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Unit 5

The document discusses file systems and storage management, detailing the characteristics, attributes, operations, and access methods of files. It outlines various directory structures, including single-level, two-level, tree-structured, and acyclic-graph directories, emphasizing their functionalities and complexities. The document highlights the importance of file organization and management in operating systems for efficient data handling.

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Dharani Mani
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4 views19 pages

Unit 5

The document discusses file systems and storage management, detailing the characteristics, attributes, operations, and access methods of files. It outlines various directory structures, including single-level, two-level, tree-structured, and acyclic-graph directories, emphasizing their functionalities and complexities. The document highlights the importance of file organization and management in operating systems for efficient data handling.

Uploaded by

Dharani Mani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit V

File System & Storage


Management
Files
A file is a named collection of related information
that is recorded on secondary storage.
The operating systems maps this logical storage
unit to the physical view of information storage.
A file may have the following characteristics
 File Attributes
 File Operations
 File Types
 File Structures
 Internal Files
File Attributes
File Name: The symbolic name is perhaps the only
human readable file attribute.
Identifier: A unique number assigned to each file
for identification purpose.
File Type: Some systems recognize various file
types. Windows is a good example.
File Location: A pointer to a device to find a file.
File Size: The current size of a file, or the
maximum allowed size.
File Protection: This is for access-control.
File Date, Time, Owner, etc.
File Operations: 1/2
A file can be considered as an abstract data type
that has data and accompanying operations.
Creating a file
Writing a file
Reading a file
Repositioning within a file
Deleting a file
Truncating a file
Other operations (e.g., appending a file, renaming a
file)
File Operations: 2/2
disk

system-wide process
open-file table open-file table file

file index
file pointer
file open count
one file disk location
access right
File Structure
Some systems support specific file types that
have special file structures.
For example, files that contain binary
executables.
An operating system becomes more complex
when more file types (i.e., file structures) are
supported.
In general, the number of supported file types
is kept to minimum.
File Access Methods
Access method: how a file be used.
There are three popular ones:
 Sequential access method for sequential files
 Direct access method for direct files
 Indexed access method for indexed files.
Sequential Access Method
With the sequential access method, the file is
processed in order, one record after the other.
If p is the file pointer, the next record to be
accessed is either p+1 or p-1 (i.e., backspace).

current record

beginning end of file


next record

rewind
read/write
Direct Access Method
A file is made up of fixed-length logical records.
The direct access method uses record number to
identify each record. For example, read rec 0, write
rec 100, seek rec 75, etc.
Some systems may use a key field to access a record
(e.g., read rec “Age=24” or write rec “Name=Dow”).
This is usually achieved using hashing.
Since records can be accessed in random order,
direct access is also referred to as random access.
Direct access method can simulate sequential access.
Indexed Access Method
With the indexed access method, a file is sorted in
ascending order based on a number of keys.
Each disk block may contain a number of fixed-
length logical records.
An index table stores the keys of the first block in
each block.
We can search the index table to locate the block
that contains the desired record. Then, search the
block to find the desired record.
This is exactly a one-level B-, B+ or B* tree.
Multi-level index access method is also possible.
data file
index table
last name logical rec #
Adams Ashcroft, … Asher, … Atkins
Arthur
Ashcroft

Smith, …. Sweeny, … Swell, …

Smith

index table is stored


In physical memory
Directory Structure: 1/2
A large volume disk may be partitioned into
partitions, or mini disks, or volumes.
Each partition contains information about files
within it. This information is stored in entries of a
device directory or volume table of content (VTOC).
The device directory, or directory for short, stores
the name, location, size, type, access method, etc of
each file.
Operations perform on directory: search for a file,
create a file, delete a file, rename a file, traverse the
file system, etc.
Directory Structure: 2/2
There are five commonly used directory
structures:
 Single-Level Directory
 Two-Level Directory
 Tree-Structure Directories
 Acyclic-Graph Directories
 General Graph Directories
Single-Level Directory
All files are contained in the same directory.
It is difficult to maintain file name uniqueness.
CP/M-80 and early version of MS-DOS use this
directory structure.
Two-Level Directory: 1/2
This is an extension of the single-level directory for
multi-user system.
Each user has his/her user file directory. The
system’s master file directory is searched for the user
directory when a user job starts.
Early CP/M-80 multi-user systems use this structure.
Two-Level Directory: 2/2
To locate a file, path name is used. For example,
/user2/bo is the file bo of user 2.
Different systems use different path names. For
example, under MS-DOS it may be C:\user2\bo.
The directory of a special user, say user 0, may
contain all system files.
Tree-Structured Directory
Each directory or subdirectory contains files and
subdirectories, and forms a tree.
Directories are special files.

/bin/mail/prog/spell
Acyclic-Graph Directory: 1/2
This type of directories
allows a file/directory to
be shared by multiple
directories.
This is different from
two copies of the same
file or directory.
An acyclic-graph
directory is more
flexible than a simple
file count is shared by directories tree structure.
dict and spell However, it is more
complex.
Acyclic-Graph Directory: 2/2
Since a file have multiple absolute path names, how do
we calculate file system statistics or do backup?
Would the same file be duplicated multiple times?
How do we delete a file?
If sharing is implemented with symbolic links, we
only delete the link if we have a list of links to the
file. The file is removed when the list is empty.
Or, we remove the file and keep the links. When the
file is accessed again, a message is given and the link
is removed.
Or, we can maintain a reference count for each
shared file. The file is removed when the count is
zero.

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