Computer question from Laboratory Attendant exam, 2026 by JKSSB
Which component of an operating system is primarily responsible for maintaining the mapping between file names and their physical storage locations?
Last updated Jun 19, 2026
Correct Answer:
Option A —
File system directory structure
Why this is correct:
The directory structure (or file system directory) is the specific component of the file system that acts as a lookup table. It maps human-readable file names to their corresponding metadata or physical addresses on the storage device (such as inodes in Unix/Linux or the Master File Table in NTFS).
Why the other options are incorrect:
B) Memory allocation dispatcher: This handles RAM (volatile memory) allocation for running processes, not persistent file storage.
C) Data locality controller: "Data locality" refers to keeping data close to the computation processing it (often used in distributed systems like Hadoop), but this is not a standard OS component responsible for file-to-storage mapping.
D) Storage routing interface: This is a fabricated or non-standard term; physical hardware communication is typically handled by device drivers and the I/O subsystem.
Answer verified by Quintessence Classes faculty — Karan Nagar, Srinagar.
