It's the day after Independence Day in the US, and much of our staff is just returning to their preferred work machines. If this was 1997 instead of 2018, that would mean booting up BeOS for some. The ...

One of the questions that Unix users are sometimes reluctant to ask is how all the directory names — like /etc, /var and /usr/local — came about in the first place. Why did we adopt the particular ...

Windows users who dive into *nix without first researching the operating system are in for quite a shock. The complete lack of a C:\ drive can send Windows switchers into a tailspin. Thankfully, IBM ...

Linux is the most flexible and customizable operating system on the planet. That customizability starts deep within the heart of the Linux kernel and the file system. A computer file system is a ...

The Unix operating system is one of computing's most significant technologies, providing the framework that the familiar Linux and Mac OS X operating systems were developed on. Unix can be a viable ...

File, block and object are fundamental to how users and applications access and modify data storage. That’s been the case for decades, and the transition to the cloud has seen that remain so – but ...

The way the Linux file system is laid out makes perfect sense. I've been using Linux for so many years that I can't imagine another file system making more sense. When I consider how the Windows file ...

One of the files that the average Unix sysadmin rarely looks at, almost never changes and yet depends on every time he or she reboots a system is the /etc/inittab file. This modest little file ...

We have looked at the fuser command before to display information about what users or processes are keeping file systems busy. This command can save you a lot of time tracking when you need to quickly ...

In a journaling file system, changes to files and directories are first recorded in the journal. This journal acts as a buffer, ensuring that file system operations are either completed or undone in ...