Topic 5: File Management

Flashcards covering File System definitions, types of files, directory structures, security measures, backup strategies, and I/O management based on the Topic 5 lecture notes.

File System

A method for storing and organizing files on storage media that defines how data is stored, named, and retrieved.

NTFS and FAT32

Common examples of file systems used by the Windows operating system.

ext4

The file system commonly employed by Linux.

APFS

The file system utilized by macOS.

Clusters/Blocks

Allocation units for storing data within a file system.

Data Integrity

A function of the file system ensuring files remain uncorrupted during operations.

Space Management

The file system task of allocating and tracking storage space.

Regular Files

Basic units of data storage in an operating system that can include text or binary formats.

Binary Files

Machine-readable content like $.exe$, $.dll$, or $.bin$ that contain compiled code or specific data formats.

Media Files

Specialized binary files including images ($.jpg$, $.png$), audio ($.mp3$, $.wav$), and video ($.mp4$, $.mov$).

Device Files

Special files that interface with hardware devices through the file system, categorized into block devices or character devices.

Block devices

A type of device file used for disks, such as $/dev/sda$.

Character devices

A type of device file used for terminals, such as $/dev/tty$.

Pipes

Communication files that enable data transfer between processes.

Sockets

Communication files that serve as network communication endpoints.

unlink()

The Unix/Linux system call used to remove a file from the filesystem.

Append

An advanced file operation that adds data to the end of a file without modifying existing content using the $O\_APPEND$ flag.

Truncate

An operation that reduces file size by removing content, useful for clearing logs or resetting files.

Seek

An operation that moves the file pointer to specific positions to enable random access to file data.

Single-level Directory Structure

A simple structure where all files exist in one directory and must have unique names; no subdirectories exist.

Tree-structured Directory

A modern hierarchical implementation used in Windows, macOS, and Linux that introduces arbitrary nesting depth for subdirectories.

Symbolic Links

Special files that point to other files or directories, enabling cross-directory references.

BitLocker (Windows) and LUKS (Linux)

Security tools used to encrypt entire volumes.

Journaling

A process that records pending changes to prevent corruption during system crashes.

Secure Deletion

A method that overwrites deleted file space with random data multiple times to prevent recovery.

Disaster Recovery Stat

$60\%$ of businesses that lose critical data close within $6$ months.

Incremental Backup

A strategy that only backs up changes since the last backup, offering speed at the cost of higher complexity.

Differential Backup

A strategy that backs up changes since the last full backup, balancing speed and simplicity.

Multi-factor Authentication

A security method combining something you know (password), something you have (phone), and something you are (fingerprint).

GDPR and HIPAA

Compliance requirements that mandate tracking personal data access and medical record audit trails, respectively.

Buffering

The use of a temporary data storage area to reduce mismatches between devices and speed up operations.

Caching

A fast storage area that keeps frequently accessed data to reduce disk access for common operations.

Spooling

A process that holds output for devices that cannot accept interleaved data, such as managing print queues.