Differences between Datafile and Tablespace

	Datafile	Tablespace
Definition	Physical file used by the DBMS to store data	Logical storage container within a database
Purpose	Stores actual data, indexes, and other database objects	Provides a logical organization and management structure for storing and accessing data
Location	Resides on a storage device (e.g., hard drive, SAN)	Exists within the database
Managed by	Operating system	Database management system
Unit of storage	Individual file	Collection of one or more datafiles
Allocation	Datafiles are allocated to tablespaces	Tables, indexes, and other database objects are allocated space within tablespaces
Administrative control	File-level management	Logical-level management
Separation	Represents physical storage	Provides a logical grouping of data
Usage	Accessed by the DBMS for reading and writing data	Used by the DBMS to organize and manage data