OPERATING SYSTEMS (CSE2005) PROJECT

COMPONENT
REVIEW 1
Submitted to
PROF.MANIKANDAN K
Title:
Methods for Storing Files using File Allocation Table
TEAM MEMBERS:
• V.VIBHAV AAKASH 18BCE2064
• K.DHEERAJ 18BCE0319
• M.MANIKANTA SAHTIH 18BCE0011
• IPPILI AKARSH 18BCE2523
ABSTRACT:
Any existing data processing system may have a file allocation table which is
used to store files in an organized and systematic way and is supported by all
virtually existing operating systems. It generates good performance and has
high strength and therefore is being adopted these days by most personal
computers as well as home computers. In the following paper, an
introduction to file allocation table is given along with a brief about the
different types of memory allocations it has and a comparative study of all
the file allocation methods and among those which one is optimal. Along
with that codes for different file allocation methods describing the process of
storing files and blocks and the source code for creating, printing blocks table
and contents of files, deleting and printing updated files after deletion is
given and the required outputs are shown in form of screenshots.
INTRODUCTION:
File Allocation Table is also abbreviated as FAT. FAT is a table which is maintained by
the operating system on the hard disc and it has and is used to enter 12- or 16-bits
entry per cluster. FAT contains file name, start block, length It is named after its
method of organization. To separate copies of files are kept in case one of them is
damaged. A volume formatted with the FAT is allocated into clusters and the cluster
should be in powers of two. It can commonly be found in the flash memory, digital
camera and other portable devices. It was originally designed to lessen the amount
of time taken to seek on the operating system and reduce the wear and tear on the
hard disc. FAT16 was introduced in 1983 by IBM and then later in 1997 Microsoft
introduced FAT32. A FAT file has basically four different sections-the boot sector
which comprises the boot loader code or bootstrap program in order to start a PC
system, then the FAT region which has 2 copies of the FAT for redundancy checking,
then the Data region where the directory data and files are stored. The last part is
the Root Directory region which is a directory table that contains the necessary
data about the directories and files. In this way FAT is used to keep a record of all
files as well as point towards the cluster containing the files.
Approach:
File Allocation method is used to utilize disk space available by
accommodating space for files effectively. Operating system allocates
the disk space for the files by using different approaches. It’s divided
into three broad categories: Contiguous Allocation, Linked allocation
and Indexed Allocation. These three are the methods or file allocation
strategies used to store files. The main objective to adapt these three
approaches is to make sure that efficient utilization of disk space and
speedy access to the files. These three methods use distinct methods
to effectively use disk space which has its own pros and cons which we
will see in the respective methods.
Contiguous Allocation Method:
By contiguous allocation approach, continuous blocks of disk spaces are
assigned to each file. It uses the concept of first fit or best fit. It’s the
simplest allocation method. Location of file is identified by the starting
address of the block followed by the length of file. These to details are
crucial to work with file.
For example, if a file requires n blocks and is given a block b as the
starting location, then the blocks assigned to the file will be b, b+1,
b+2,……b+n-1. This means that given the starting block address and the
length of the file (in terms of blocks required), we can determine the
blocks occupied by the file. The directory entry for a file with
contiguous allocation contains Address of starting block and Length of
the allocated portion.
Linked Allocation Method:
For Linked File Allocation method, each file is not allocated in
continuous memory blocks. The disk blocks are placed anywhere on
the disk. Each file is a linked list of blocks. In this approach, the
directory contains the starting address and ending address of the file
which are pointers. Then each block contains a pointer that points to
the next block. The directory entry contains a pointer to the starting
and the ending file block. Each block contains a pointer to the next
block occupied by the file.
Indexed Allocation Method:
In this scheme, a special block known as the Index block contains the
pointers to all the blocks occupied by a file. Each file has its own index
block. All shortcomings of linked allocation method and contiguous
allocation method are overcome by indexed allocation method. In this
approach, all the pointers are brought together into one location
known as the indexed block. All the pointers in index block is set to
null. The ith entry in the index block contains the disk address of the ith
file block.