Essentially I need to implement a program to act as a user space file system that implements very simple operations such as viewing what is on the disk, copying files to and from the native file system to my file system ( which is contained in a single file called "disk01") and deleting files from my file system.

I'm basically looking for a springboard or some hint as to where I can start as I'm unsure how to create my own "disk" and put other files inside it and this is a homework assignment.

Just a C++ student looking for some direction.

**Edit:**

I know this is a concept that is already used in several different places as "VFS's" or virtual file systems, kind of like zip files (you can only view the contents through a program that can handle zip files). I'm basically trying to write my own program similar to zip or winrar or whatever, but not near as complicated and feature rich.

*Thank you for your suggestions so far! You all are a tremendous help!*