Scribd
Upload
4 views

Lecture7_FileOrganization

The document discusses file system implementation, focusing on indexed allocation as a solution to the limitations of linked allocation, particularly in supporting direct access. It explains how indexed allocation uses an index block to manage pointers to file blocks, while also addressing the issue of wasted space due to pointer overhead. Additionally, it covers free-space management techniques, including the use of bit vectors and linked lists to efficiently track and allocate free disk space.

Uploaded by

abdonasr1998
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views

Lecture7_FileOrganization

The document discusses file system implementation, focusing on indexed allocation as a solution to the limitations of linked allocation, particularly in supporting direct access. It explains how indexed allocation uses an index block to manage pointers to file blocks, while also addressing the issue of wasted space due to pointer overhead. Additionally, it covers free-space management techniques, including the use of bit vectors and linked lists to efficiently track and allocate free disk space.

Uploaded by

abdonasr1998
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 16

File Organization and Processing

Lecture 7

File System Implementation

Mohamed Mead
Indexed Allocation
Linked allocation solves the external-fragmentation and
size-declaration problems of contiguous allocation.

However, in the absence of a FAT, linked allocation cannot


support efficient direct access.

Indexed allocation solves this problem by bringing all the


pointers together into one location: the index block.
Indexed Allocation
Each file has its own index block, which is an array
of disk-block addresses. The ith entry in the index
block points to the ith block of the file.
Indexed Allocation
The directory contains the address of the index block

To find and read the ith block, we use the pointer in the ith
index-block entry.
Indexed Allocation
When the file is created, all pointers in the index block are
set to null.

When the ith block is first written, a block is obtained


from the free-space manager, and its address is put in the
ith index-block entry.

Indexed allocation supports direct access


Indexed Allocation
Indexed allocation does suffer from wasted space,
however. The pointer overhead of the index block is
generally greater than the pointer overhead of linked
allocation.
Indexed Allocation
Consider a common case in which we have a file of only one
or two blocks.

With linked allocation, we lose the space of only one


pointer per block.

With indexed allocation, an entire index block must be


allocated, even if only one or two pointers will be non-
null.
Indexed File Allocation Example

8 A. Frank - P. Weisberg
Performance
Before selecting an allocation method, we need to
determine how the systems will be used.

A system with mostly sequential access should not


use the same method as a system with mostly
random access.
Free-Space Management
Since disk space is limited, we need to reuse the
space from deleted files for new files, if possible.
(Write-once optical disks allow only one write to any
given sector, and thus reuse is not physically
possible.)

To keep track of free disk space, the system


maintains a free-space list.
Free-Space Management
The free-space list records all free disk blocks—those not
allocated to some file or directory.

To create a file, we search the free-space list for the


required amount of space and allocate that space to the
new file. This space is then removed from the free-space
list.
Free-Space Management
When a file is deleted, its disk space is added to the free-
space list. The free-space list, despite its name, may not be
implemented as a list.
Free-Space Management - Bit
Vector
 Frequently, the free-space list is implemented as a bit map or
bit vector.

 Each block is represented by 1 bit. If the block is free, the bit


is 1; if the block is allocated, the bit is 0.

 For example, consider a disk where blocks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11,


12, 13, 17, 18, 25, 26, and 27 are free and the rest of the blocks
are allocated. The free-space

 bit map would be 001111001111110001100000011100000 ...


Free-Space Management
The main advantage of this approach is its relative
simplicity and its efficiency in finding the first free block
or n consecutive free blocks on the disk.

One technique for finding the first free block on a system


that uses a bit-vector to allocate disk space is to
sequentially check each word in the bit map to see
whether that value is not 0
Free-Space Management - Linked
List
Another approach to free-space management is to link
together all the free disk blocks, keeping a pointer to the
first free block in a special location on the disk and caching
it in memory.

This first block contains a pointer to the next free disk


block, and so on.
Free-Space Management
blocks 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 25, 26, and 27
were free and the rest of the blocks were allocated. In
this situation, we would keep a pointer to block 2 as the
first free block.

You might also like