Linux File System Structure Explained

When I was first coming from Windows and exploring Linux, I found the Linux filesystem structure to be a bit confusing, simply because I didn’t know anything other than the Windows file system for my entire life. But after persisting through the learning curve, the mystery was unraveled and I can now comfortably switch between Linux and Windows whenever needed, and I actually feel like I understand the Windows file system better now after learning the Linux file system.

For me, the biggest difference between the two file systems is to understand where the root of the file system begins. In Windows, the root begins at the drive letter, usually C:, which basically means it begins at the hard drive. In Linux however, the root of the filesystem doesn’t correspond with a physical device or location, it’s a logical location of simply “/”. See the graphics below for a visual representation.

​Another thing to remember is that in Linux, everything is a file. Or, more accurately, everything is represented as being a file, while in Windows it may be displayed as being a disk drive.

For example, in Windows the hard drive is typically represented as C: in the file explorer, and it will even display a little icon of the hard drive and display how much space is being used. In Linux, on the other hand, the hard drive as represented merely as /dev/sda, which is really just a folder/directory, which in Linux is really just a file that points to other files.

So let’s take some other more practical examples. The Linux equivalent of your Documents folder in Windows would be /home/username/Documents, whereas in Windows it’s typically C:UsersUserNameDocuments. These are actually pretty similar, but you can see where the differences lie.