COP 4600 – FINAL EXAM / 2025 – 2026 VERSION
WITH WELL-DEFINED QUESTIONS AND
THOROUGH EXPLAINED ANSWERS / GET IT
100% CORRECT ANSWERS / GUARANTEED
SUCCESS / ALREADY GRADED A+
What is a path?
Answer:
A path is a sequence of directories used to reference a file.
They can be relative or absolute.
Why do we need file systems?
Answer:
1. Locate free storage space
2. Store information in a persistent way (survives process
termination)
3. Allow more than one process to access the information
store concurrently
4. Find information by human-accessible identifiers
5. Protect data from unauthorized use
6. Identifying types of data stored and programs that can read
the data
How are directories implemented?
Answer:
Directories can be implemented in-line or via reference ->
Variable attribute/name size
Why do we mount filesystems?
Answer:
,We mount a file system to make it accessible to programs
through the operating system.
Challenges with mounting filesystem?
Answer:
Where will the root of the file system appear to the user?
How should different devices be presented to the user?
When accessing a file system on a device, we need to know?
Answer:
boot block, Filesystem type/organization (super block), and
where the root directory is
What is in the filesystem superblock?
Answer:
The file system superblock holds information about its type,
format, and organization
What happens when you make a mounting call in Unix
Answer:
Copies the Superblock from the disk being mounted to the
superblock table in main memory.
Sets pointers in the directory inode to FS mounted
What are the approaches to file allocation?
Answer:
1. Contiguous allocation (all-in-a-row)
2. Linked list allocation (block)
3. Chained table allocation (FAT)
4. Indexed allocation (index nodes)
5. Chained indexed allocation (index + linked list)
6. Multi-level indexed allocation (tree structure)
Hardware is an abstraction that provides two main operations
Answer:
1. Read block at index "k"
2. Write block at index "k"
3. Allocate and Deallocate
,Contiguous allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: A file's contents are stored purely in order on the
drive
CONS: suffers from external fragmentation, because it is a
contiguous approach to system memory
Linked List Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Each block holds a pointer to the next. Requires
iteration through drive blocks (drive accesses) for random
access
CONS: Problematic in large files; App has to iterate through
each node.
Chained Table Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Chain store the linked list as a table in memory to
minimize disk access. It is called a File Allocation Table (FAT)
Indexed Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Indexed allocation stores locations of each block
in an index block referenced by the file control block
CONS: A pure index system limits file size
Multi-level Indexed Allocation
Answer:
Use direct and indirect blocks to increase maximum file size
Chained Indexed Allocation
Answer:
Direct blocks with an additional indirect pointer
What are Inodes?
Answer:
1. Index Nodes
2. Store file block information, along with some block pointers
- but are usually smaller (128B or 256B
, (T/F) Does a bigger block size have a better data rate?
Answer:
True
(T/F) Does a bigger block size have a good disk space
utilization?
Answer:
False
What happens with a worse disk space utilization?
Answer:
Internal Fragmentation
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a better data rate?
Answer:
False, lower data rate
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a good disk space
utilization?
Answer:
True
MS-DOS File System
Answer:
1. Maximum partition size for different block sizes.
2. The empty boxes represent forbidden combinations.
How do you keep track of a free block?
Answer:
(a) Storing the free list on a linked list
(b) A bitmap
What is the file control block (FCB)?
Answer:
Where the attributes and location information of a file are
stored. It is often distributed across the file system, meaning
that they are within directories or reachable from them
Common file attributes in an FCB
WITH WELL-DEFINED QUESTIONS AND
THOROUGH EXPLAINED ANSWERS / GET IT
100% CORRECT ANSWERS / GUARANTEED
SUCCESS / ALREADY GRADED A+
What is a path?
Answer:
A path is a sequence of directories used to reference a file.
They can be relative or absolute.
Why do we need file systems?
Answer:
1. Locate free storage space
2. Store information in a persistent way (survives process
termination)
3. Allow more than one process to access the information
store concurrently
4. Find information by human-accessible identifiers
5. Protect data from unauthorized use
6. Identifying types of data stored and programs that can read
the data
How are directories implemented?
Answer:
Directories can be implemented in-line or via reference ->
Variable attribute/name size
Why do we mount filesystems?
Answer:
,We mount a file system to make it accessible to programs
through the operating system.
Challenges with mounting filesystem?
Answer:
Where will the root of the file system appear to the user?
How should different devices be presented to the user?
When accessing a file system on a device, we need to know?
Answer:
boot block, Filesystem type/organization (super block), and
where the root directory is
What is in the filesystem superblock?
Answer:
The file system superblock holds information about its type,
format, and organization
What happens when you make a mounting call in Unix
Answer:
Copies the Superblock from the disk being mounted to the
superblock table in main memory.
Sets pointers in the directory inode to FS mounted
What are the approaches to file allocation?
Answer:
1. Contiguous allocation (all-in-a-row)
2. Linked list allocation (block)
3. Chained table allocation (FAT)
4. Indexed allocation (index nodes)
5. Chained indexed allocation (index + linked list)
6. Multi-level indexed allocation (tree structure)
Hardware is an abstraction that provides two main operations
Answer:
1. Read block at index "k"
2. Write block at index "k"
3. Allocate and Deallocate
,Contiguous allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: A file's contents are stored purely in order on the
drive
CONS: suffers from external fragmentation, because it is a
contiguous approach to system memory
Linked List Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Each block holds a pointer to the next. Requires
iteration through drive blocks (drive accesses) for random
access
CONS: Problematic in large files; App has to iterate through
each node.
Chained Table Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Chain store the linked list as a table in memory to
minimize disk access. It is called a File Allocation Table (FAT)
Indexed Allocation
Answer:
DEFINITION: Indexed allocation stores locations of each block
in an index block referenced by the file control block
CONS: A pure index system limits file size
Multi-level Indexed Allocation
Answer:
Use direct and indirect blocks to increase maximum file size
Chained Indexed Allocation
Answer:
Direct blocks with an additional indirect pointer
What are Inodes?
Answer:
1. Index Nodes
2. Store file block information, along with some block pointers
- but are usually smaller (128B or 256B
, (T/F) Does a bigger block size have a better data rate?
Answer:
True
(T/F) Does a bigger block size have a good disk space
utilization?
Answer:
False
What happens with a worse disk space utilization?
Answer:
Internal Fragmentation
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a better data rate?
Answer:
False, lower data rate
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a good disk space
utilization?
Answer:
True
MS-DOS File System
Answer:
1. Maximum partition size for different block sizes.
2. The empty boxes represent forbidden combinations.
How do you keep track of a free block?
Answer:
(a) Storing the free list on a linked list
(b) A bitmap
What is the file control block (FCB)?
Answer:
Where the attributes and location information of a file are
stored. It is often distributed across the file system, meaning
that they are within directories or reachable from them
Common file attributes in an FCB
