To become proficient as a computer user, you must first understand what a filesystem is and how to use it.

The sole purpose of a filesystem is to crash, and delete all of your files in the process. Those photos you been storing? Gone. The project you've been working on for weeks. See-ya. Sorry about that.

Okay, just kidding. A filesystem is the way your computer keeps track of all of the information that you want it to store. It provides structure and security for all of your files.

But what's a file?
Glad you asked. A file is a piece of information, such as a picture, or a document. Files usually have names like "mypicture.jpg" or "document.txt". Each of your files has a different name.

Okay, so now imagine that you have hundreds of files, all of different types. Some are pictures, some are documents. Perhaps you store your bank statements on your computer, or your tax forms from last year. Without a filesystem, we would have just a mess of files, with no sense of order or structure. You would have to remember the specific file name (like "picture001.jpg") in order to find anything.

Filesystems to the rescue!
As we already said, a filesystem provides order and structure to a group of files. First an analogy: Imagine you run a small business selling soapnuts (www.zamuta.com). Each time someone buys some of your soapnuts, you write his or her name and address on a piece of paper. Then, all of the papers go in a stack in the corner. That is all well and good, until one of your customers wants to buy from you again. Either you have to create a new piece of paper for him, or you need to dig through your stack of papers and try to find the one that applies to him. Not very efficient, right?

So, you create an organization system. You buy a file cabinet, but not a very fancy model; this one has only one drawer. Inside your file cabinet drawer, you create a folder for each letter of the alphabet. Each time you get a new customer, the paper with that customer's information goes in the proper folder (John Smith goes in 'S', Geraldine Kennedy goes in 'K', and Jacques Chirac goes wherever those smelly French people go). Within each folder, each piece of paper is ordered alphabetically (John Aardvark comes before Jonah Appleton, etc.). Now you have a system, and can easly find any customer within seconds.

Okay, now let's make the mental leap to a filesystem. Your C: drive is like that drawer in your file cabinet (Do you have a D:, E: or F: drive? You have a fancier file cabinet--more drawers.) Go ahead and open the C: drive on your computer. (Double-click the My Computer icon, then double-click the C: drive). You will see a whole bunch of folders. They correspond exactly to the folders in our imaginary file cabinet. Each folder holds a certain set of information. You may see folders named "Program Files", "Windows", "My Documents", etc. Each of these folders can hold more folders, or files. If you have a folder called "My Pictures", what would you expect to find there ?(Right-o, Johnny boy; this is not where your homework belongs.) Double-clicking on most any file in these folders should open up the file in an appropriate program. For example, if you double-click a picture file, it will open up in a program that allows you to look at the picture. If you double-click a document, it might open in Microsoft Word, or something similar.

So, do you understand the purpose of filesystems now? They are simply a method your computer uses to organize your files in a way that allows you to find what you are looking for, quickly and easily.

Join us again next time, when we'll discuss do-it-yourself brain surgery, and other exciting topics.