Management - The File System
File System - File System are hierarchical and contain directories that contain lists of other files
Hierarchical files systems usually have a special directory at the root
It can be imagined to be like a tree: the branch points are the directories that lead to other files
Data files are at the ends of branches
File Management - Directory Operations
Directory Operations - Create Delete List Write (Create Files/sub-directories) Rename / move
File Management - Tree Structure
To allow identical Filenames but in different multiple directories
In a tree structured directory the top directory is called the ‘root’ directory usually indicated by the symbol “/” (Microsoft) “" (Linux)
The way from the root to a file is called the path e.g. /Directory/Dir 1/test - absolute path
From Direcotry, relative path is Dir 1/test
