Concept
Computer file
Related concepts (33)
Removable media
In computing, a removable media is a data storage media that is designed to be readily inserted and removed from a system. Most early removable media, such as floppy disks and optical discs, require a dedicated read/write device (i.e. a drive) to be installed in the computer, while others, such as USB flash drives, are plug-and-play with all the hardware required to read them built into the device, so only need a driver software to be installed in order to communicate with the device.
Bad sector
A bad sector in computing is a disk sector on a disk storage unit that is unreadable. Upon taking damage, all information stored on that sector is lost. When a bad sector is found and marked, the operating system like Windows or Linux will skip it in the future. Bad sectors are a threat to information security in the sense of data remanence. Bad sectors can be "soft" (logical) or "hard" (hardware, physical), depending on what is making the sector inaccessible.
File deletion
File deletion is the removal of a from a computer's . All operating systems include commands for deleting files (rm on Unix, era in CP/M and DR-DOS, del/erase in MS-DOS/PC DOS, DR-DOS, Microsoft Windows etc.). s also provide a convenient way of deleting files. Files may be deleted one-by-one, or a whole blacklist directory tree may be deleted.
Rm (Unix)
rm (short for remove) is a basic command on Unix and Unix-like operating systems used to remove objects such as s, directories and symbolic links from s and also such as device nodes, pipes and sockets, similar to the del command in MS-DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows. The command is also available in the EFI shell. The rm command removes references to objects from the filesystem using the unlink system call, where those objects might have had multiple references (for example, a file with two different names), and the objects themselves are discarded only when all references have been removed and no programs still have open handles to the objects.
End-of-file
In computing, end-of-file (EOF) is a condition in a computer operating system where no more data can be read from a data source. The data source is usually called a or stream. In the C standard library, the character reading functions such as getchar return a value equal to the symbolic value (macro) EOF to indicate that an end-of-file condition has occurred. The actual value of EOF is implementation-dependent and must be negative (but is commonly −1, such as in glibc).
Crypto-shredding
Crypto-shredding is the practice of 'deleting' data by deliberately deleting or overwriting the encryption keys. This requires that the data have been encrypted. Data may be considered to exist in three states: data at rest, data in transit and data in use. General data security principles, such as in the CIA triad of confidentiality, integrity, and availability, require that all three states must be adequately protected.
Graphics software
In computer graphics, graphics software refers to a program or collection of programs that enable a person to or models visually on a computer. Computer graphics can be classified into two distinct categories: raster graphics and vector graphics, with further 2D and 3D variants. Many graphics programs focus exclusively on either vector or raster graphics, but there are a few that operate on both. It is simple to convert from vector graphics to raster graphics, but going the other way is harder.
Write once read many
Write once read many (WORM) describes a data storage device in which information, once written, cannot be modified. This write protection affords the assurance that the data cannot be tampered with once it is written to the device, excluding the possibility of data loss from human error, computer bugs, or malware. On ordinary (non-WORM) data storage devices, the number of times data can be modified is limited only by the lifespan of the device, as modification involves physical changes that may cause wear to the device.
Directory structure
In computing, a directory structure is the way an operating system arranges that are accessible to the user. Files are typically displayed in a hierarchical tree structure. A is a string used to uniquely identify a file stored on this structure. Before the advent of 32-bit operating systems, file names were typically limited to short names (6 to 14 characters in size). Modern operating systems now typically allow much longer filenames (more than 250 characters per pathname element).
Wildcard character
In software, a wildcard character is a kind of placeholder represented by a single character, such as an asterisk (), which can be interpreted as a number of literal characters or an empty string. It is often used in file searches so the full name need not be typed. In telecommunications, a wildcard is a character that may be substituted for any of a defined subset of all possible characters. In high-frequency (HF) radio automatic link establishment, the wildcard character may be substituted for any one of the 36 upper-case alphanumeric characters.