Glossary of file systems terms
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This is a glossary of common file system terms.[1][2]
- Access control lists
- Does the file system support multi-user access control lists (ACLs).
- Attributes
- Lists the basic file attributes available.
- Bad sector allocation
- Describe how the file system allocates and isolates bad sectors.
- Directory structure
- Describes how the subdirectories are implemented.
- File allocation
- Describes how the file system allocates sectors in-use by files.
- Inventor
- List the names of those credited with the design of the file system specification. This should not include those responsible for writing the implementation.
- Maximum date
- The maximum year that can be handled by the file system, as per the specification.
- Maximum filename size
- The maximum number of characters that a file or directory name may contain.
- Maximum files
- The maximum number of files the file system can handle.
- Maximum volume size
- The maximum size of a volume that the file system specification can handle. This may differ from the maximum size an operating system supports using a given implementation of the file system.
- Name
- The full, non abbreviated, name of the file system itself.
- Named streams
- Determines if the file systems supports multiple data streams. NTFS refers to these as alternate data streams, HPFS as extended attributes and HFS calls them forks.
- Namespace
- Lists the characters that are legal within file and directory names.
- Native operating system
- The name of the operating system in which this file system debuted.
- Partition identificator
- The partitioning scheme and marker used to identify that a partition is formatted to this file system.
- Per-file compression
- Does the file system support real-time transparent compression and decompression of individual files.
- Per-file encryption
- Does the file system support real-time transparent encryption and decryption of individual files.
- Per-volume compression
- Does the file system support real-time transparent compression and decompression of an entire volume.
- Per-volume encryption
- Does the file system support real-time transparent encryption and decryption of an entire volume.
Dates handled
[edit]What type of dates and times the file system can support, which may include:
- Access date
- This is the date the file was last accessed. An access can be a move, an open, or any other simple access. It can also be tripped by Anti-virus scanners, or Windows system processes. Therefore, caution has to be used when stating a “file was last accessed by user XXX” if there is only the “File Access” date in NTFS to work from.
- Backed-up date
- The date and time when the file was last backed up.
- Changed date
- The date and time related attributes were modified. This may include ACLs and the file/directory name.
- Creation date
- This is the date the file was “created” on the volume. This does not change when working normally with a file, e.g. opening, closing, saving, or modifying the file.
- Modified date
- This date as shown by Windows there has been a change to the file itself. E.g. if a notepad document has more data added to it, this would trip the date it was modified.
References
[edit]- ↑ Cankaya, Hakki C. (2011), "Access Control Lists", in van Tilborg, Henk C. A.; Jajodia, Sushil (eds.), Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security, Boston, MA: Springer US, pp. 9–12, doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_770, ISBN 978-1-4419-5906-5, retrieved 2025-01-22
- ↑ "Access control lists for file system objects". www.ibm.com. Retrieved 2025-01-22.