FILE ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS A FILE: A file is a collection of data stored in one unit, identified by a filename. It

can be a document, picture, audio, video stream, data library, application, or other collection of

data.

WHAT IS A FILE SYSTEM: This can be said to be a system, used to control how data is

stored and retrieved. It is a system that manages and organizes all computer files, stores them and

makes them available when they are needed. Without a file system, information that are kept in a

storage area would be one large body of data with no way to tell where one piece of information

steps and the next begins. By separating data into piece and giving each piece a name, the

information is easily separated and identified. Taking its name from the way paper-based

information systems are named, each piece of data is called a file. The structure and logic rules

used to manage the groups of information and their names are called file system.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF FILE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The file system as we know them today, traces their origin to a proposal for the multics operating

system in1965. This proposal for all intent and purposes became the UNIX file system file [UFS]

in early 1970s and remains the UFS as we know it today. Not much has changed in file system

over 254 years .They recover faster and support large file and file system, of course, but these are

revolutionary changes rather than radical changes. Compere the changes in file systems to

hardware changes that have been made over the same period of time, and you will se only

incremental change overall at best. In my opinion, the file system [and the associated volume

manager] is the most critical component in the data path due to its ability to dramatically affect
I/O performance. Even the best file system and volume manager available today can be

improperly configured to the point that performance is horrible.

USES OF FILE SYSTEM

1. File systems allocate space in a granular manner, usually multiple physical units on the

device.

2. The file system is responsible for organizing files and directories, and keeping track of

which areas of the media belong to which file and which are not being used.

3. File system manages access to both the content of and the metadata about those file.

4. It is responsible for arranging storage spacing; reliability, efficiency, and turning with

the physical storage medium are import designs consideration.

TYPES OF FILE SYSTEM

1) DISK FILE SYSTEMS: A disk file system takes advantages of the ability of disk storage

media to randomly address data in a short amount of time. Additional considerations include the

speed of accessing data following that initially requested and the anticipation that the following

data may also be requested. This permits multiple users (or processes) access to various data on

the disk without regard to the sequential location of the data. Examples include FAT (FAT12,

FAT16, FAT32), exFAT, NTFS, HFS and HFS+, HPFS, UFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, btrfs, ISO

9660, Files-11, Veritas File System, VMFS, ZFS, ReiserFS and UDF. Some disk file systems

are journaling file systems or versioning file systems

2) FLASH FILE SYSTEM: The flash file system considers the special abilities, performance

and restrictions of flash memory devices. Frequently a disk file system can use a flash memory
device as underlying storage media, bit it is much better to use a file system specifically designed

for a flash device.

3) TAPE FILE SYSTEM: A file system and tape format designed to store files on tape in a

self-describing form. Magnetic tapes are sequential storage media with significantly longer

random data access times than disks, posing challenges to the creation and efficient management

of a general-purpose file system.

4) DATABASE FILE SYSTEMS: Another concept for file management is the idea of a

database-based file system. Instead of, or in addition to, hierarchical structured management,

5) TRANSACTION FILE SYSTEM: Some programs need to update multiple files "all at

once". For example, a software installation may write program binaries, libraries, and

configuration files. If the software installation fails, the program may be unusable. If the

installation is upgrading a key system utility, such as the command shell, the entire system may

be left in an unusable state. Transaction processing introduces the isolation guarantee, which

states that operations within a transaction are hidden from other threads on the system until the

transaction commits, and that interfering operations on the system will be properly serialized

with the transaction. Transactions also provide the atomicity guarantee, that operations inside of

a transaction are either all committed, or the transaction can be aborted and the system discards

all of its partial results. This means that if there is a crash or power failure, after recovery, the

stored state will be consistent. Either the software will be completely installed or the failed

installation will be completely rolled back, but an unusable partial install will not be left on the
system. Files are identified by their characteristics, like type of file, topic, author, or similar rich

metadata.

BASIC TERMINOLOGIES IN FILE SYSTEM

1-DATA: Raw fact that has little meaning unless they have been organized in some logical

manner. The smallest piece of data that can be recognized by the computer is a single character

[e.g. 26alphabet [A-Z], 10 digit [0-9], 13 special characters including viz:+ - ? etc.

Single character requires 1-byte of computer storage. Therefore we can define data as an item or

group of items that do not make meaning on their own.

2-FIELD: This is a character or group of characters [Alphabetic or numerical] that has specific

meaning. The field may defined as a telephone number, a date of birth, customers name etc.

3-RECORD: This is logically connected sets of one or more fields that describes a person, place

or thing e.g. a student examination record; number of courses taken etc.

4-FILE: A file is a collection of related records for example a file containing the record of

student currently enrolled at MOUAU or UNN.

CLASIFICATION OF FILE

Files can be classified in two ways and two set of terms developed for each as follows

 Physical file :this focuses on how data is stored and retrieved from storage device, the set

of terms developed for its functions are :,

- Physical record

- Field
 - Character

 Logical files: this focuses on the relationship between data. The set of terms developed

for its description are

- Logical records of entity

- Data item “attributes of entity”

Thus a “logical file” is a file viewed in terms of what data items its records contain and what

processing operations may be performed up on the file.

NOTE: A logical file can give rise to a number of alternative physical implementation.

ENTITIES: as used under logical file are things [e.g. object, people, event etc.] about which

there is a need to record data e.g.an item of stock, employee, a financial transaction.

ATTRIBUTES: Are the individual properties of the entity about which data is recorded e.g. the

attribute of an invoice [entry] will include the : “name”, “address”, “customer order”, “quality”,

“price”, “description”.

REASON WHY WE STUDY FILE SYSTEM

Although the problem created by file system approach tends to be many, and it is now largely

obsolete, there are several good reason for studying file systems.

 Some of the problems that plague file system may be duplicated in electronic file design

and management as well as in data software if the user of the new software is unaware of

the pitfalls of data management. A wise historian once pointed out that those who do not

learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.

  The greater design complexity of electronic data file software may be easier to

understand once the relatively simple file system’s character is tics are understood.

 File system provide a useful historical perspective on how we handle data.

DBMS - database management system

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that enables you to store,

modify, and extract information from a database. There are many different types of DBMSs,

ranging from small systems that run on personal computers to huge systems that run on

mainframes. The following are examples of database applications:

Computerized library systems

Automated teller machines

Flight reservation systems

Computerized parts inventory systems

From a technical standpoint, DBMSs can differ widely. The terms relational, network, flat, and

hierarchical all refer to the way a DBMS organizes information internally. The internal

organization can affect how quickly and flexibly you can extract information.

Application
Request Data
DBMS Metadata
Program
END USER
Customer

Fig 1.0 The DBMS manages interaction between the end user Invoice

Marketing
and the data base.
FILE SYSTEM DATA MANAGEMENT

In file system data management, data management, the retrievals task requires an extensive

programing. In some high level languages such as COBOL, BASIC, FORTRAN etc. because,

file system differs from the way computer stores the data on the disk, the programmer must be

familiar with physical file structure. Therefore, every file referenced in a program requires the

programmer to use complex coding to match the data characteristics and to defined the precise

access path to the various files and system component, this could lead to system malfunction.

However as the number of files in a system expands, the systems administration becomes

difficult too. Each file must have its own management system; composed of programs that

allows the user to :

a) Create the file structure.

b) Add data to the file.

c) Modify the data contained in the file

d) Delete data from the file.

e) List the file content.

THE RESULT OF UNCONTROLLED DATA DUPLICATION

According to H.C. Iyiama (2000), data duplication yields the worst kind of errors – that least

likely to be deleted and the hardest to correct. However, uncontrolled data duplication leads to

the following:
A. DATA REDUNDANCY: The system contains two or more fields in two or more file.

For instance, Agent name and phone number can occur in both CUSTOMERS and

AGENT file such duplication cost extra data to lead to data inconsistency.

B. DATA CONSISTENCY: suppose we change an agent phone number or address in the

AGENT file if we forget to make corresponding changes in the customers’ file, the file

will contain different data for the same agent. Report will then yield inconsistent result.

C. DATA ANOMALIES: Data anomaly means data abnormality. Identity, a value change

should be made only in single place. Data redundancy, however, create an abnormal

condition by field forcing field value changes in many different locations. For instance, a

female agent who get married, will have her name, address and phone number changed,

not only in single AGENT file, but also in the customer file, each time that AGENT’s

name and phone number occurs in the customer file . We may be faced with the prospect

of making hundreds of corrections one for each of the customers served by that agent.

PHYSICAL AND LOGICAL FILE

PHYSICAL FLIE

This is a collection of bytes/words stored on a disk or tape.

LOGICAL FILE

This is a channel just like the telephone line that connect the program to a physical file.

Also it can be defined as a type of file that provides a view of the data stored into the

physical file.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND LOGICAL FILE

PHYSICAL FILE
 A physical file contains one record format

If there is a logical file for a physical file, the physical file can`t be deleted until

and unless we delete the logical file

Physical file occupies the portion of memory and it contains the original data

LOGICAL FILE

Logical file does not occupy any memory space and does not contain any data. It

loads itself at run time as the defined access path

If there is a logical file for a physical file, the logical file can be deleted without

deleting the physical file

Logical file can`t exist with physical file

Logical file can contain up to 32 record formats,

A logical file has a logical name for referring to it inside a program

Also, a logical file contain only an index to the data stored into the physical file.