File Redundancy in C

Question

What is meant by "File Redundancy"??

It would also be helpful if a "C Program to detect File Redundancy" be also given.

I was asked the above question in an Interview. I didnt know the answer to it since I could not understand what they were asking in the first place. Can anyone help me!!!

EDIT : I have rephrased the question. I think I have made this more clear!

Answer 1

Probably means duplicate source files.

Answer 2

I hope they are not talking about the Cyclic redundancy check. The File Redundancy probably means duplicate files located in different folders on the hard drive.

You can write a program in C that would go through all the files and identify the duplicates.

Answer 3

This probably intentionally vague interview question seems to explore your knowledge of the term redundancy. I see several possible meanings of file redundancy here:

• Redundant (identical) replicas of a file to ensure availability in case of unavailability of a copy
• Accidental redundancy of the content of a single file. You can detect many cases of this redundancy by applying a file compression program to it. The more it compresses the more redundant the file content is.
• Intentional redundancy of a file's content. An error correcting code can be applied to data. This increases redundancy and allows to correct or detect a certain amount of errors in a damaged file.