Disadvantages of File Systems

In this article, we will learn the importance of a Database management system and how it is better than the Traditional file systems that were used before DBMS to store data.

Before the origin of Computer Systems or before their heavy usage, the data were used to be stored in files manually. This means that the same data could have been present multiple times in a single institution. Although it was easy to find those data as one piece of data was present in multiple places (Data Redundancy) but accessing those data was not an easy task to do, every time someone who wanted to access those files should have to write a new computer program (in languages like C/C++) this technique was only suitable for small organizations where the amount of data to be stored was relatively lesser. Each unit of information stored in files was known as a “flat file”. 

What is the Traditionally used “File System”?

The traditionally used “File Systems” were nothing but a manual way of storing data as “Files”. Considering a scenario of a bank before the introduction of DBMS, for example, say someone went to the bank to deposit a certain amount in their account. So as the DBMS is not available so the bank employee has to manually register their account number, name, and amount in either a written manner or type and store them locally in the computer as a file. The problem which might arise that while writing if the employee mistakenly writes any digit of their account number or amount wrong then there would be a major issue and as there is no Database so it would be really hard to know what was the last state of that person’s account before this misshaped deposit.

Banking system that uses File Based Approach

In the diagram above we can see how the details used to be stored by bank employees before the introduction of DBMS. Each department would handle some specific tasks and store the data locally in their computers or registers without knowing what is happening in the other department.

Characteristics of Traditional File Systems 

Following are some of the notable characteristics of Traditional File Systems:

• The data of certain companies or organizations were kept as “Files”.
• The files stored in different departments were independent of each other, which caused severe data redundancy.
• Those files were developed using programming languages like COBOL, C, and C++.
• Each file includes information for a particular department or region, such as the library, tuition, and students’ exams.
• The traditional file system is way less flexible than DBMS and has many disadvantages.
• The maintenance of those files was also of high cost.
• Each of the units of “Files” used to be known as “Flat Files”.

Disadvantages of the Traditional File Systems

The following issues are related to the file-based approach:

• Distinguished and Isolated Data: Imagine a user needs information that is not possible to be provided using a single file, multiple different files were required, which are situated in different departments. So all the employees first need to manually and carefully check each of the files in each department and find the relationship between them to decipher the information that the user wants.
• Data Duplication / Data Redundancy – Due to the manual storing of data, the same data used to be present in multiple locations using the space in each of the Hard Disk, below are some following reasons for which Data Redundancy can be a major issue
  • Storing the same data multiple times not only wastes resources in every machine but also is costly to maintain and wastes time.
  • Loss of data integrity is another major issue of Data Redundancy, imagine someone’s address is present in multiple systems and he has applied to update the address, in one system the address gets updated but in the rest of them it remains the same, so the if someone from any different department where the data is not updated tries to send them any letter or something then it would go to a wrong address.
• Dependence on Data – Files and information were stored in a certain specific format in files which is hard coded by programmers in languages like C/C++, COBOL, etc. So if any of the file’s format changes then the programmers need to update the code every time and the format of every piece of data stored in that file will be changed, which is a rigorous task for programmers.
• Data representation is challenging from the user’s perspective – The data stored in files must be represented in such a manner that every user can understand that data clearly and easily, often it would become hectic as the programmers need to go through different systems and find the proper connection between data and merge them together and represent them in a more human-readable format
• Different file types – The file structure would vary based on the programming language that was used to store them, for example, if a system used COBOL to store certain data then the structure of that data would differ from the one written in C/C++.
• Data Protection – Data protection was very less due to different reasons like Data Redundancy, manual storing of data, easy access of confidential data by unauthorized parties, etc.
• Issues with Transactions – It didn’t follow the ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) properties, for that if in the middle of any transaction the system crashed then it would leave the system in an inconsistent state.
• Concurrent issues – Two or more users can view the same file simultaneously, but the problem arises when they try to update the same file simultaneously.

Database-Based Approach

Keeping in mind the disadvantages of the Traditionally used File Systems, the DBMS was born. The Database approach nearly solved all the problems faced by traditional file systems and it also has its own certain advantages which are beneficial for all sizes of organizations in data storing and data handling. 

Importance and Meaning of Data

Data are just structured facts and measurements which are True and construct meaning. Data is used for many different purposes like calculations, different discussions, proofs, etc. It doesn’t only include some textual information, data can be numbers, events, certain actions, etc. Data can be stored in many different places which include – 

• Spreadsheets
• Folders 
• Lists
• Digital drives like Hard Disk, SSD, Floppy Disk, CD etc

A database is like a bag that can hold different types of information, no matter in which format they come. 

Advantages of using Database System in place of Traditional File Systems 

• Redundancy and inconsistency in the data – The data redundancy problem of the Traditional File System has been minimized by the DBMS, here one piece of data can be present in a single place only without scattering throughout multiple places
• Data Exchange – Exchange of Data between two or more devices have become so hassle-free with the introduction of the Database system. As a single database is accessible by every employee anyone can make any changes to the database or exchange data with each other.
• Concurrent Data – DBMS provides a locking system using which one or more users can only read the same data but can’t make any changes simultaneously.
• Searching Data – In the case of the Traditional file systems, the programmer needs to write lengthy programs everytime to fetch certain information, with DBMS some 2-3 line query is enough to fetch as many data as we want. Also, one language is supported by many databases (with a slight variety of syntax).
• Data Reliability – Data reliability is also high in DBMS as it supports user-defined data types also apart from the traditional in-built data types.
• System Failure – As DBMS follows ACID properties, even if a system failure happens in between a transaction, nothing will be lost, and we can restart that transaction from its previous stable state.
• Data Protection – DBMS comes up with lots of methods to protect the data stored inside it rather than just Passwords
• Backup of Data – Data Backup is possible in DBMS, which was not present in the Traditional File systems.
• Variation of Interfaces – DBMS comes with different kinds of interfaces like Graphicals or Tabular.
• Maintenance of the Database – As DBMS is a centralized structure it is easier to maintain it rather than the Traditional File systems