File management

GAP Toolkit 5 Training in basic drug abuse data management and analysis

Training session 2

Objectives

• To review the physical storage of information on a computer

• To review the referencing of storage mediums • To describe the software partition of the storage space

into directories• To establish a taxonomy of files• To review the file-management facilities in Windows

Computer storage

• A binary system with information stored as on or off• A bit• A byte• A kilobyte (KB)• A megabyte (MB)• A gigabyte (GB) …

Permanent storage

• Disks – physical storage:– Hard disks– Floppy disks; CDs; Zip disks …

• Disk Drives – input/output devices to the disks:– Hard drive– Floppy disk drive; Zip drive; CD drive or CD read/writer …

Referencing disk drives

• Disk drives are referenced by using a letter followed by a colon:– A: the floppy disk drive– C: the hard disk drive

• Depending on the configuration of the computer:D: or E: a CD drive or Zip drive

• F: or greater a network drive

Filing cabinet analogy

• Think of the storage space on the computer as a filing cabinet

• Disks can be thought of as drawers in a filing cabinet• At present, we have a cabinet in which we could start

throwing files into the various drawers, but there would soon be a muddle of program and data files, with no order or plan

Directories/folders

• Directories or folders are the key to creating order on a disk

• Directories can contain files and/or other directories• Analogous to folders in the filing cabinet drawers

The root directory

• A root (or original) directory is automatically created for each disk

• The root is the start of the directory structure• It is referenced by a backward-leaning slash: \• For example, A:\ C:\ D:\

The hierarchical structure

• As directories can hold other directories, the disks become split into a hierarchy of directories

2 001 2 002

L e tte rs R e p o rts C o n tra c ts

M y D o cu m e n ts

W o rd S P S S

P ro g ram F iles

P ic tu res

W in d o w s N T

/ R o o t

Files

• Types of file: - program- user-created - executable - batch, etc.

• Naming

File suffixes

• .doc = Word• .xls = Excel• .htm(l) = Internet• .pdf = Acrobat• .ppt = PowerPoint• .mdb = Access

• .sav = SPSS data file• .sps = SPSS syntax file• .spo = SPSS output file• There are a number of other

SPSS file types left over from previous versions such as .por, etc., but the above are the most important

Windows Explorer

• Used:– To navigate the file structure – To create, move and delete directories – To copy, cut and paste files

• To Open:– Start/Programs/Windows Explorer– Windows key + E

Windows Explorer

Folders tool to view computer and directory contents

Displaying contents

Click here to collapse the view of C: drive/directory contents

Collapsing an entry

Drive/directory contents

View options

• Large icons – large folder icons• Small icons – small folder icons• List – list of files and directories, but no details• Details – the most useful option, contains directory and

file details• Thumbnails – icons once again

Exercise

• Open Windows Explorer• Display the contents of the root directory of the C: drive

in the right hand window• Display the contents of the directory My Documents

(Documents and Settings if using NT or XP)• Try all five available views

Directories

• Important directories:– My Documents– Program Files– Windows

• Main operations:– Creating– Moving– Deleting

Hierarchical directory structure

My Documents

• A directory created by default by the Windows software to contain user-created files

• Save all files to the My Documents directory or a subset of that directory

My Documents

My Documents

Creating a sub-directory

• Select the location for the new directory– My Documents in this case; the new directory is a sub-

directory of My Documents• File/New/Folder• Enter a name for the new directory

– GAP in this case

File/New/Folder

Enter a meaningful name

Possible hierarchy of directories

Moving a directory

• Click and Drag• Copy/Cut and Paste

– Copy leaves the original directory in place; a copy of the directory and all the files and sub-directories it holds is created at the Paste location

– Cut removes or deletes the original directory, moving the directory and all the files and sub-directories it holds to the Paste location

Cut and Paste

• Edit menu– Edit/Cut; Edit/Copy; Edit/Paste

• Quick menu– Point at the object to be moved and click the right hand

mouse button• Keyboard shortcuts

– Ctrl + C = copy– Ctrl + X = cut– Ctrl + V = paste

The quick menu — Copy

The quick menu — Paste

Directory added to treatment centre

Data directory added here

Deleting a directory

• BEWARE! Deleting a directory will delete all the files it contains and all the sub-directories it contains

• Make the directory to be deleted current and press the Delete button on the keyboard

Directories to avoid

• Program Files– Contains the files that comprise software programmes– All software programmes should be loaded by default to sub-

directories of Program Files• Windows

– Contains the files that comprise the Windows operating system

Moving up the directory structure

• The toolbar contains an icon of a folder with an arrow imprinted on it; this is used to move up the directory structure

• The top of the directory structure is the root; moving up the directory structure is equivalent to moving towards the root

Exercise

C o n stru c t th e fo llo w ing h ie ra rchy o n yo u r co m pu te r:

N o tes D a ta E xe rc ises

G A P

M y D o cu m e n ts

Files

• Copying, moving and deleting files• Opening and saving files

Copying, moving and deleting files

• Using Windows Explorer, the procedure is the same as for directories

• Make the file current by pointing and clicking using the mouse

• Cut, Copy and Paste, or Drag and Drop• Delete using the Delete key or the quick menu

Open/saving files

• Software packages require previously created files to be opened and newly created files to be saved for future use

• File/Open• File/Save or File/Save As from within the software

package

SPSS Save As dialogue box

click here for full directory list

The wider directory structure

The Save As dialogue box

Find

• Find is used to search for lost files• Find is accessed by either

– Windows Key + F or – Start/Search/For Files or Folders

(Windows 2000)

Find

Exercise

• Create a word processing file called Test and save it to the GAP\Data directory

• From Windows Explorer, copy Test into the directories GAP\Exercises and GAP\Notes

• Use the Find facility to locate the file spsswin.exe• Copy the file spsswin.exe to the desktop

Summary

• Drives• Directories• Files• Hierarchical directory

structure• Navigating• Creating, moving and

deleting directories

• Copying, cutting and pasting files

• Saving files to a directory• Find