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Is a file system just the layout of folders?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 20267242 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I have used Windows since childhood, and when I hear the phrase "Windows filesystem" I think of directories (folders) within directories, a folder called SYSTEM, a folder called PROGRAM FILES etc. Is this what the system is? Just the layout of the folders? And then I recently started using Linux, and my reference book says in the linux filesystem everything starts at root and branches off from there. How is that really different from Windows? I mean, it seems the linux system and the windows system are just two ways of setting up a directory tree. Is this what file system means?

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Fix for: Is a file system just the layout of folders?

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Just the layout of the folders? Sounds too good to be true... Let's take the FAT32 file system as an example. I can install Windows XP on it, but I can also use it on a memory card. On a memory card, you don't have those folders that you sum up. So... Don't confuse the directory layout of a family of operating systems with a file system. Is this what a file system means? No... It refers to the underlying bits and bytes that make your directory structure work. The underlying bits and bytes? Show…

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