Real World Linux Use – Understanding The Linux File System

In this series I’m going to covers the ins and outs of using Linux as your primary home computer operating system. It will cover in a realistic sense what you can and moreover cannot do with it.

This is not going to be a technical explanation of how the Linux file system works but rather it’s immediate differences between it and Windows.

The Windows Way: Drive Letters

Microsoft decided a long time ago that the best way to organize a file system was thru the use of drive letters. The first two letters were reserved for floppy diskette drives (A and B) and the hard drive was the tertiary letter C.

Later on as computer technology advanced, other letters were brought into the mix as a way to attach media devices such as additional hard drives, optical drives, USB sticks and so on.

When you attach any device in Windows that can store files, the first available drive letter is automatically assigned (but not A or B unless you specifically tell Windows to do that) so you can access it. For example, if you have C as your hard disk drive and D as your DVD drive, then insert a USB stick, the drive letter assigned will be E. Insert another USB stick and it will be F. Attach an external drive after that and it will be G.

You get the idea.

The Windows Way: The NT File System

“NT” is the file system released by Microsoft in the mid-1990s with the introduction of Windows NT 3.1 (not to be confused with Windows 3.1 – the “NT” has to be there). After that came Windows NT 4.0, then Windows 2000, then XP and then Vista.

You most likely did not use an NT-based file system until Windows XP.

This file system is called NTFS (NT File System).

While it was claimed by Microsoft that NTFS was “self healing”, it wasn’t and still required the use of a disk defragmentation program.

Windows NT originally had no defragmentation program and did not appear until Windows 2000 when it was discovered that yes, it was necessary to have it and run it periodically.

The Windows Way: “Put it anywhere”

With Windows 95 the “My Documents” feature was introduced into the Windows operating environment as a weak attempt at centralizing where you put your personal files. The reason it’s weak is because there is basically no security measures present whatsoever; you are allowed to put files anywhere and this is not secure whatsoever.

The Linux Way: Mounted Drives

Linux does not use drive letters and never has. Instead, Linux will mount drives as directories and that’s the way you access them.

The immediate difference here is that Linux is only limited to the computer hardware as to how many devices can be attached whereas in Windows the software limits you.

In Windows, when you run out of drive letters, that’s it. You’re done. You absolutely cannot attach any more drives.

Linux does not have this problem because it doesn’t rely on letters to access media devices.

The only difficult part is that you can forget where devices are in the Linux file system easily. But fortunately with today’s modern Linux OS choices, everything is accessible “close” to the home folder. More on that in a moment.

The Linux Way: Journalized File System

A journalized file system always writes the same information twice, first to the journal (a log file of system operations) and then to its place within the file system itself (the file itself).

The journalized file system most often used in Linux is called Ext3.

The major advantage over the use of a journalized file system over NTFS is the fact it is “self healing” and does not require defragmentation. It’s self-healing properties come from the fact that the journal (the log) is always there to double-check that files are supposed to be in their proper places – so in the event of an improper shutdown, Linux “knows” where everything is supposed to be concerning its files.

The Linux Way: “Home folder only”

Each user assigned to a Linux operating system must have a username and a password. When this is done a “home” folder is created, and Linux is very strict about this in the respect that all your personal files ONLY go there. You ordinarily cannot dump a file to the root of the hard drive or elsewhere outside your home folder.

Windows – as mentioned earlier – tried to accomplish this with “My Documents” but it never really worked because the security was too weak. Linux on the other hand enforces the use of home folders often – and it works.

In addition:

Mounted drives and other media devices can be accessed thru the home folder in modern Linux operating systems. In Ubuntu for example, when you go to your home folder, all your other drives are listed on the left sidebar (such as other hard drives, USB sticks, optical drives, etc.)

In the past it was difficult at best to even find these things, but the modern interface of all Linux OS offerings is now “cleaned up” in a way where stuff is much easier to locate.

Which one is easier to use – Windows or Linux?

Logically, Linux makes more sense.

From a human point of view, Windows makes more sense.

It is easier to identify a device by a drive letter than it is a word or phrase.

What you have to re-learn is to make heavy use of your home folder in Linux. That is where everything is. Stay within that place and everything is easily accessible. Go outside that place and things get difficult quickly.

Up next: The differences between “approved” and “community” apps.