Directory structure

Directory structure

In computing, a directory structure is the way an operating system's file system and its files are displayed to the user. Files are typically displayed in a Hierarchical tree structure.

Contents

File names and extensions

A filename is a special kind of string used to uniquely identify a file stored on the file system of a computer. Before the advent of 32-bit operating systems, file names were typically limited to short names (6 to 14 characters in size). Modern operating systems now typically allow much longer filenames (more than 250 characters per pathname element).

Windows, DOS, and OS/2

In DOS, Windows, and OS/2, the root directory is "drive:\", for example, the root directory is usually "C:\". The directory separator is usually a "\", but the operating system also internally recognizes a "/". Physical and virtual drives are named by a drive letter, as opposed to being combined as one.[1] This means that there is no "formal" root directory, but rather that there are independent root directories on each drive. However, it is possible to combine two drives into one virtual drive letter, by setting a hard drive into a RAID setting of 0.[2]

Common Windows directory structure

$Recycle.Bin
Recycle folder (hidden)
Boot
Boot folder (hidden, since Windows Vista)
Documents and Settings
User folders (up to Windows XP, legacy and hidden since Windows Vista)
inetpub
IIS folder (if installed)
PerfLogs
created by Windows Performance Information and Tools
Program Data
Program data (hidden, since Windows Vista)
Program Files
Program files
Program Files (x86)
Program files for x86 (32 bit) programs on a x64 Windows
Recovery
System recovery informations (hidden)
System Volume Information
Part of system restore (hidden)
Users
User folders (since Windows Vista)
Windows
Windows folder

Unix

Main article: Unix directory structure

Unix and Unix-like operating systems use Filesystem Hierarchy Standard as the common form for their directory structures. All files and directories appear under the root directory "/", even if they are stored on different physical devices.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~tbw/spars/dept.faqs/file_dir_structure.htm
  2. ^ http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/perf/raid/levels/singleLevel0-c.html
  3. ^ http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/linuxdir.html

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • directory structure duplication —    A technique that maintains duplicate copies of the file allocation table (FAT) and directory entry table in separate areas of a hard disk. If the first copy is damaged or destroyed, the second copy is immediately available for use.    See also …   Dictionary of networking

  • TeX Directory Structure — (TDS) is a directory hierarchy for macros, fonts, and the other implementation independent TeX system files. The top level directories are* tex for TeX files (including LaTeX and other macro packages) * fonts for font related files * metafont for …   Wikipedia

  • Directory information tree — A directory information tree (DIT) is data represented in a hierarchical tree like structure consisting of the Distinguished Names (DNs) of directory service entries. Both the X.500 protocols and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)… …   Wikipedia

  • Directory Information Tree — A Directory Information Tree (DIT) is data represented in a hierarchical tree like structure consisting of the Distinguished names (DNs) of the directory entries.Both the X.500 protocols and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) use… …   Wikipedia

  • Directory (file systems) — In computing, a directory, catalog, folder [ With the introduction of Windows 95, Microsoft started referring to directories as folders. ( [http://www.murach.com/books/csh5/ Murach s C# 2005] , page 34)] or drawer [Name used in AmigaOS… …   Wikipedia

  • Directory —    1. In Novell Directory Services (NDS), the Directory database contains and organizes all the NDS objects.    2. In the Microsoft Active Directory structure, a Directory contains information about users, groups of users, computers, and so on.… …   Dictionary of networking

  • Directory services —    In the Microsoft Active Directory structure, a directory as well as the services it provides, such as security and replication.    See also Active Directory …   Dictionary of networking

  • directory verification —    A process that performs a consistency check on duplicate sets of file allocation tables (FATs) and directory entry tables to verify that they are identical. The verification occurs every time the server is started.    See also directory… …   Dictionary of networking

  • Structure and Dynamics eJournal of the Anthropological and Related Sciences — Structure and Dynamics: eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences is an open access, free, peer reviewed journal published by the eScholarship Repository at the University of California and is jointly supported by the… …   Wikipedia

  • Structure mining — or structured data mining is the process of finding and extracting useful information from semi structured data sets. Graph mining is a special case of structured data mining[citation needed]. Contents 1 Description 2 See also …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”