MFDigital CD DVD Information Library
Friday, September 10, 2004
CD-ROM File Systems > Introduction to File Systems
Introduction to File Systems
The Yellow Book does not specify how data files are to be stored and retrieved. To access any file the computer operating system needs to know where that file is. For convenience, all files are given a unique name and are assigned to one of a number of hierarchically organised directories. Files also have associated attributes (to define read and write permissions for example).
A file system facilitates the storage and retrieval of perhaps many hundreds or even thousands of files. Each computer operating system uses a different file system and therefore there are a number of CD-ROM file systems in use to suit a range of platforms including PC (MSDOS, Windows 3.1x/95/98), Macintosh, Unix etc.
The most common file system for CD-ROM is ISO 9660 which is the international standard version of the High Sierra Group file system and is purpose designed for the PC and MSDOS. The Joliet extensions provide long filenames for Windows95.
With the advent of DVD, the Micro-UDF file system has been added to the list. This is suitable for read-only and re-writable discs and allows long filenames etc.