Discovering Your Inner Hard Drive


Now that you are aware of the basic elements of your environment, it’s time to become familiar with the most important area of your computer. All of the data stored on your computer, from the letters your write to the digital photos your take to the actual operating system itself are all sorted and organized on various disks. Most of the data is on your hard drive, some may be stored on removable CD-ROMs, some maybe stored on your digital camera, or on other types of media. On your Desktop, you will see a disk icon for Macintosh HD in the top-right corner. That drive is the main system drive, and contains the operating system, your applications, and your user account information. All of this information is sorted in various sub-folders. Figure 2-27 shows the contents of a standard Macintosh OS X hard drive.

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Figure 2-27: The first level of a standard Mac OS X hard drive, known as the root level, contains various subfolders that perform very important functions.

  • Applications: as its name implies, this folder contains applications. Applications are the tools that you use to review, create, or edit documents.

  • System: This folder contains the actual files that comprise the heart of Mac OS X. Many of pieces of the complex jigsaw puzzle that make your computer work are stored here. This folder is explorable by users, but is not editable. Users cannot erase, edit, or add files within the System folder. Essentially, you can see behind the wizard’s curtain, but you cannot interrupt him while he’s working.

  • Library: the Library folder contains system-wide settings files, as well as some additional files that help the computer operate. All of the settings saved in this Library folder apply to all users. For example, any fonts that are installed within this Library are available for all users to access. Mac OS X actually has 3 library folders. Each performing a similar function, but at a different level of priority. Chapter 23 has more on this.

  • Users: within this folder are a number of subfolders. One for each user of the computer. Each of these folders is the central storage area for users. These subfolders are known as a user’s home folder or simply “home.” As this folder is of great import, it is covered in greater detail in the following heading.




Mac OS X Bible, Panther Edition
Mac OS X Bible, Panther Edition
ISBN: 0764543997
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 290

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