Sample Chapter from Microsoft® Windows® .NET Server Administrator's Pocket Consultant by William R. Stanek

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Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

		Author		William R. Stanek
		Pages		576
		Disk		N/A
		Level		All Levels
		Published		03/12/2003
		ISBN		9780735613546
		ISBN-10		0-7356-1354-0
		Price(USD)		~~$29.99~~ To see this book's discounted price, select a reseller below.



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Chapter 13: Managing Files and Folders

Windows Server 2003 File Structures

Quick Tips for Managing Files, Folders, and Disk Drives

Chapter 13 Managing Files and Folders

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 provides a robust environment for working with files and folders. At the core of this environment are the two basic file system types:

FAT (file allocation table), available in 16-bit and 32-bit versions

The NTFS file system, available in 4.0 and 5.0 versions

When you work with files and folders on a Windows Server 2003 system, you'll usually work with one of these file system types. To help you better administer FAT and NTFS volumes, this chapter explains how to perform common file and folder tasks. It also offers ways to troubleshoot problems.

Windows Server 2003 File Structures

This section covers the essential information you'll need to work with files. An understanding of file basics can make your job as an administrator a lot easier.

Major Features of FAT and NTFS

What you can or can't do with files and folders in Windows Server 2003 depends on the file system type. Windows Server 2003 provides direct support for FAT and NTFS.

FAT Volumes

FAT volumes rely on an allocation table to keep track of the status of files and folders. Although FAT is adequate for most file and folder needs, it's rather limited. Two versions of FAT are supported on Windows Server 2003:

FAT16 FAT16 is the version of FAT widely used on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. FAT16 supports a 16-bit file allocation table and is usually referred to as FAT. You'll have optimal performance with volumes that are less than 2 gigabytes (GB).

FAT32 FAT32 is the version of FAT introduced with Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 (OSR2) and Microsoft Windows 98. FAT32 supports a 32-bit file allocation table and is usually referred to as FAT32. FAT32 supports smaller cluster sizes than FAT and can more efficiently allocate space. On Windows Server 2003, FAT32 supports volumes up to 32 GB.

Table 13-1 provides a brief summary of FAT and FAT32 features.

Table 13-1. FAT and FAT32 Features Comparison

Feature FAT FAT32

File allocation table size 16-bit 32-bit

Maximum volume size 4 GB; best at 2 GB or less 2 terabytes; limited in Windows Server 2003 to 32 GB

Maximum file size 2 GB 4 GB

Operating systems supported MS-DOS, all versions of Windows Windows 95 OSR2, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Me, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003

Supports small cluster size No Yes

Supports NTFS 4.0 features No No

Supports NTFS 5.0 features No No

Use on floppy disks Yes Yes

Use on removable disks Yes Yes

Using NTFS

NTFS offers a robust environment for working with files and folders. Two versions of NTFS have been implemented:

NTFS 4.0 NTFS 4.0 is the version used with Windows NT 4.0. It features full support for local and remote access controls on files and folders as well as support for Windows compression. It doesn't support most Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 file system features.

NTFS 5.0 NTFS 5.0 is the version used with Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. It features full support for Active Directory directory service, disk quotas, compression, encryption, and other enhancements. NTFS 5.0 is fully supported by Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 and minimally supported by Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 4 or later.

Table 13-2 provides a brief summary of NTFS 4.0 and NTFS 5.0. Windows NT 4.0 systems with Service Pack 4 or later can access NTFS 5.0 files and folders, provided they don't use any of the new NTFS features.

Table 13-2. NTFS 4.0 and NTFS 5.0 Features Comparison

Feature NTFS 4.0 NTFS 5.0

Maximum volume size 32 GB 2 terabytes on Master Boot Record (MBR) disks; 18 exabytes on GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks

Maximum file size 32 GB Only limited by volume size

Operating systems supported Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows NT 4.0 SP 4

Advanced file access permissions Yes Yes

Supports Windows compression Yes Yes

Supports Windows encryption No Yes

Supports Active Directory structures No Yes

Supports sparse files No Yes

Supports remote storage No Yes

Supports disk quotas No Yes

Use on floppy disks No No

Use on removable disks Yes Yes

File Naming

Windows Server 2003 file naming conventions apply to both files and folders. For simplicity, the term file naming is often used to refer to both files and folders. Although Windows Server 2003 file names are case-aware, they aren't case-sensitive. This means you can save a file named MyBook.doc and the file name will be displayed in the correct case. However, you can't save a file called mybook.doc to the same folder.

Both NTFS and FAT support long file names—up to 255 characters. You can name files using just about any of the available characters, including spaces. However, there are some characters you can't use. They include

? * / \ : " < > |

The following file names are all acceptable:

My Favorite Short Story.doc

My_Favorite_Short_Story.doc

My..Favorite..Short..Story.doc

My Favorite Short Story!!!.doc

Accessing Long File Names Under MS-DOS

Under MS-DOS and 16-bit FAT file systems, file and directory names are restricted to eight characters with a three-character file extension, such as chapter4.txt. This naming convention is often referred to as the 8.3 file-naming rule or the standard MS-DOS file-naming rule. Because of it, when you work with files at the command prompt you might have problems accessing files and folders.

To support access to long file names, abbreviated file names are created for all files and folders on a system. These file names conform to the standard MS-DOS file-naming rule. You can see the abbreviated file names using the command

dir /X

A typical abbreviated file name looks like this:

PROGRA~1.DOC

How Windows Server 2003 Creates an Abbreviated File Name

When Windows Server 2003 creates an abbreviated file name from a long file name, it uses the following rules:

Any spaces in the file name are removed. The file name, My Favorite Short Story.doc, becomes MyFavoriteShortStory.doc.

All periods in the file name are removed (with the exception of the period separating the file name from the file extension). The file name, My..Favorite..Short..Story.doc, becomes MyFavoriteShortStory.doc.

Invalid characters under the standard MS-DOS naming rule are replaced with the underscore character (_). The file name, My[Favorite]ShortStory.doc, becomes My_Favorite_Short_Story.doc.

All remaining characters are converted to uppercase. The file name, My Favorite Short Story.doc, becomes MYFAVORITESHORTSTORY.DOC.

The Rules of Truncation

To make the file conform to the 8.3 naming convention, the file name and file extension are truncated if necessary. The rules for truncation are as follows:

The file extension is truncated to the first three characters. The file name Mary.text becomes MARY.TEX.

The file name is truncated to the first six characters (this is the file's root name) and a unique designator is appended. The unique designator follows the convention ~n, where n is the number of the file with the six-character file name. Following this, the file name, My Favorite Short Story.doc, becomes MYFAVO~1.DOC. The second file in this folder that's truncated to MYFAVO becomes MYFAVO~2.DOC.

NOTE

The file name truncation rule described here is the one you'll usually see, and you won't often have to worry about anything else. However, if you have a lot of files with similar names, you might see another convention used to create the short file name.

Specifically, if more than four files use the same six-character root, additional file names are created by combining the first two characters of the file name with a four-character hash code and then appending a unique designator. A folder could have files named MYFAVO~1.DOC, MYFAVO~2.DOC, MYFAVO~3.DOC, and MYFAVO~4.DOC. Additional files with this root could be named MY3140~1.DOC, MY40C7~1.DOC, and MYEACC~1.DOC.

Quick Tips for Managing Files, Folders, and Disk Drives

Windows Server 2003 provides many ways to manage files and folders. The most common operations are copy and move. You can copy or move resources within windows—such as within Windows Explorer—and between windows—such as copying a file from Windows Explorer to the My Network Places window. You can also copy or move resources to and from the desktop.

Examining File and Folder Properties

Windows Explorer, My Computer, and My Network Places all let you examine the properties of files and folders. There are two ways you can do this:

Right-click the file or folders icon and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.

Select the file or folder by clicking it and then select Properties from the File menu.

Figure 13-1 shows the Properties dialog box for a folder on NTFS. The General tab provides an overview of the folder and allows you to set its attributes. Folder and file attributes include

Read-Only Shows whether the file or folder is read-only. Read-only files and folders can't be modified or accidentally deleted.

Hidden Determines whether the file is displayed in file listings. You can override this by telling Windows Explorer to display hidden files.

Advanced Click the Advanced button to set compression, encryption, and archiving for the file.

Click to view graphic

Figure 13-1. The file and folder Properties dialog boxes are similar.

Displaying Hidden and Compressed Files in Windows Explorer

As an administrator, you'll often want to see system files, such as dynamic-link libraries (DLLs), and files that have or haven't been compressed. By default, however, Windows Explorer doesn't display hidden file types or differentiate between compressed and uncompressed files. To override the initial settings, select Folder Options from the Tools menu and then select the View tab. You can now configure new settings using the dialog box shown in Figure 13-2.

To display hidden files, click the Show Hidden Files And Folders button.

To always display file extensions, clear the Hide File Extensions For Known File Types check box.

To display operating system files, clear the Hide Protected Operating System Files check box.

To highlight compressed and encrypted resources, select Show Encrypted Or Compressed NTFS Files In Color.

Click to view graphic

Figure 13-2. Set options for Windows Explorer using the Folder Options dialog box.

Tips for Selecting Multiple Files and Folders

In Windows Explorer you can select individual and multiple files in a variety of ways. Select individual files by clicking them with the mouse.

To select multiple files or folders:

Select multiple resources individually Hold down the Ctrl key and then click the left mouse button on each file or folder you want to select.

Select a series of resources at once Hold down the Shift key, select the first file or folder, and then click the last file or folder.

Tips for Copying and Moving Resources

To copy or move items to any open window or visible area on the desktop, complete the following steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy or move. Hold down the mouse button and drag the item(s) to the new location.

If you drag the file or folder to a new location on a different drive, it's copied automatically. To move the file instead, hold down the Shift key as you drag the file or folder.

If you drag the file or folder to a new location on the same drive, Windows Server 2003 tries to move the item instead. To prevent this, hold down the Ctrl key as you drag the file or folder.

Tips for Copying Resources to Locations That Aren't Displayed

You might also need to copy items to locations that aren't currently displayed. To do this, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy. Hold down the mouse button and drag the item(s) into the Folders pane.

Slowly drag the items up to the last visible folder at the top of the pane (or down to the last visible folder at bottom of the pane). You should be able to scroll up or down slowly through the existing tree structure.

When you find the destination folder, release the mouse button. If it's on a different drive, the item is copied. Otherwise, it's moved.

Tips for Copying and Pasting Files

I prefer to move files around by copying and pasting. When you copy and paste files, you don't have to worry about whether the file will be copied or moved. You simply copy files to the Microsoft Clipboard and paste them anywhere you like. You can even paste copies of files in the same folder—something you can't do by dragging.

To copy and paste files, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to copy. Right-click and select Copy from the shortcut menu. You could also select Copy from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+C.

Access the destination location, then right-click and select Paste from the shortcut menu. You could also select Paste from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+V.

Moving Files by Cutting and Pasting

To move files by cutting and pasting, follow these steps:

Select the item(s) you want to move. Right-click and select Cut from the shortcut menu. You could also select Cut from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+X.

Access the destination location, and then right-click and select Paste from the shortcut menu. You could also select Paste from the Edit menu or press Ctrl+V.

When prompted to move the selected items, click OK.

Formatting Floppy Disks and Removable Disks

Windows Explorer makes it easy to work with floppy and other removable disks. You can format disks by doing the following:

Insert the floppy or other removable disk you want to format.

Right-click the floppy or other removable disk's icon in Windows Explorer's Folders pane.

Select Format from the shortcut menu, and then use the Format dialog box to set the formatting options. For floppy disks, the only available file system type is FAT. For removable disks, such as Zip, you can use FAT, FAT32, or NTFS.

Click the Start button to begin formatting the floppy or other removable disk.

Copying Floppy Disks

To copy a floppy disk, follow these steps:

Right-click the floppy disk icon in Windows Explorer's Folders pane, and then select Copy Disk from the shortcut menu.

Use the Copy Disk dialog box to select the source and destination drives. In the Copy From area, select the drive you want to use as the source. In the Copy To area, select the drive you want to use as the destination. If you only have one floppy drive, the source and destination drive will be the same (as shown in Figure 13-3).

Click the Start button when you're ready to begin copying, and then insert the source and destination disks when prompted. The progress bar in the lower area of the Copy Disk dialog box shows the progress of the copy operation.

Click to view graphic

Figure 13-3. Use the Copy Disk dialog box to select the source and destination drives.

Last Updated: February 26, 2003

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