File Management System, better known as File System is the most ancient and still the most popular way to keep your data files organized on your drives.
On the other hand, when it comes to security and appropriate management of data based on constraints and other stuff that we are going to talk about, the first choice of many experts, is Database Management System (DBMS).
File Systems is the traditional way to keep your data organized in a way which is easy for physical access, whether it’s on your shelf or on the drives.
Earlier people used to keep records and maintain data in registers and any alteration/retrieval to this data was difficult. When computers came, same agenda was followed for storing the data on drives.
File System actually stores data in the form of isolated files which have their own set of property table and physical location on the drive and user manually goes to these locations to access the files.
It is an easy way to store data in general files like images, text, videos, audios etc., but security is less because only options available to these files are the options given by the operating system such as locks, hidden files and sharing. These files are hard to maintain when it comes to frequent changes to these files.
Data redundancy is more and can’t be controlled easily. Data integration is hard to achieve and also data consistency is not met.
Database Management System, abbreviated as DBMS, is an effective way to store the data when constraints are high and data maintenance and security are the primary concern of the user.
DBMS stores data in the form of interrelated tables and files. These are generally consist of database management system providers that are used to store and manipulate databases, hardware where the data is physically stored and an user friendly software developed to meet specific purpose in certain situations, using which user can easily access database without worrying about the underlying schema of the database.
Database Management System is great way to manage data as, the data redundancy is minimized due to interrelation of data entities and also provide a procedure for data integration due to centralization of data in the database. Security of data is also maximized using password protection, encryption/decryption, granting authorized access and others.
File System vs DBMS
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File Management System |
Database Management System |
| File System is a general, easy-to-use system to store general files which require less security and constraints. | Database management system is used when security constraints are high. |
| Data Redundancy is more in file management system. | Data Redundancy is less in database management system. |
| Data Inconsistency is more in file system. | Data Inconsistency is less in database management system. |
| Centralisation is hard to get when it comes to File Management System. | Centralisation is achieved in Database Management System. |
| User locates the physical address of the files to access data in File Management System. | In Database Management System, user is unaware of physical address where data is stored. |
| Security is low in File Management System. | Security is high in Database Management System. |
| File Management System stores unstructured data as isolated data files/entities. | Database Management System stores structured data which have well defined constraints and interrelation. |
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