Managing Files

Based on my observations of an instructor of operating systems, File Management is one of the MOST important skills to learn.

Unfortunately, File Management is often ignored by students, until they are faced with their computer system running out of memory.

Consequences of Poor File Management

Here are some side-effects from not properly maintaining your computer files:

• Reduction of computer's performance
• Clutter (eg. on Desktop) reduces user productivity
• Erasure of files (by accident)
• Overwriting files (by accident)

Elements of File Management

Proper File Management involves most of the following:

• Monitoring Available Disk Space
• Creating Directories
• Backing Up Files
• Transferring Files between Computer Systems
• Archiving Files
• Deleting Files and Directories
• Moving Files
• Creating Files

Linux File System

When using Linux, it is a good idea to get a sense of the general directory structure, and understand the purpose of each directory.

Here is a link to a general guide to the Linux directory structure:

http://tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy.html

Graphical File Management (Using Nautilus)

The default file manager in Ubuntu is called Nautilus.

Here is a link to a guide on how to perform file management operations with Nautilus:

http://library.gnome.org/users/user-guide/stable/nautilus.html

Linux Commands (Command Line Interface)

It is said there are approximately 2,500 Linux OS commands (for regular-users and super-user)...

Linux commands are issued in the shell terminal window. Just think of it like the MS Windows command prompt. Learning how to issue commands can come in handy later if you want to combine them in files to be run automatically called "shell scripts"...

Here is a link to 687 Linux commands (O'Reilly Linux devcenter.com):

http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/cmd/

Here is a link to Linux commands relating to directory and regular file management:

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/commands/linux_crfmanview.html