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Secondary Storage and System Software

Lecture No. 2

Contents

1 Introduction

2 Magnetic Storage Technology

3 Optical Storage Technology

4 Solid State Storage Technology

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Introduction

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Secondary Storage Devices

v Since secondary storage is different from main memory
we have to understand how it works in order to do good
file designs.

v Two major types of storage devices according to

Access type:
§ Direct Access Storage Devices (DASDs)
• Magnetic Disks
Hard Disks (high capacity, low cost per bit)
• Optical Disks
CD-ROM,DVD-ROM
(Read-only/write-once, holds a lot of data, cheap)
§ Serial Devices
• Magnetic Tapes

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Storage Basics
v A data storage system has two main components: a
storage medium and a storage device.

v A storage medium is the disk,

tape, CD, DVD, paper, or other
substance that contains data.

v A storage device is the

mechanical device that records and
retrieves data from a storage
medium.

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Storage Basics
v Three types of storage technologies are commonly used
for personal computers: magnetic, optical, and solid state

v Each storage technology has its advantages and

disadvantages.

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Magnetic Storage
Technology

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Magnetic Storage Technology

v Magnetic storage stores data by magnetizing
microscopic particles on a disk or tape surface.

v The particles retain their magnetic orientation until that

orientation is changed, thereby making disks fairly
permanent but modifiable storage media.

Hard disk Floppy disk Tape

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Hard Disks
v A hard disk drive contains one or more platters and their
associated read-write heads.

v A hard disk platter is a flat, rigid disk made of aluminum or

glass and coated with magnetic iron oxide particles.

v More platters mean more data storage capacity. The

platters rotate as a unit on a spindle, making thousands of
rotations per minute (RPM).

v Hard disk platters are typically 3.5" in diameter, with

storage capacities ranging from 40 GB to 2 TB.

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks
v Each platter has a read-write head that hovers just a few
microinches above the surface.

v A read-write head mechanism in the disk drive magnetizes

particles to write data, and senses the particles’ polarities to
read data.

v Hard disk technology is the preferred type of main storage

for most personal computers because:
§ It provides lots of storage capacity.
§ It provides fast access to files.
§ A hard disk is economical.

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks
v Magnetic disks support direct access to a desired location

v Simplified structure of a disk:

§ Disk blocks
§ Tracks
§ Platters
§ Cylinder
§ Sectors
§ Disk heads
§ Disk Controller
§ Seek Time
§ Rotational delay

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Hard Disks
v The platters spin (7200 rpm
or 5400 rpm)

v The arm assembly is moved

in or out to position a head on
a desired track.

v Tracks under heads make a

cylinder.

v Only one head reads/writes

at any one time

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Hard Disks
v Disk contains concentric tracks

v Tracks are divided into sectors

v A sector is the
smallest
addressable unit
in disk

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks

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Hard Disks
v Cylinder: the set of tracks on
a disk that are directly
above/below each other

v All the information on a

cylinder can be accessed
without moving the read/write
arm (seeking)

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Disk Access Bottleneck

v When a program reads a byte from the disk,
the operating system locates the surface,
track and sector containing that byte, and
reads the entire sector into a special area in
main memory called buffer.

v The bottleneck of a disk access is moving

the read/write arm.

v So, it makes sense to store a file in tracks

that are below/above each other in different
surfaces, rather than in several tracks in the
same surface.
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How to calculate Disk Capacity?

v Number of cylinders = number of tracks in a surface

v Track capacity = number of sector per track × bytes per

sector

v Cylinder capacity = number of surfaces × track capacity

v Drive capacity = number of cylinders × cylinder capacity

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How to calculate Disk Capacity?

v If we know the number of bytes in a file, we can use it to
compute the amount of disk space the file is likely to
require.

v Suppose we have a file containing fixed-length records

§ Number of records = 50.000 records
§ Size of a record = 256 bytes
v Disk characteristics
§ Number of bytes per sector = 512
§ Number of sectors per track = 63
§ Number of tracks per cylinder = 16
§ Number of cylinders = 4092
v How many cylinders are needed?
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How to calculate Disk Capacity?

v Since each sector can hold two records, the file requires:

v One cylinder can hold:

v so the number of cylinders required is approximately

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Clusters, Extents, and Fragmentation

v The file manager is the part of the operating system
responsible for managing files

v The file manager maps the logical parts of the file into
their physical location

v A cluster is a fixed number of contiguous sectors

v The file manager allocates an integer number of clusters

to a file.

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Clusters, Extents, and Fragmentation

v An example: Sector size: 512 bytes, Cluster size: 2
sectors

v If a file contains 10 bytes, a cluster is allocated (1024

bytes).

v There may be unused space in the last cluster of a file.

v This unused space contributes to internal fragmentation

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Clusters, Extents, and Fragmentation

v Clusters are good since they improve sequential access:
reading bytes sequentially from a cluster can be done in
one revolution, seeking only once.

v The file manager maintains a file allocation table (FAT)

containing for each cluster in the file and its location in
disk

v An extent is a group of contiguous clusters. If file is

stored in a single extent then seeking is done only once.

v If there is not enough contiguous clusters to hold a file,

the file is divided into 2 or more extents.
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Fragmentation
v Due to records not fitting exactly in a sector

§ Example: Record size = 200 bytes, sector size = 512 bytes

§ To avoid that a record span 2 sectors we can only store 2

records in this sector (112 bytes go unused per sector)

§ The alternative is to let a record span two sectors, but in this

case, two sectors must be read when we need to access this
record)

v Due to the use of clusters

§ If the file size is not multiple of the cluster size, then the last
cluster will be partially used.

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How to Choose Cluster Size

v Some OS allow the system administrator to choose the
cluster size.

v When to use large cluster size?

§ When disks contain large files likely to be processed
sequentially.
§ Example: Updates in a master file of bank accounts (in batch
mode)

v What about small cluster size?

§ When disks contain small files and/or files likely to be accessed
randomly
§ Example : online updates for airline reservation

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Organizing Tracks by Blocks

v Disk tracks may be divided into user-defined blocks
rather than into sectors.

v The amount transferred in a single I/O operation can

vary depending on the needs of the software designer

v A block is usually organized to contain an integral

number of logical records.
Blocking Factor = number of records stored in each
block in a file

v No internal fragmentation, no record spanning two

blocks
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Organizing Tracks by Blocks

v A block typically contains subblocks:

§ Count subblock: contains the number of bytes in a block

§ Key subblock (optional): contains the key for the last record in
the data subblock (disk controller can search for key without
loading it in main memory)

§ Data subblock: contains the records in this block.

Count subblock Key subblock Data subblock

block
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Nondata Overhead
v Amount of space used for extra stuff other than data

v Sector-Addressable Disks
§ At the beginning of each sector some info is stored, such as
sector address, track address, condition (if sector is defective);
§ There is some gap between sectors

v Block-Organized Disks
§ subblocks and interblock gaps is part of the extra stuff; more
nondata overhead than with sector-addressing

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Solved Example
v Disk characteristics
§ Block-addressable Disk Drive
§ Size of track = 20.000 bytes
§ Nondata overhead per block = 300 bytes

v File Characteristics
§ Record size = 100 bytes

v How many records can be stored per track for the

following blocking factors?
1. Block factor = 10
2. Block factor = 60

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Solved Example
v Blocking factor is 10

v Size of data subblocks = 1000

v Number of blocks that can fit in a track =

v Number of records per track = 150 records

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Solved Example
v Blocking factor is 60

v Size of data subblocks = 6000

v Number of blocks that can fit in a track =

v Number of records per track = 180 records

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The Cost of Disk Access

v Seek time: the time required to move the access arm to
position disk head on the correct track.

v Rotational delay: the time it takes for the disk to rotate

so the desired sector is under the read/write head.

v Transfer time: the amount of time required to move data

to/from disk surface.

v Average Total time = Average Seek time + Average

Rotational delay + Transfer time

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External Hard Disks (Portable)

v The storage capacity of your desktop or laptop computer
can be increased by adding a second hard disk drive.

v Internal drives are inexpensive and can be easily installed

in a desktop computer’s system unit.

v External drives are slightly more expensive and connect

to a desktop or laptop computer using a cable.

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Floppy Disk
v Floppy disks (also called floppies
or diskettes) is a type of disk
storage composed of a disk of thin
and flexible magnetic storage
medium, sealed in a rectangular
plastic carrier lined with fabric that
removes dust particles.

v This storage technology is no

longer used because a floppy
disk’s 1.44 MB capacity is not
sufficient for today’s media-
intensive applications.

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Tapes
v A tape is a magnetically coated strip of plastic on which
data can be encoded.

v Tapes are similar to tapes used to store music.

v Storing data on tapes is considerably cheaper than

storing data on disks.

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Tapes
v Accessing data on tapes, however, is much slower than
accessing data on disks.

v Tapes are sequential-access media, which means that to

get to a particular point on the tape, the tape must go
through all the preceding points

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Optical Storage
Technology

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Optical Storage Technology

v CD, DVD, and Blu-ray technologies are classified as
optical storage, which stores data as microscopic light
and dark spots on the disc surface.

v The dark spots are called pits. The lighter, non-pitted

surface areas of the disc are called lands.

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Optical Storage Technology

v Optical drives contain a spindle that rotates the disc over
a laser lens.

v The laser directs a beam of light toward the underside of

the disc.

v The dark pits and light lands on the disc surface reflect
the light differently.

v As the lens reads the disc, these differences are

translated into the 0s and 1s that represent Data

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Optical Storage Technology

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Optical Storage Technology

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Optical Storage Technology

v Optical technologies are grouped into three categories:
read-only, recordable, and rewritable.

Read-only Recordable Rewritable

Read-only Recordable Rewritable

Technology (ROM) Technology (R) Technology (RW)

You cannot write to a You can write to one You can write to
-ROM disc, which left of these discs once these discs, erase
the factory with data (provided you have them, and write to
already on it. A -ROM an -R drive). But them again.
drive can read discs when you're done, The term re-
but not write to them, it's effectively a - recordable (RE) is
and has no use at all ROM disc sometimes used
for a blank disc. instead of rewritable

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CD (Compact Disc)
v CD (Compact Disc) technology was originally designed
to hold 74 minutes of recorded music.

v The original CD standard was adapted for computer

storage with capacity for 650 MB of data.

v Later improvements in CD standards increased the

capacity to 80 minutes of music or 700 MB of data.

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DVD (Digital Video Disc)

v DVD (Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a
variation of CD technology that was originally designed as
an alternative to VCRs, but was quickly adopted by the
computer industry to store data.

v The initial DVD standard offered 4.7 GB (4,700 MB) of

data storage.

v A double layer DVD has two recordable layers on the

same side and can store 8.5 GB of data.

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Blu-ray
v Blu-ray is a high-capacity storage technology with a 25
GB capacity per layer.

v The name Blu-ray is derived from the blue-violet colored

laser used to read data stored on Blu-ray discs.

v DVD technology uses a red laser; CD technology uses a

near infrared laser

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Solid State Storage

Technology

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Solid State Storage Technology

v Solid State Storage (sometimes called flash memory) is
a technology that stores data in erasable, rewritable
circuitry, rather than on spinning disks or streaming tape.

v It is widely used in portable consumer devices, such as

digital cameras, portable media players, iPads, and cell
phones.

v It is also used as an alternative for hard disk storage in

some laptop computers.

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Solid State Storage Technology

v Solid state storage contains a grid work of circuitry.

v Each cell in the grid contains two transistors that act as

gates to hold the 1s and 0s that represent data

v Very little power is required to open or close the gates,

which makes solid state storage ideal for battery-operated
devices, such as digital cameras and media players.

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Solid State Storage Technology

v Solid state storage has the following advantages:
§ Fast access to data because it includes no moving parts.
§ Very durable; it is virtually impervious to vibration, magnetic fields,
or extreme temperature fluctuations.

v However, the capacity of solid state storage does not

currently match that of hard disks.

v The cost per megabyte of solid state storage is slightly

higher than for magnetic or optical storage.

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Solid State Storage Technology

v Several types of solid state storage are available to
today’s consumers: memory cards, solid state drives, and
USB flash drives.

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Memory Cards
v A memory card is a flat, solid state storage medium
commonly used to transfer files from digital cameras and
media players to computers.

v A card reader is a device that reads and writes data on

solid state storage.

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Solid State Drive (SSD)

v A solid state drive (SSD) is a package of flash memory
that can be used as a substitute for a hard disk drive.

v Some solid state drives are about the same size as a

microprocessor chip, whereas others are about the size of
a small hard disk drive.

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USB Flash Drives

v A USB flash drive is a portable storage device that plugs
directly into a computer’s system unit using a built-in
connector.

v USB flash drives have capacities ranging from 16 MB to

256 GB.

v Flash drives are slower than hard disk drives.

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Different Storage Technology

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