How true is this? Someone once told me directories aren't

No, that's completely wrong

It could work like that but it would be retarded because you would lose on codification of subdirectories that could save time and resources.

maybe this is what you are referring to? it's literally the first google result.

http://www.linfo.org/inode.html

>When a file is created, it is assigned both a name and an inode number, which is an integer that is unique within the filesystem. Both the file names and their corresponding inode numbers are stored as entries in the directory that appears to the user to contain the files. That is, the directory associates file names with inodes.

>Whenever a user or a program refers to a file by name, the operating system uses that name to look up the corresponding inode, which then enables the system to obtain the information it needs about the file to perform further operations. That is, a file name in a Unix-like operating system is merely an entry in a table with inode numbers, rather than being associated directly with a file (in contrast to other operating systems such as the Microsoft Windows systems). The inode numbers and their corresponding inodes are held in inode tables, which are stored in strategic locations in a filesystem, including near its beginning.

>a directory holds only the names of the files that appear to the user to be contained in it and their inode numbers

>>58603457
This was explained to me fucklong ago so it might be wrong but how i remember it is this:
Basically inside each folder there's a bunch of metadata, one of this data is a reference to the folder it's stored under, all of the folders do this recursively until you arrive at root, whose parent directory is itself

>>58603457
Well, it's being moved to another physical location on the harddrive, that's for sure.

>>58603594
I don't think it actually is.

>>58603504
your google-fu is superior to mine. I must have used some shitty keywords.

>>58603594
Copying? Yes
Moving? No. The data stays where it is. The only thing that changes are the pointers.

You never noticed that when you copy and paste a file it goes through a lengthy bit with progress bar and stuff, but when you Cut>Paste it's immediate?

>>58603642
I accidentally left out the "not"

>>58603594
Only if you move a file to a different partition.

If you move a file to another place in its partition, just the inode is moved.