F I L E   S Y S T E M

 

 

Ah, the file system. It’s quite possibly the place where there’s the most difference between Windows and Mac OS. Of course, the differences have to do with the way Explorer and the Finder interact with the file system.

Superficially, they’re arranged the same way. Files are stored in folders, which are stored on disks. There’s a desktop, some control panels, and a folder for system files.

However, that’s about where the similarities end. I’m not sure how the file systems themselves are constructed, but I know how they behave, and that’s darned different.

The Macintosh file system (called HFS) allows for maximum flexibility with regards to the locations of folders, applications and their resources. The System Folder is the location where all of the system’s resources are located. The System Briefcase (the core of the operating system), Finder, control panels and extensions are all located here).

Here’s the fun part. The user can move the System Folder to any location on the hard disk. The user can rename the System Folder. The user can rename files inside the System Folder. And the result? The system boots normally.

The user can also move applications anywhere on the hard disk. The user can rename applications. And the result? The applications run fine.

Windows is a different story entirely. If you renamed the Windows folder (analogous to the System Folder) and moved it to a different place on the hard disk, the computer would not boot. In fact, Windows takes great pains to prevent the user from even looking at the system folder. That’s right: if the user opened the Windows folder, they’d see a blank screen with the message, "The Windows folder contains important system resources. Modifying these resources can cause damage to the system." Of course, you can click somewhere to view the contents of the Windows folder, but the fact that it doesn’t let you near the darn thing without a stern warning is an indication that the system might need to be a tad more flexible.

Windows also has a nasty habit of harboring files called DLLs (Dynamic Linked Libraries) that are really anything but dynamic. Most of these DLLs (which behave similarly to a Mac’s shared libraries) need to be in the Windows\System folder in order for applications to run properly. Move or rename one of these DLLs (and heaven forbid if it’s a system’s DLL) and your application (or system) will likely not work properly.

This also means that you have to use an un-install utility to remove programs permanently from your Windows hard disk. Why? Because not only do you need to rid yourself of the application, but all of the application’s DLLs, too. And they’re cleverly named things like MFC40.dll (for example) to completely baffle the user as to their functions.

With a Mac, it’s as easy as trashing the application’s folder and the preferences file. And that’s it. And the preferences file is likely named something "Hotline Prefs" or "Kaleidoscope Preferences." So, theoretically, one could use Sherlock to find the preferences file and trash it all in one go, without even opening the System Folder.

Customizing files is also much easier with a Mac. With the way each file is constructed in Mac OS, the user can edit portions of the file that can change the way the Finder treats it. Apple offers a free utility to do this, too. (Thanks to Bob Smeegle for reminding me! ;) ) It's called ResEdit, and you use it to edit all the "resources" a file uses. With Mac OS, there are two parts to a file, the "resource fork" and the "data fork." (For example, the resource fork of a word processing document would tell what kind of document it is and who made it, while the data fork would contain the actual content of the document.) With ResEdit, you can change the way menus look and work (with MDEFs) and the way windows look and work (with WDEFs) and other parts of the operating system without doing any damage. Of course, some of the more complicated stuff you need a Ph.D. to do, but for simple customization, it's the way to go.