File system management in Intro to Computing - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding File Paths

Which of the following best describes an absolute file path?

A A path that only contains the file name without any folder information.

B A path that starts from the current directory and uses shortcuts like '..' to move up folders.

C A path that starts from the root directory and specifies the full location of a file.

D A path that uses environment variables to locate files dynamically.

💡 Hint

Think about how you would tell someone exactly where a file is on your computer starting from the main folder.

An absolute path always starts from the root directory (like C:\\ on Windows or / on Unix) and shows the full route to the file. Relative paths start from the current folder.

❓ trace

intermediate

File Creation and Directory Structure

Given the following commands executed in order, how many files and folders exist in the directory /home/user at the end?

mkdir projects
cd projects
touch report.txt
mkdir images
touch images/photo.png
cd ..
touch notes.txt

A 3 files and 2 folders

B 3 files and 1 folder

C 2 files and 2 folders

D 4 files and 1 folder

💡 Hint

Trace each command step-by-step and count files and folders inside /home/user.

Inside /home/user, there is the folder projects and the file notes.txt. Inside projects, there is report.txt and the folder images which contains photo.png. So total files: report.txt, photo.png, notes.txt (3 files). Total folders: projects, images (2 folders).

❓ identification

advanced

File Permission Interpretation

Consider a file with permissions shown as -rwxr-x--x. Which statement correctly describes who can write to this file?

A Only the owner can write to the file.

B Everyone can write to the file.

C The owner and group members can write to the file.

D No one can write to the file.

💡 Hint

Look at the 'w' characters in the permission string and remember the order: owner, group, others.

The permission string -rwxr-x--x breaks down as: owner (rwx) has read, write, execute; group (r-x) has read and execute but no write; others (--x) have only execute. So only the owner can write.

❓ Comparison

advanced

Comparing File System Types

Which of the following is a key difference between FAT32 and NTFS file systems?

A FAT32 supports file permissions and encryption, NTFS does not.

B NTFS cannot be used on external drives, FAT32 can.

C FAT32 is used only on Linux, NTFS only on Windows.

D NTFS supports larger file sizes and file permissions, FAT32 has size limits and no permissions.

💡 Hint

Think about file size limits and security features in modern file systems.

NTFS supports large files and advanced features like permissions and encryption. FAT32 has a 4GB file size limit and lacks security features.

🚀 Application

expert

File Backup Strategy Design

You want to design a backup strategy that keeps daily snapshots of your important files but only stores changes to save space. Which file system feature or tool would best support this?

A Using a file system with journaling to log changes.

B Using incremental backups with snapshot support like in ZFS or Btrfs.

C Using FAT32 file system for compatibility with all devices.

D Using a RAID 0 array to increase speed.

💡 Hint

Consider which technology allows saving only changes between backups efficiently.

Incremental backups with snapshot support (like ZFS or Btrfs) save only changes, reducing storage needs. Journaling logs changes for recovery but doesn't save snapshots. FAT32 lacks advanced features. RAID 0 improves speed but offers no backup.