Reply to post: Re: This, because we can't overwrite files that are in use.

SHIFT + F10, Linux gets you Windows 10's cleartext BitLocker key

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: This, because we can't overwrite files that are in use.

"Which is the prime reason the updates have to be applied during boot up anyway."

In the POSIX world, a directory entry is simply a pointer to an INODE, which represents "the file". An 'overwrite' of a file that's in-use simply points to a different INODE. Then, subsequent 'opens' of that file use the NEW version (and not the old one). The old inode is kept around on the file system until the last reference to it closes, and then it gets deleted. [this would keep running processes from crashing, for example, if you swapped in a new shared lib before restarting them, and when they re-start, they automatically use the NEW one].

Micro-shaft, on the other hand, ENCOURAGES multiple processes to be able to directly muck with the same file, using a sharing system that MOST LIKELY creates a LOT of inefficiency inside the kernel.

Hence, file I/O on a POSIX system appears to be FASTER than on an equivalent windows system [at least, that's been MY experience].

I sometimes refer to the WORST of this as "paranoid cacheing", i.e. the apparent assumption that "something came along" and changed what was on the hard drive behind your back, and now you have to re-re-read the same block from the physical file, again, even though you just wrote it BACK to the file a few milliseconds ago... [seems to happen most often wirh the registry, most likely due to excessive 'layering' and ".Not"-ishness]

.So, *NOW*, this file-system philosophy of Micro-shaft's is *BITING* *THEM* in the backside, with respect to the hoops they have to jump through when Bitlocker is in use.

/me is now thinking of some terms involving a circle, a cluster, and 'Situation Normal'

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon