How are Databases Represented on Disk
Where do disk based database systems store data? DBMS st ores a da tabase as one or more files on disk typically in a proprietary format. A file is a sequence of records ( usually of the same type ) . The OS is respon si ble for storing the files on top of the existing file system and is not aware of the specifics of the file . Why are the contents of the DBMS files proprietary? The format of the file is proprietary to each DBMS since they are optimized to improve performance specific to the database. The re are also some non-proprietary formats like Apache Parquet, ORC which are mainly used for big da ta applications. What are the different files in which DBMS data and their related properties reside ? Data resides in Primary Files. Index to the data which act as signpost or aid to locate them on storage device are saved in index files . What are the different Primary File Organization techniques ? There are different file organization techniques