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 ...

People who have had bad experiences on Windows disks that performed poorly after they had become very fragmented often wonder if they need to apply some kind of periodic analysis and defragmentation ...

If you're new to the UNIX operating system, especially if you're familiar with Windows, you'll find that the file access control mechanisms might not be exactly what you expect. File permissions and ...

While the average Unix user is generally satisfied by the date/time stamps that he sees when using the ls -l command, it is sometimes useful to remember that there are actually several time stamps ...

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 ...

Have you ever needed to format a new hard drive or USB drive, and were given the option of selecting from acronyms like FAT, FAT32, or NTFS? Or did you once try plugging in an external device, only ...