File Systems

I have, thus far, made reference to file systems in the discussion of partitions and volumes, but I have not yet defined them or described their function and importance in data storage and retrieval. In this section, I’ll discuss file systems in a generic sense. In the chapter that follows, I’ll cover specific file systems in detail.

A file system is nothing more than a system or method of storing and retrieving data on a computer system that allows for a hierarchy of directories, subdirectories, and files. File systems must be consistent between systems using the same file system. If a library used the Dewey Decimal System to store books in one library, a user could go to another library using the same file system and locate a book ...

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