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File names and interacting with local file systems

9 bytes added, 11:15, 15 February 2016
Computer representation
Computers can only store 0 and 1. So, so how do we store files, folders, etc.?
Well. The data is stored on the surface of a hard drive, magnetically, as a 0 and 1. These "bits" are grouped up into collections of 8 , called bytes.
On a hard drive a collection of 512 btyes bytes is called a Sector.
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/sector.htm
== File Storage ==
So Therefore, with all of the sectors on the hard drive, that there is a lot of filing to be done. This is managed by the computer using a filing system. Like For example, when you walk into a library. At , at the entrance to the library is kept an index of all the booksis kept. If you're looking for a specific book you don't go through every book in the library, you go to the index, which gives you a reference number. If you want this book, look in this section. The hard drive works exactly the same. It has a File Allocation Table (FAT) which points to sectors. If data is longer than one sector (i.e. bigger than 512 btyesbytes), then the last part of the first sector points to the next sector, in a daisy chain effect. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table]
As the folders in a system are structured like a tree, there is a Root. This is based of the filing system then there . There can be many branches, with the leaves being the files.
Over the years, as space and files got bigger and cheaper, newer and better indexing systems were required. On most modern windows computers, FAT, which for almost 30 years was the default , has now become NTFS (New Technology Filing System). [https://www.pctechguide.com/hard-disks/file-systems-fat-fat8-fat16-fat32-and-ntfs-explained]
There are other filing systems , with the next most popular being ext , on Linux systems. Linux can use FAT and ext as Windows uses FAT and NTFS.
All of these files and , folders and the filing system itself were used on persistent storage. , i.e. when you turn the computer off and back on again, the data will still be there. The original computers didn't have much storage, it was all done on "floppy disks". The first 5 1/4 inch disks had a file system, just as the smaller 3 1/2 inch disks did. The disks went into a disk drive. The first disk drive in a computer got a title. A: As computers advanced, they needed more storage space so computers came with 2 drives instead of 1 and that was called B:. So in computer terminology A: and B: are reserved for floppy disks.  After a while more regular storage of a larger nature was required and this lead to a hard drive also being shipped with the computer. So users had A:, B: and C:. With C: being the hard drive. As this was the standard for so many years, the naming convention stuck. If you add more disks and storage, they now get consecutive names. D:. E:, etc.
After a while more regular storage of a larger nature was required, and this lead to a hard drive also being shipped with the computer. So users had A:, B: and C:. With C: being the hard drive. As this was the standard for so many years, the naming convention stuck. If you add more disks and storage, they now get consecutive names. D:. E:, etc.
= File and Folder Operation =
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