What You've Learned

• Mac OS X 10.4 is a flexible, powerful operating system that provides support for legacy drive formats and modern file systems. Mac OS X integrates well with the Internet, and provides utilities you can use to troubleshoot and manage your storage devices.

• Mac OS X supports several volume formats. Mac OS Extended and UFS are the primary formats. The Mac OS Extended volume format supports file forks and packages.

• Mac OS X allows you to securely erase files so that they cannot be recovered.

• Mac OS X uses paths to indicate the location of files and folders. The file system has a standard layout. Some folders are hidden until you navigate to them in the Finder by choosing Go > Go to Folder.

• Mac OS X has standard top-level folders and standard folders within each user's home folder. System files installed by the operating system are stored in /System. Mac OS X searches for resources in multiple locations in a specific order, known as a search path. Fonts are an example of a resource that uses a search path.

• Disk Utility allows you to configure, verify, and repair hard disks.

• Disk image files are useful for archiving a folder and its contents. File compression and encryption allow you to conserve storage space and make your images more secure.

References

The following Knowledge Base documents (located at www.apple.com/support) will provide you with further information regarding file systems in Mac OS X.

Backup

• 106941, "Mac OS X: How to back up and restore your files"

Fonts

• 106417, "Mac OS X: Font Locations and Their Purposes"

• 106737, "Mac OS X: How to Add or Remove Classic Fonts"

Disk Utility/fsck

• 25668, "About disk optimization with Mac OS X"

• 106214, "Using Disk Utility and fsck for file system maintenance in Mac OS X"

• 107250, "Mac OS X: fsck reports benign errors when journaling is turned on"

• 107333, "Mac OS X: How to create a password-protected (encrypted) disk image"

Mac OS Extended File System (HFS)

• 107249, "Mac OS X: About file system journaling"

• 25316, "Mac OS X 10.2 or Earlier: Choosing UFS or Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus) Formatting"

Burning CDs and DVDs

• 61339, "Mac OS X: About burning data onto CDs"

• 42718, "SuperDrive: About Rewriteable DVD Discs"