File management in operating system

BY: Shaunak Lunawat

File management is one of the basic and important features of operating system. Operating system is used to manage files of computer system. All the files with different extensions are managed by operating system.

A file is collection of specific information stored in the memory of computer system. File management is defined as the process of manipulating files in computer system, it management includes the process of creating, modifying and deleting the files.

File management in operating system helps to create new files in computer system and placing them at the specific locations.

It also helps in easily and quickly locating these files in computer system.

the file management makes the process of sharing files among different users very easy and user friendly.

It helps to stores the files in separate folders known as directories. These directories help users to search file quickly or to manage the files according to their types or uses. It also helps the user to modify the data of files or to modify the name of the file in the directories.

There is often a hierarchal structure within the file management system which the computer follows so that it can locate files quickly by following a path.The general hierarchy of the storage in an operating system consists of the root directory present at the highest level in the hierarchical structure. It includes all the sub directories in which the files are stored. Sub directory is a directory present inside another directory in the file storage system. The directory storage system ensures better organization of files in the memory of the computer system.

The file management function in operating system (OS) is simply based on the following concepts:

1. File Attributes:

It specifies the characteristics of the files such as its type, date of last modification, size, location on disk etc. File attributes help the user to understand the value and location of files. File attributes is one most important feature. It is used to describe all the information regarding particular file.

2. File Operations:

It specifies the task that can be performed on a file such as opening and closing of file.

3. File Access permission:

It specifies the specific access permissions related to a file such as read and write.

4. File Systems:

It specifies the logical method of file storage in a computer system. Some of the commonly used files systems include FAT(File Allocation table) and NTFS

(New Technology File System).