Meta-Data
How the meta-data is represented is an OS issue, e.g., the free list could be a bit map, or a linked list (each free block points to next one), or something else.
Disk storage (files) can be allocated in different ways:
- contiguously on disk
- it’s fast and simplifies directory access
- it’s inflexible, causes fragmentation, needs compaction
- linked structures
- each block contains a pointer to the next
- good only for sequential access
- indexed structures
- store index to all blocks in 1 index block
- good for random access.