Chapter 3 - File Management

Not Unique To Computing

• Use file cabinets, folders, boxes, drawers, and piles to manage paper files

• This chapter looks at organizing and managing electronic files

• File Management

  • Opening, closing, saving, naming, copying, moving, deleting, and organizing digital files.

Folder

• A container used to store and organize files on a storage device

• Can contain files and other folders (often called sub-folders)

• Operating systems come with some folders already created, called a hierarchy

  • The folder structure created by an operating system

Library

A tool used to gather files that are located in different locations

Path

• The sequence of folders to a file or folder

  • Root folder: C:\ (Windows) or / (Mac OSX / Linux)

  • Example - C:\docs\classes\notes.txt     (MS-Windows)

  • Example - /docs/classes/notes.txt        (Mac OSX / Linux)Fi

File Explorer

The tool used to navigate the file system and work with files, folders, and libraries on a Windows computer

Finder

The tool used to navigate the file system and work with files, folders, and libraries on a Mac OSX computer

User Folders

• For each account created, a personal user (i.e. home) folder (with sub-folders) is created

  • By default, users are not allowed to view other users’ folders and files

Mobile Devices and File Storage

• Internal Storage

  • Mobile devices usually do not have a lot of internal storage space to store files

• External Storage

  • micro SD cards

  • Cloud storage

Creating and Using Folders

• Users are not limited to the folder structure created by the operating system

• Users can create their own folders (and sub-folders), so can create their own organizational structures

  • By creating a folder structure and saving files in the appropriate folder, can make it easier to find them later

Programs

• Also known as software, applications, executable files

• On MS-Windows, end with “.exe”

Data Files

• Created by users (actually, by the programs they are using)

• Documents, images, audio, videos, etc.

File Names and Extensions

• The file name is the property that is used to identify it

• Most files also have a file extension, assigned by the program used to create the file

• Example: ch_03_homework.docx

  • ch_03_homework is the part of the file name user enters

  • .docx is the file extension (usually added by the program)

• File names can be long (over 250 characters in both MS-Windows and Mac OSX)

• Besides letters, file names can have numbers, spaces, and other special characters (though not usually a good idea except for space, -, _)

Default Program Associations

• File extensions are used by the Operating System associate a data file with the program used to create it

• Each (registered) file extension has this

  • .exe : executable program

  • .docx : MS-Word

  • .xlsx : MS-Excel

  • .html : A web browser

• When you double-click on a data file, the associated program is executed and the file loaded

File Properties

• Provides information about a file, such as its size, the date it was created, the date it was last modified, etc.

• A form of metadata (data that describes other data)

• Some file properties automatically created with the file and maintained by the Operating System

  • Size, date (date created, date last modified), owner (user that created the file)

• Other file properties can be added or edited by the user

  • File name, permissions (dictate who can view and/or edit a file)

  • Title, author, etc. (optional)

Backups

• Copying files to another storage device or the cloud

• Can back up entire device, certain folders, or even just certain files

  • MS-Windows utility: File History

  • Mac OSX: Time Machine

• Some external hard drives include backup software

Backup to the Cloud

• Backups are done automatically and saved in a remote location (safer)

• Internet connectivity is required (obviously)

• Examples: Mozy, Carbonite

Cloud Storage

• Not quite the same as Cloud Backup

• Allows you to store working files in the cloud

• From a user standpoint, you have a “folder” which can contain files, but that “folder” is on a remote cloud server

• Usually have limits on how much can be stored

• OneDrive: Can be used to save files from MS-Office apps directly to the cloud

• iCloud: A cloud storage and sync service from Apple

• Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon Drive, etc.

Compression

• The process of making a file smaller

  • Conserves disk space

  • Can be transferred more quickly

• Lossless

  • There is no loss of data, so compressed file can later be decompressed

  • User data files (MS-Word docs, MS-Excel spreadsheets, etc.), programs

  • Zip (MS-Windows), StuffIt (Mac OSX)

• Lossy (multi-media files)

  • During compression, data (that humans typically cannot detect anyway) is removed from the file, allowing the compressed file to be much smaller than with lossless compression

  • Media files (images, audio files, video files)