1. Managing Your Files

2. A Disk Is An Electronic Filing Cabinet
A Filing Cabinet may have multiple drawers.
Each may have a label.
It may have a ‘secret’ drawer.
A Disk may have multiple partitions’.
A partition may have a label. In Windows the label is the ‘drive letter such as “C:”.
A partition may be hidden.
Managing Your Files

3. Why Partition?
O/S has Limited Addressing Capability – Maximum number of sectors
Logical Convenience
System Volume
Data Volume
Swap Volume
Sharing
Backup
Multi-boot (Select O/S at power- up)

4. PARTITION: MAX SIZES for O/S
DOS 5 – 512MB max.
Windows 95 – 4 x 2GB on 1 physical disc
Windows 98/SE/Millenium – 4, max totaling 2TB
Windows XP – FAT32 – 4, max totaling 2TB
Windows XP, Vista – NTFS – 4, max totaling 16TB
Beyond … NTFS - 4 parts, totaling greater than 128TB
Partition Manager Software – Add/Change (re-size)/Delete partition(s); Make Active etc.
Boot Manager Software – such as GRUB – Select which partition (and therefore Operating System to boot
Managing Your Files

5. Partition Manager Considerations
A good partition manager should be able to:
Move and/or Resize while Preserving Existing Data
Add/Delete/Clone Partition
Real-Time if doesn’t involve System (Boot) Volume
Format
Assign drive letter
Boots mini-O/S if need to change the System (Boot) Volume
Change Master Boot Record
Managing Your Files

6. Sample GUI Partition Management Software
Managing Your Files

7. Once we have our partition(s) established…
Let’s load it up with files. But first, know that the terms FOLDER and DIRECTORY are essentially interchangeable. A folder or directory is just a special case of a file. It just has an attribute set that designates that the contents may only be identifiers for files and thus is maintained by the file management system.
There are utilities for manipulating folders/directories – both in the command-line interface: MKDIR, CD, RMDIR, PWD and in GUI interfaces such as:
EXPLORER (Windows)
FINDER (Mac)
NAUTILUS (one of many available in Linux distributions)
Managing Your Files

8. some Arcane Items
Folders may be “nested” to any level. Folders may be placed in the ‘root’ of a drive. A folder normally exists only within one “parent” folder. “dot’ (.) is shorthand for the current folder “dot dot” (..) is shorthand for the parent folder
Managing Your Files

9. a Programmer’s best friend…
Modern programming languages and operating systems support components that may be dynamically referenced by running programs. These are variously known as Dynamic Link Libraries (.DLL in Vindows implementations) or Shared Objects (.SO in most other implementations.)
In Windows, file COMDLG32.DLL provides standard code for:
FILE OPEN
FILE SAVE
FILE PRINT
plus various other actions.
Thus many of the things that you might do in EXPLORER may also be available within programs via the FILE menu. You just need to recognize the icons. I will demonstrate.
Managing Your Files

10. Poking Around in Windows Explorer
File Menu
OPEN IN NEW WINDOW (Multiple Panes are convenient for Drage and Drop)
Windows Power Shell
Change folder and search options
Quick Access
Bread crumbs (where you are and how you got there)
Recent Files/Folders
Frequent Files/Folders
Views
Managing Your Files

11. COMDLG32’s FILE OPEN
Notice the mini-icons adjacent to the “Look in:” drop-down box. They permit navigating folders, creating a folder, and altering the view.
Managing Your Files

12. My Recommendations I like the NAVIGATION PANEL on the LEFT
Do not ‘Hide Extensions’ for common file types. It prevents mistaking .PDF for .PPT etc.
Use DETAILS view – it allows you to sort by any attribute of a file – such as Name, Date, Type etc.
Try to keep number of files n a folder to a manageable size. If possible I like to be able to see all fo the filenames without scrolling. If not, consider segregating into folders and “drill down” as needed.
Managing Your Files