A definition of "Paths"
If the terms drives, directories, sub-directories, paths, folders and such seem somewhat greek to you then take a moment here.
Lets say you decide to go to a shopping mall because you want to get some flower seeds in the Sears garden center. You have never been to this mall and you are in a hurry.
Consider the hard drive of your computer as the shopping mall with 1 entrance. Most computers use "C" as the name of the entrance. You might hear the expression "C Drive" now and then. The image below shows several drives on this machine.
The point is that each drive has lots of different information on it just as a mall has several different stores in it. The "Local Disk(C:)" in the image below simply represents a doorway into a mall. In computer jargon this is the "Root directory "of this drive!"
As soon as you enter this mall a directory shows you the layout and location of all the stores in the mall. Typically there is a list of all stores with an alphanumeric key beside it. When you look at the map using that key you will find the store you wish to visit. Keep in mind that the key is usually made up of 2 parts. The first part is the "section" of the mall where this store can be found and the second part is the actual location within the section.
Because "paths" on hard drives can be more than one layer deep lets pretend that our mall is huge and has more than one floor to it. When you entered the mall perhaps the "root directory" simply showed you that "Sears" was on the second floor and directed you to the escalator that was nearest to "sears" (of course they do that so you will pass more stores on the way!) When you got to the top of the escalator you found the directory that sent you to the entrance to "Sears".
The image below shows you all the "Stores" that are on my "C Drive". Keep in mind that each little folder image represents a "Store" or perhaps an intermediate step in getting to the store (the escalator).
Once you find the store you want to visit on the "Root Directory" you then determine the PATH you need to take to get there from this starting point. So because you want to go to SEARS. The path might look like "C:\SEARS" in computer jargon or perhaps "C:\SECOND FLOOR\SEARS".
Some folks still use the terms "DIRECTORY and SUB-DIRECTORY " when discussing paths on a computer hard drive. Others use the more current terms "FOLDERS and SUB-FOLDERS". The good news is they are both describing the exact same thing! A directory or folder is typically what you are looking at when you start your journey to the location on your hard drive or in the mall that you want to end up at.
Escalators, hallways, store entrances, and isles that get you to the exact item you came to buy are like sub-directories or sub-folders on your hard drive.
Paths can become fairly long on today's computers but they are simply a mapping structure that allows you or your computer to find its way from the root to a specific item. If you ever get selected to be a contestant on "The great Race" then I think you will get a great feel for paths. Each waypoint (sub-folder) provides you with a pointer to the next waypoint (sub-folder). I think you might get the point by now.
In summary
| C | : | \Sears or \Second floor\Sears | \garden Supplies | \Seeds |
| Mall entrance | Main directory of mall | Entrance to Sears | General location of seeds | The shelf with seed packages |
| Drive letter | Root directory | Beginning of path | Continuation of path | End of path |
Perhaps you are wondering why you might need to know some of this. Perhaps you don't. However you may remember times when you have downloaded something from a trusted website and windows simply stuffed it away in some 6 or 8 layered folder structure in an attempt to protect yourself from yourself. Windows likes to do that. If you understand folders and paths you can "Just say NO" and tell windows to put it somewhere like "C:\My Stuff"!