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***Ace Mercury*** · 07-11-2007, 04:54 PM

A local file system is what's on your computer right now; you have "My Documents", "Desktop", and various other places where you can store files. It's easy to get and put files, because you always know where you hard disk is. A distributed file system is like that, except over many networked computers. So it gets trickier because the file you're looking for may be anywhere on the network, potentially anywhere in the world.

If you know Napster or Limewire, it can be like that. Each computer can have a list of files that they each have, and when you want to read a file, you have to talk with those computers. They will find out where the file you want is, and then you can have them send it to you. It's complicated because you have to let everyone on the network know where all of the files are, where to put files, and what to do if files are missing/deleted. The annoying part is how to find other computers who are sharing files.

07-11-2007, 04:54 PM	#16
*Ace Mercury* Marshmallow Knight ☆ Supermod Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Southern Ontario Gender: Posts: 19,036 Thanks: 366 Thanked 1,547 Times in 801 Posts Blog Entries: 1 Points: 105,026.85 Bank: 17,085,816.80 Total Points: 17,190,843.65 Donate	Talkin' shop. A local file system is what's on your computer right now; you have "My Documents", "Desktop", and various other places where you can store files. It's easy to get and put files, because you always know where you hard disk is. A distributed file system is like that, except over many networked computers. So it gets trickier because the file you're looking for may be anywhere on the network, potentially anywhere in the world. If you know Napster or Limewire, it can be like that. Each computer can have a list of files that they each have, and when you want to read a file, you have to talk with those computers. They will find out where the file you want is, and then you can have them send it to you. It's complicated because you have to let everyone on the network know where all of the files are, where to put files, and what to do if files are missing/deleted. The annoying part is how to find other computers who are sharing files.