Question

Discuss the historical development and of the evolution of file system data processing starting from the file-based system of the past to today. Make sure you explain why file systems were developed. Identify which event you believe is the most important. Briefly describe how your file system works. Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts.

Answer 1

It’s the first management system introduced in 1960’s. This was actually the proof of concept, in which the feasibility of storing large amount of data was shown. It’s the management system in which all data is stored on a single large file as indicated from its name.

It just contains data in which there are no relationships and no links between data and records.

Its main drawback is searching a record or data takes a lot of time. Also these systems had a lot of drawbacks like for updating or to modify the data we have to do a lot of efforts as searching took time. Sorting the records was one of time taking process.

In order to take account of the disadvantages in the previous file management system, this data base system was introduces a new concept of parent-child relationship between the flat files (like trees concept). The origin of data is called root have several branches coming out of it at different levels and the last level is called leaf. For example a parent can have many children but a child can only have a parent (1: M relation).

This model uses pointers for navigation between stored data.

For accessing the data we have to follow the hierarchy from top to bottom.

Its main drawback is that if we need to modify or wants to add something in the data we have to alter all the structure that’s again a very tedious task. Some times our data can best model if we have multiple parents/owners, so hierarchical Database system restricts ourselves in doing so.

The most important purpose of a file system is to manage user data. This includes storing, retrieving and updating data.

Some file systems accept data for storage as a stream of bytes which are collected and stored in a manner efficient for the media.

Data and databases is the most important event i believe.

In computing, a file system or filesystem controls how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one large body of data with no way to tell where one piece of data stops and the next begins. By separating the data into pieces and giving each piece a name, the data is easily isolated and identified. Taking its name from the way paper-based data management system is named, each group of data is called a "file." The structure and logic rules used to manage the groups of data and their names is called a "file system."