The operating system provides a uniform, logical view of information storage. The operating system abstracts from the physical properties of its storage devices to define a logical storage unit, the file. The operating system maps files onto physical media and accesses these files via the storage devices
File-System Management
File management is one of the most visible components of an operating system. Computers can store information on several different types of physical media. Magnetic disk, optical disk, and magnetic tape are the most common.
Each of these media has its own characteristics and physical organization. Each medium is controlled by a device, such as a disk drive or tape drive, that also has its own unique characteristics. These properties include access speed, capacity, data-transfer rate, and access method (sequential or random)
The operating system is responsible for the following activities in connection with file management:
- Creating and deleting files
- Creating and deleting directories to organize files
- Supporting primitives for manipulating files and directories
- Mapping files onto secondary storage
- Backing up files on stable (nonvolatile) storage media