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COP4600 – ACTUAL Exam Questions And
Answers 100% Pass
What is a path? - ANS A path is a sequence of directories used to reference a file. They can
be relative or absolute.
Why do we need file systems? - ANS 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? - ANS Directories can be implemented in-line or via
reference -> Variable attribute/name size
Why do we mount filesystems? - ANS We mount a file system to make it accessible to
programs through the operating system.
Challenges with mounting filesystem? - ANS Where will the root of the file system appear to
the user?
How should different devices be presented to the user?
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When accessing a file system on a device, we need to know? - ANS boot block, Filesystem
type/organization (super block), and where the root directory is
What is in the filesystem superblock? - ANS The file system superblock holds information
about its type, format, and organization
What happens when you make a mounting call in Unix - ANS 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? - ANS 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 - ANS 1. Read block at index
"k"
2. Write block at index "k"
3. Allocate and Deallocate
Contiguous allocation - ANS 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
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Linked List Allocation - ANS 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 - ANS 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 - ANS 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 - ANS Use direct and indirect blocks to increase maximum file
size
Chained Indexed Allocation - ANS Direct blocks with an additional indirect pointer
What are Inodes? - ANS 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? - ANS True
(T/F) Does a bigger block size have a good disk space utilization? - ANS False
What happens with a worse disk space utilization? - ANS Internal Fragmentation
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a better data rate? - ANS False, lower data rate
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(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a good disk space utilization? - ANS True
MS-DOS File System - ANS 1. Maximum partition size for different block sizes.
2. The empty boxes represent forbidden combinations.
How do you keep track of a free block? - ANS (a) Storing the free list on a linked list
(b) A bitmap
What is the file control block (FCB)? - ANS 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 - ANS Owner, group, permissions, length, file type, read-
lock, write-lock, date created, date modified, data accessed
True or False: In the process of creating a file, a link to the directory is created - ANS True
True of False: a deletion involves the unlinking of a file to a directory - ANS True
What is a file's link count? - ANS A counter that tracks the number of links to that file
A file's link count is __________ when a file is opened to prevent deletion mid-operation. -
ANS incremented
True or False: In Linux, a file can be added to (shared by) exactly one directory via a file system
link - ANS False: It can be added to more than one directory
COP4600 – ACTUAL Exam Questions And
Answers 100% Pass
What is a path? - ANS A path is a sequence of directories used to reference a file. They can
be relative or absolute.
Why do we need file systems? - ANS 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? - ANS Directories can be implemented in-line or via
reference -> Variable attribute/name size
Why do we mount filesystems? - ANS We mount a file system to make it accessible to
programs through the operating system.
Challenges with mounting filesystem? - ANS Where will the root of the file system appear to
the user?
How should different devices be presented to the user?
, ©EVERLY 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
When accessing a file system on a device, we need to know? - ANS boot block, Filesystem
type/organization (super block), and where the root directory is
What is in the filesystem superblock? - ANS The file system superblock holds information
about its type, format, and organization
What happens when you make a mounting call in Unix - ANS 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? - ANS 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 - ANS 1. Read block at index
"k"
2. Write block at index "k"
3. Allocate and Deallocate
Contiguous allocation - ANS 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
, ©EVERLY 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Linked List Allocation - ANS 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 - ANS 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 - ANS 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 - ANS Use direct and indirect blocks to increase maximum file
size
Chained Indexed Allocation - ANS Direct blocks with an additional indirect pointer
What are Inodes? - ANS 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? - ANS True
(T/F) Does a bigger block size have a good disk space utilization? - ANS False
What happens with a worse disk space utilization? - ANS Internal Fragmentation
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a better data rate? - ANS False, lower data rate
, ©EVERLY 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
(T/F) Does a smaller block size have a good disk space utilization? - ANS True
MS-DOS File System - ANS 1. Maximum partition size for different block sizes.
2. The empty boxes represent forbidden combinations.
How do you keep track of a free block? - ANS (a) Storing the free list on a linked list
(b) A bitmap
What is the file control block (FCB)? - ANS 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 - ANS Owner, group, permissions, length, file type, read-
lock, write-lock, date created, date modified, data accessed
True or False: In the process of creating a file, a link to the directory is created - ANS True
True of False: a deletion involves the unlinking of a file to a directory - ANS True
What is a file's link count? - ANS A counter that tracks the number of links to that file
A file's link count is __________ when a file is opened to prevent deletion mid-operation. -
ANS incremented
True or False: In Linux, a file can be added to (shared by) exactly one directory via a file system
link - ANS False: It can be added to more than one directory
