Aaargh I've done it again! Never mind, here is a repost... On Thu, 27 Oct 1994 12:46:41 +0000 (GMT), Simon Cooke said: > The time has come to work out the standard file structure for this new > hard-drive thingummybob... > > I'd like a filesystem that has no limits on no' of files, allows user > status (ie password protected areas, file groups, etc.... to allow > networking / fileserver activity if it ever happens)...
> Basically, we've got to define how we're going to store the files on the > disc, how it finds them when they're stored there, and what's held in the > directory structure. Well there are already several file structures available, so wouldn't it be easier to choose one of those rather than invent another one? :-) Basically, there's... Sam format Yeah, right. :-) CP/M Gives a root directory with a fixed number of file names of length 8.3. I don't know whether it allows other directories or not. File allocation is stored per file in the directory; long files are allowed but take up several directory slots. FAT (not too well up on this one) Gives a root directory with a fixed number of file names of length 8.3 and allows a directory structure. Requires a sizeable portion of the disk to store the FAT and is not so good for random access. HPFS (even less well up on this one) Allows free-format file names and is apparently faster than FAT (hence the name, "high performance file system"). Unix Each directory is a file containing a simple linked list of i-node/ filename pairs. File allocation is stored per file in i-nodes which can be kept fairly small (say 32 or 64 bytes) while allowing file sizes of up to 64M even on "small" file systems. Requires a sizeable proportion of the disk to store enough i-nodes for the whole disk and hence has an upper limit to the total number of files stored. Allows each file to have characteristics such as owner, mode, type etc. I'm sure that didn't help at all, though I think you should go for the Unix approach. imc (trying to pretend he listened at operating system classes)
