Two Level Directory

This kind of structure overcomes the problems of assigning unique names to the files. Thus there need not be any confusion among users.

In this kind of structure each user has a user file directory (UFD). The UFDs have an alike structure except each lists the files of a single user. As soon as a user starts or logs in the system's master file directory (MFD) is searched. The MFD is indexed by the account number or the user name and each entry points to the UFD for that user. Once a user searches for a particular file only his own UFD is searched and so different users may have the same names as long as all the file names within each UFD are unique.

A two level directory is able to be thought of as an inverted tree of height 2. The root of the tree is the MFD in addition to its descendents are the UFDs whose descendents are the files. 

Disadvantages:

            This structure detaches one user from the other. This is an benefit when the users are completely independent of each other but is a drawback when the users want to cooperate on some task and to access one another's files.