Disks

Disks
Disk drives belong to a class of devices known as direct access storage devices (DASDs) because they make it possible to access the data directly. Serial devices uses media such as magnetic tape that permit only serial access,which means that a particular data cannot be read or written until all the data preceding it on the tape have been read or written.

Organization of Disks
The information stored on a disk is stored on the surface of one or more platters. The arrangement is such that the information is stored in successive tracks on the surface of the disk.

 Each track is often divided into number of sectors. A Sector is the smallest addressable portion of the disk. When the read statement call for a particular byte from the disk file, the computer operating system finds the correct surface, reads the entire sector into a special area into the memory called as buffer , and then find the requested byte in the buffer.

 Data is recorded on each surface of the disk in sectors, which are located in concentric circles. The sectors are separated by gaps which contain no data. On PC disk drives, each sector contains 512 bytes of data.

Estimating Capacities and Space Needs

Track capacity = sectors/track * bytes/sector Cylinder capacity = tracks/cylinder*track capacity Drive capacity= cylinders/drive *cylinder capacity

Organizing Tracks by Sector

Sector locations are determined by the electronics of the drive, and are identified by recorded address marks. Sector numbers begin with 1. Today, logically adjacent sectors are typically physically adjacent.

Sector organizations , 4 types The physical placements of sectors. - Interleaving Clusters. - A group of sectors handled as a unit of file allocation. - File manager - FAT(File allocation table)

 Extents. -A physical section of a file occupying adjacent clusters. -A file can have a single extent, or be scattered in several extents. Fragmentation. -Internal fragmentation -Unused space within a file.

Organizing Tracks by Block

Mainframe computers typically use variable size physical blocks for disk drives. Blocks can normally be either fixed or variable in length ,depending on the requirements of the file designer and the capabilities of the OS. Track capacity is dependent on block size, due to fixed overhead (gap and address block) per block.

The Cost of a Disk Access

access time : The total time required to store or retrieve data. transfer time : The time required to transfer the data from a sector, once the transfer has begun. seek time : The time required for the head of a disk drive to be positioned to a designated cylinder. rotational delay : The time required for a designated sector to rotate to the head of a disk drive.