Which of the following best describes how the operating system manages files?

• A. Defragmentation software
• B. Organisation into a hierarchical structure
• C. Encryption
• D. Compression

Answer: (B)

Files are organized in a hierarchical directory structure. The operating system presents a tree-like namespace with a root, folders (directories), and files. Each item has metadata (like size, timestamps, permissions, owner) and a map to where its data lives on storage. Path names provide a way to locate a file, such as /home/user/docs/report.txt or C:\Users\user\Documents\report.txt. This structure makes it easier to organize, locate, and apply access controls across many files, and it underpins how the file system tracks where data is stored. Tools like defragmentation rearrange data for performance, encryption protects content, and compression reduces size, but they aren’t how the OS primarily manages the organization and lookup of files—the hierarchical structure is.