File system and database Systems are two different methods that can be used for storing data. In this article, we will try to brush up our concepts regarding File systems and Database systems. We will also try to find out what differences exist between these two and will try to pick the best method out of these two.
What are File Systems?
In our everyday life, we deal with bulk of data which we may need later. It is literally impossible to memorize all those data. So, we have come up with the idea of storing it somewhere. The data that has been stored can be used in future for retrieval or manipulation in various ways.
We all must have used and maintained some sort of file or diary to store data (suppose for storing friends phone number or any sort of address). The file that we maintain is one form of file system where we are storing information in files or phone books.
In File systems, the entire data is stored in a single table in row and column format. When user has to extract something from there, he has to traverse and check from the starting row until he reaches the desired data.
What are Database Systems?
Nowadays, we have started storing these information (that we discussed above) in our phone or computers. Unlike file systems, data is not stored in a single table. Different data are stored in different table.
This mean that the data which has to be used many times are excluded in separate table and linked to other table. This prevents the need of storing same data many times.
We will try to understand this with an example:
In a college, there may be different departments:
Let us suppose we have finance department, registration department etc.
Now if file systems are used to store all the information, imagine how much redundancy will be there. This is because same information will have to be stored and maintained for different department. Let us suppose, each individual department shall be storing your name and id.
What if you have stored your name and id in separate table and other information (individual information of each department) are linked to that table. You will not have to store your name and id 4 times.
There is no need to maintain all those bulky books for storing information. These information gets stored in database (somewhere in our phone or computer memory) of our device and can be extracted whenever needed.
Advantages of database system over file systems:
1. Storing data in database ensures data security. User who are not authorized cannot access those information stored in database.
2. Data can be easily backed up. We don’t have to worry about the data getting lost.
3. Database systems are easy to use and maintain over file system.
Which one is the best?
So, what do you say guys?
Which system would to prefer to use? Database system right.
Besides providing data security and avoiding redundancy in data, Database system also reduces a huge amount of human effort. You don’t have to go through the entire document search for a single name. Both personally and professionally, database system has proved to be the best choice. You will just write a single query and the data shall get retrieved.
TechieNutzz 