Ch 3 L6: Disk Drivers and File Systems

Question 1

What is a disk drive?

Answer 1

a mechanical device that reads data from and writes data to a disk

Question 2

What is a solid-state drive (SSD)?

Answer 2

a device that stores data in non-volatile memory, a type which persists even if power is turned off.

Question 3

What is a volume?

Answer 3

A volume is a storage unit with a letter assigned such as C or D.

Each physical drive has one or more logical volumes.

Question 4

What is the top level of the storage hierarchy called?

Answer 4

The root directory

Question 5

What is the purpose of the root directory?

Answer 5

provides an entryway to the disk

Question 6

What is the purpose of a file path?

Answer 6

provides the information you need to locate the file in the storage media

This includes the letter of the volume where a file is located, followed by a colon, the names of the folders to go through to get to the file, and the name of the file.

Each location name is followed by a backslash. Operating systems handle file types differently.

Some examine file content to determine its type, but most rely on a file extension.

Question 7

What is a file extension?

Answer 7

a short quote at the end of the file name, separated by a period

Question 8

How does the Windows operating system know which file extension is associated with each file?

Answer 8

Windows maintain a database containing the file association for each file extension.

Question 9

What is the purpose of a file association?

Answer 9

The file association defines a default application or action.

Question 10

Can a user customize entries in the Windows database so that a particular type of file opens in a different application than the one assigned by default?

Answer 10

Yes

Question 11

What are some examples of common file extensions?

Answer 11

.doc, associated with Microsoft Word, .PDF, associated with Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Reader .MP4, associated with Apple QuickTime