A file system (often also written as filesystem) is a method of storing and organizing computer files and their data. Essentially, it organizes these files into a database for the storage, organization, manipulation, and retrieval by the computer's operating system.
File systems are used on data storage devices such as hard disks or CD-ROMs to maintain the physical location of the files. Beyond this, they might provide access to data on a file server by acting as clients for a network protocol (e.g., NFS, SMB, or 9P clients), or they may be virtual and exist only as an access method for virtual data (e.g., procfs). It is distinguished from a directory service andregistry.
Most file systems make use of an underlying data storage device that offers access to an array of fixed-size physical sectors, generally a power of 2 in size (512 bytes or 1, 2, or 4 KiB are most common). The file system is responsible for organizing these sectors into files and directories, and keeping track of which sectors belong to which file and which are not being used. Most file systemsaddress data in fixed-sized units called "clusters" or "blocks" which contain a certain number of disk sectors (usually 1-64). This is the smallest amount of disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. However, file systems need not make use of a storage device at all. A file system can be used to organize and represent access to any data, whether it is stored or dynamically generated (e.g.,procfs).
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