A searching apparatus and a method thereof using a management table. A hierarchical structure of directories is created in a recording medium. With respect to at least one directory to be considered, the management table is associated with a list of contents of another directory other than the directory to be considered. In searching for a file, it is not necessary to move from the directory to be considered, and any directories or files which satisfy a specified searching condition are retrieved by looking up the management table of the directory to be considered.