Hybrid metadata and folder based file access

#A file system may manage file storage and file access for one or more computer systems and/or other electronic devices. Specifically, the file system may provide users with access to different files that are stored to different storage devices managed by that file system, and may further allow the users to store files onto the storage devices.

#A traditional file system may use directories and subdirectories to organize the files on the one or more storage devices. For instance, a tree-based directory hierarchy may be created to separate the storage of different files or groups of files. The directories may be defined by users and by applications or programs that are installed or run from a user device.

#Each file may be stored in a particular directory that is accessed via a particular path. The particular path may specify a traversal of the directory structure from a root directory or root node to the particular directory where the desired file is stored. The particular path may specify each of the subdirectories that lead from the root directory to the particular directory. Accordingly, different users that wish to access the same file may specify the particular directory path where that file is stored, and may access the file from the same directory as there is a one file-to-one directory correspondence.

#FIG. 1 presents an example of a hybrid file system providing metadata-defined paths for organizing files based on their respective file metadata in accordance with some embodiments presented herein.

#FIG. 2 conceptually illustrates an example taxonomy, that can be used to define the key-value pairs for file metadata of files, and that can also be used by the hybrid file system for the metadata-based file organization in accordance with some embodiments presented herein.

#FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the hybrid file system generating hybrid metadata-user-defined paths as alternatives to a metadata-defined path in accordance with some embodiments presented herein.

#The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

#Embodiments as described herein provide a hybrid file system that uses file metadata with or without user-created directories to generate different paths by which different users may access the same files. For instance, the hybrid file system may initially organize files to metadata-defined paths that are formed based on key-value pairs from the file metadata. Users may then customize the metadata-based organization of the files by defining hybrid metadata-user-defined paths. A metadata-user-defined path may include one or more user-defined directories that are added to a metadata-defined path, may include one or more files from the parent metadata-defined path (e.g., files with the same or different metadata key-value pairs) or other metadata-defined paths, and may therefore provide alternative means of accessing a subset of files from the parent metadata-defined path without affecting the ability to access each file from the subset of files from their respective metadata-defined path. In some embodiments, user-defined paths may be defined independent of a metadata-defined path to provide a first means, via the user-defined path, to access files according to a user-based organization of the files, and a second means, via the metadata-defined path, to access the same files according to a metadata-based organization of the files. Accordingly, the hybrid file system may manage file access and file storage based on metadata-defined paths that can be appended or otherwise modified with user-defined directory paths, and/or based on user-defined paths that are accessible from or independent of the metadata-defined paths.

#The hybrid file system, via the hybrid metadata-user-defined paths, metadata-defined paths, and the user-defined directory paths, may allow different users the ability to specify two or more different paths or access identifiers with which to access the same files. For instance, the same file that is used as part of different projects or workflows can be accessed via different meaningful and/or customized paths that are related to the different projects or workflows, rather than a single path that is tied to the exact location where the file is stored.