Data ONTAP uses inodes in an active file system to reference ______.

• A. Qtrees
• B. Disk Blocks
• C. File Segments
• D. Snapshot Copies

Answer: (B)

In Data ONTAP, the active file system uses an inode to describe a file and to point to the actual storage blocks that hold the file’s data. The inode contains metadata about the file and includes pointers to the disk blocks where the file content lives, so when the system needs to read or write the file, it follows those block addresses. That’s why inodes reference disk blocks. Qtrees define a namespace or directory structure, not the storage locations of the file data; snapshot copies are point-in-time copies, not the block references used by an inode.