[sf-lug] filesystem for a 3TB external USB drive

[jim]

    Yes, Paul's answer is more to the point of my question. 
Rick's answer is certainly very helpful. 
    My answer is "a filesystem is a technology that includes 
a database, a directory structure and a single unnamed 
directory, and some software routines in the kernel that can 
manage the database and directories." 
    I've found that my definition provides an easy basis for 
explaining the idea of mounting filesystems to mount points. 
It also helps clarify the difference between filesystems on 
Windows systems and Unix-like systems. 
    (I hope that the spelling of "filesystems" is not a 
barbarism; the local spell checker indicates it is.) 
    I'm mainly ignorant of the classification of filesystem 
features (e.g. journaling, whatever features promote speedy 
data access, possibly alternately data surety...). Probably 
helpful to see such in tabular format that maps filesystem 
names to filesystem features. 




On Tue, 2012-01-03 at 18:01 -0800, Paul Ivanov wrote:
> Rick Moen, on 2012-01-03 14:19,  wrote:
> > Quoting jim (jim at systemateka.com):
> > 
> > > what is a filesystem? 
> > 
> > /usr/bin/stat is your friend.
> ...
> > In case you want to ask 'What is a file?', same answer applies.
> 
> I took Jim's question to be a more general one, where my response
> would have been something like "A specific set of protocols (and
> the implementation thereof) for providing a mapping of logical,
> hierarchically organized files and directories to their
> respective physical manifestation as bits encoded in some media
> (be it magnetization of a portion of a hard disk platter, or the
> reflectance pattern of a CD, etc)."
> 
> A file, then would be "a logical (named) representation of a
> chunk of data, possibly with attached metadata, such as
> modification/creation/access times, read/write/execute
> permissions, etc". And a directory is "A file whose data consists
> entirely of the names of other files, which are all said to be
> logically contained within the directory."
> 
> best,
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