File Systems and Storage Questions

Key file system concepts and how storage layers work together. Topics include directory hierarchies and semantics, metadata and inode concepts, file descriptors and file input and output semantics, block allocation and free space management, journaling and crash recovery, caching and buffer management, and the differences between block storage, file storage, and object storage. Candidates should reason about performance implications of file system choices, consistency and durability guarantees, and interactions with underlying storage devices and networks.