Operating Systems, unit: File Systems and I/O. Core concepts, terminology, and worked-example cues a college student meets for this unit, building on prior units without repeating them. Front: a term, concept, or short problem cue. Back: the definition, explanation, or answer.
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- What is a file system?
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The OS component that organizes and manages how data is stored and retrieved on storage devices- What is a file?
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A named collection of related data stored persistently on a storage device- What is a directory (folder)?
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A file system structure that organizes files and other directories hierarchically- What is a file's metadata?
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Information about a file, such as its size, creation date, and permissions, separate from its actual contents- What is an inode, in Unix-like file systems?
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A data structure storing a file's metadata and pointers to its data blocks- What is file allocation, in terms of how data blocks are stored?
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The method the file system uses to assign disk blocks to a file's contents- What is contiguous file allocation?
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Storing a file's data in consecutive blocks on disk- What is linked file allocation?
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Storing a file's data blocks scattered on disk, each block pointing to the next- What is indexed file allocation?
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Using a separate index block that lists all the data blocks belonging to a file- What is a file allocation table (FAT)?
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A table-based file system structure tracking which disk clusters belong to which files- What is journaling, in the context of file systems?
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Recording planned changes in a log before applying them, to help recover from crashes- What is file system fragmentation?
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A file's data becoming scattered across non-contiguous areas of the disk over time- What are file permissions?
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Rules determining who can read, write, or execute a given file- What is the difference between a hard link and a symbolic link?
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A hard link points directly to the same data on disk; a symbolic link is a pointer to a file's path- What is I/O (input/output)?
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The communication between a computer system and the outside world, including storage and peripheral devices
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