[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | Hard Disk Drives | Hard Disk Logical Structures and File Systems | New Technology File System (NTFS) ]

NTFS Directories and Files

Yes, NTFS volumes have directories and files. Isn't that good to know? :^) Well, you probably want to learn a bit more about them than that, I am sure, and in this part of the NTFS guide I will endeavor to do just that. If you are experienced with the FAT file system used in other versions of Windows, then as a user of NTFS partitions, you will find much that is familiar in the way directories and files are used. However, internally, NTFS stores and manages directories and files in a rather different way than FAT does.

In this section I will explore the fundamentals of NTFS directories and files. I will begin with a look at directories and how they are stored on NTFS volumes. I will then discuss user data files in some detail, including a look at how files are stored and named, and what their maximum size can be. I will then describe some of the more common standard attributes associated with files. Finally, I will discuss reparse points, a special enhanced feature present in NTFS 5.0 under Windows 2000.

Next: NTFS Directories (Folders)

Home  -  Search  -  Topics  -  Up