Inodes

Inodes are data structures used by file systems on storage devices to store information about files and directories. Each file or directory is associated with an inode, which contains metadata such as the file's size, ownership, permissions, and the location of the actual data on the disk. Think of an inode as a file's "identity card" within the file system, helping the system manage and access files efficiently without storing the file names directly in the inode. This allows the file system to quickly retrieve and manipulate files while keeping track of important attributes.