Module 5

Chapter 1
File System
 File Concept
• File Attributes
Different OS keep track of different file attributes,
including:
– Name -
– Identifier ( e.g. inode number )
– Type - Text, executable, other binary, etc.
– Location - on the hard drive.
– Size
– Protection
– Time & Date
– User ID
 File Concept
• File Operations
The file ADT supports many common operations:
– Creating a file,Writing a file,Reading a file,Repositioning within a file,Deleting a
file,Truncating a file.

• Most OSes require that files be opened before access and closed after all access is
complete. Information about currently open files is stored in an open file table,
containing for example:
– File pointer - records the current position in the file, for the next read or write
access.
– File-open count - How many times has the current file been opened
( simultaneously by different processes ) and not yet closed? When this counter
reaches zero the file can be removed from the table.
– Disk location of the file.
– Access rights

• Some systems provide support for file locking.

– A shared lock is for reading only.
– A exclusive lock is for writing as well as reading.
– An advisory lock is informational only, and not enforced. ( A "Keep Out" sign,
which may be ignored. )
– A mandatory lock is enforced. ( A truly locked door. )
– UNIX used advisory locks, and Windows uses mandatory locks.
File Concept
 File Concept
File Structure
• Some files contain an internal structure, which may or may
not be known to the OS.
• For the OS to support particular file formats increases the
size and complexity of the OS.
• UNIX treats all files as sequences of bytes, with no further
consideration of the internal structure. ( With the
exception of executable binary programs, which it must
know how to load and find the first executable statement,
etc. )
• Macintosh files have two forks - a resource fork, and a data
fork.
a. The resource fork contains information relating to the UI,
such as icons and button images, and can be modified
independently of the
b. data fork, which contains the code or data as appropriate.
 File Concept
Internal File Structure
• Disk files are accessed in units of physical blocks, typically
512 bytes or some power-of-two multiple thereof.
• Larger physical disks use larger block sizes, to keep the
range of block numbers within the range of a 32-bit
integer.
• Internally files are organized in units of logical units, which
may be as small as a single byte, or may be a larger size
corresponding to some data record or structure size.
• The number of logical units which fit into one physical
block determines its packing, and has an impact on the
amount of internal fragmentation ( wasted space ) that
occurs.
 File Access Methods
• 1. Sequential Access
• 2. Direct Access
• 3.Indexed Sequential Access Method
 Access methods
• Access methods determine the way that files are accessed
and read into memory.
1. Sequential Access
✦ The most common method used by editors and compilers.
✦ Information is processed in order. read next write next reset
no read after last write (rewrite)
 Access Methods
2.Direct Access File
File is made up of fixed-length logical records that allow programs to
read and write records in no particular order.
■ The files is viewed as a numbered sequence of blocks or records.
■ Very useful in databases.
■ Direct Access
{n = relative block number}
read n
write n
position to n
read next
write next
rewrite n
Access Methods
3.Index Sequential Access Method (ISAM) –
uses Index Sequential Access Method (ISAM) indexes in a
hierarchy to point to records in a file
 Directory Structures
Storage Structure
• A disk can be used in its entirety for a file system.
• Alternatively a physical disk can be broken up
into multiple partitions, slices, or mini-disks,
each of which becomes a virtual disk and can
have its own file system. ( or be used for raw
storage, swap space, etc. )
• Or, multiple physical disks can be combined into
one volume, i.e. a larger virtual disk, with its own
file system spanning the physical disks.
Directory operations
Directory Design Goals
 Types of Directory Structures
• 1. Single level
• 2.Two Level
• 3.Tree structured
• 4. Acyclic graph
• 5. General graph
Single level Directory
Two Level Directory
 Two Level Directory
Advantages
✦ Solves the name-collision problem.
✦ Isolates users from one another ! a form of
protection.
✦ Efficient searching.
Disadvantages
✦ Restricts user cooperation.
✦ No logical grouping capability (other than by
user).
Tree Structured Directory
Tree Structured Directory
 Tree Structured Directory
Advantages:
• Very generalize, since full path name can be given.
• Very scalable, the probability of name collision is less.
• Searching becomes very easy, we can use both
absolute path as well as relative.
Disadvantages:
• Every file does not fit into the hierarchical model, files
may be saved into multiple directories.
• We can not share files.
• It is inefficient, because accessing a file may go under
multiple directories.
 Acyclic graphs Directory
• Acyclic graphs allow directories to have
shared subdirectories and files.
 Acyclic graphs Directory
• It is used in the situation like when two programmers
are working on a joint project and they need to access
files.
• The associated files are stored in a subdirectory,
separating them from other projects and files of other
programmers, since they are working on a joint project
so they want the subdirectories to be into their own
directories.
• The common subdirectories should be shared.
• It is the point to note that shared file is not the same as
copy file .
• If any programmer makes some changes in the
subdirectory it will reflect in both subdirectories.
 Acyclic graphs Directory
Advantages:
• We can share files.
• Searching is easy due to different-different paths.
Disadvantages:
• We share the files via linking, in case of deleting it
may create the problem,
• If the link is softlink then after deleting the file we
left with a dangling pointer.
• In case of hardlink, to delete a file we have to
delete all the reference associated with it.
 General Graph Directory
• When links are added to an existing tree-structured directory, a
general graph structure can be created.
• In general graph directory structure, cycles are allowed within a
directory structure where multiple directories can be derived from
more than one parent directory.
 General Graph Directory
• The main problem with this kind of directory structure is to
calculate total size or space that has been taken by the files
and directories.
• If cycles are allowed in the graphs, then several problems
can arise:
a. Search algorithms can go into infinite loops.
One solution is to not follow links in search algorithms. ( Or
not to follow symbolic links, and to only allow symbolic links
to refer to directories. )
b. Sub-trees can become disconnected from the rest of the
tree and still not have their reference counts reduced to zero.
Periodic garbage collection is required to detect and resolve
this problem.
 General Graph Directory
• Advantages:
• It allows cycles.
• It is more flexible than other directories
structure.
• Disadvantages:
• It is more costly than others.
• It needs garbage collection
 File Mounting
• The basic idea behind mounting file systems is to combine multiple file systems into one
large tree structure.

• The mount command is given a file system to mount and a mount point ( directory ) on
which to attach it.

• Once a file system is mounted onto a mount point, any further references to that directory
actually refer to the root of the mounted file system.

• Any files ( or sub-directories ) that had been stored in the mount point directory prior to
mounting the new file system are now hidden by the mounted file system, and are no
longer available. For this reason some systems only allow mounting onto empty
directories.

• File systems can only be mounted by root, unless root has previously configured certain
file systems to be mountable onto certain pre-determined mount points. ( E.g. root may
allow users to mount floppy file systems to /mnt or something like it. ) Anyone can run the
mount command to see what file systems are currently mounted.

• File systems may be mounted read-only, or have other restrictions imposed.

 File Sharing
Multiple Users
• On a multi-user system, more information needs
to be stored for each file:
– The owner ( user ) who owns the file, and who can
control its access.
– The group of other user IDs that may have some
special access to the file.
– What access rights are afforded to the owner ( User ),
the Group, and to the rest ( Others. )
– Some systems have more complicated access control,
allowing or denying specific accesses to specifically
named users or groups.
 Protection

• Files must be kept safe for reliability ( against

accidental damage ), and protection ( against
deliberate malicious access. ) The former is
usually managed with backup copies. This
section discusses the latter.
• One simple protection scheme is to remove all
access to a file. However this makes the file
unusable, so some sort of controlled access
must be arranged.
 Access Control
• One approach is to have complicated Access
Control Lists, ACL, which specify exactly what
access is allowed or denied for specific users or
groups. The AFS uses this system for distributed
access.
• Control is very finely adjustable, but may be
complicated, particularly when the specific users
involved are unknown. ( AFS allows some wild
cards, so for example all users on a certain
remote system may be trusted, or a given
username may be trusted when accessing from
any remote system. )
 File-System Structure
• Hard disks have two important properties that
make them suitable for secondary storage of files
in file systems:
(1) Blocks of data can be rewritten in place, and
(2) they are direct access, allowing any block of
data to be accessed with only ( relatively ) minor
movements of the disk heads and rotational
latency.
Disks are usually accessed in physical blocks, rather
than a byte at a time. Block sizes may range from
512 bytes to 4K or larger.
File system Structure
 File-System Structure
File systems organize storage on disk drives, and can be viewed as a layered
design:

• At the lowest layer are the physical devices, consisting of the magnetic
media, motors & controls, and the electronics connected to them and
controlling them. Modern disk put more and more of the electronic controls
directly on the disk drive itself, leaving relatively little work for the disk
controller card to perform.

• I/O Control consists of device drivers, special software programs ( often

written in assembly ) which communicate with the devices by reading and
writing special codes directly to and from memory addresses corresponding
to the controller card's registers.

• The basic file system level works directly with the device drivers in terms
of retrieving and storing raw blocks of data, without any consideration for
what is in each block. Depending on the system, blocks may be referred to
with a single block number, ( e.g. block # 234234 ), or with head-sector-
cylinder combinations.
 File-System Structure
• The file organization module knows about files and their
logical blocks, and how they map to physical blocks on
the disk.
• In addition to translating from logical to physical blocks,
the file organization module also maintains the list of free
blocks, and allocates free blocks to files as needed.

• The logical file system deals with all of the meta data
associated with a file ( UID, GID, mode, dates, etc ), i.e.
everything about the file except the data itself.
• This level manages the directory structure and the
mapping of file names to file control blocks, FCBs,
which contain all of the meta data as well as block
number information for finding the data on the disk.
 Directory Implementation
• Directories need to be fast to search, insert, and delete,
with a minimum of wasted disk space.
1 Linear List
• A linear list is the simplest and easiest directory structure
to set up, but it does have some drawbacks.
• Finding a file ( or verifying one does not already exist upon
creation ) requires a linear search.
• Deletions can be done by moving all entries, flagging an
entry as deleted, or by moving the last entry into the newly
vacant position.
• Sorting the list makes searches faster, at the expense of
more complex insertions and deletions.
• A linked list makes insertions and deletions into a sorted
list easier, with overhead for the links.
• More complex data structures, such as B-trees, could also
be considered.
 Directory Implementation
• The real disadvantage of a linear list of
directory entries is that finding a file requires
a linear search. Directory information is used
frequently, and users will notice if access to it
is slow
 Directory Implementation

2.Hash Table
• A hash table can also be used to speed up searches.
• Hash tables are generally implemented in addition to a
linear or other structure.
• The hash table takes a value computed from the file
name and returns a pointer to the file name in the
linear list. Therefore, it can greatly decrease the
directory search time. Insertion and deletion are also
fairly straightforward, although some provision must
be made for collisions—situations in which two file
names hash to the same location
 Directory Implementation

• The major difficulties with a hash table are its generally

fixed size and the dependence of the hash function on
that size.
• For example, assume that we make a linear-probing
hash table that holds 64 entries. The hash function
converts file names into integers from 0 to 63, for
instance, by using the remainder of a division by 64. If
we later try to create a 65th file, we must enlarge the
directory hash table—say, to 128 entries. As a result,
we need a new hash function that must map file
names to the range 0 to 127, and we must reorganize
the existing directory entries to reflect their new hash-
function values.
 Directory Implementation

• Alternatively, a chained-overflow hash table can

be used.
• Each hash entry can be a linked list instead of an
individual value, and we can resolve collisions by
adding the new entry to the linked list.
• Lookups may be somewhat slowed, because
searching for a name might require stepping
through a linked list of colliding table entries.
Still, this method is likely to be much faster than
a linear search through the entire directory
 Allocation Methods

1. contiguous
2.linked
3.indexed.
 Contiguous Allocation
In this scheme,
• each file occupies a contiguous set of blocks on the disk.
• 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
• Length of the allocated portion.
Contiguous Allocation
 Contiguous Allocation
Advantages:
• Both the Sequential and Direct Accesses are supported by
this.
• For direct access, the address of the k block of the file
which starts at block b can easily be obtained as (b+k).
• This is extremely fast since the number of seeks are
minimal because of contiguous allocation of file blocks.
Disadvantages:
• This method suffers from both internal and external
fragmentation. This makes it inefficient in terms of memory
utilization.
• Increasing file size is difficult because it depends on the
availability of contiguous memory at a particular instance.
 Linked Allocation
• In this scheme, each file is a linked list of disk
blocks which need not be contiguous.
• The disk blocks can be scattered anywhere on the
disk.
• 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.
• The file ‘abc’ in following image shows how the
blocks are randomly distributed. The last block
(25) contains -1 indicating a null pointer and
does not point to any other block.
Linked Allocation
 Linked Allocation
Advantages:
• This is very flexible in terms of file size. File
size can be increased easily since the system
does not have to look for a contiguous chunk
of memory.
• This method does not suffer from external
fragmentation. This makes it relatively better
in terms of memory utilization.
 Linked Allocation
Disadvantages:
• Because the file blocks are distributed randomly on the
disk, a large number of seeks are needed to access
every block individually. This makes linked allocation
slower.
• It does not support random or direct access. We can
not directly access the blocks of a file. A block k of a file
can be accessed by traversing k blocks sequentially
(sequential access ) from the starting block of the file
via block pointers.
• Pointers required in the linked allocation incur some
extra overhead.
 Indexed Allocation
• 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. The ith entry
in the index block contains the disk address of
the ith file block.
• The directory entry contains the address of
the index block as shown in the image:
Indexed Allocation
 Indexed Allocation
Advantages:
• This supports direct access to the blocks occupied by the
file and therefore provides fast access to the file blocks.
• It overcomes the problem of external fragmentation.
Disadvantages:
• The pointer overhead for indexed allocation is greater than
linked allocation.
• For very small files, say files that expand only 2-3 blocks,
the indexed allocation would keep one entire block (index
block) for the pointers which is inefficient in terms of
memory utilization.
• However, in linked allocation we lose the space of only 1
pointer per block.
 Indexed allocation
For files that are very large, single index block may not be
able to hold all the pointers.
Following mechanisms can be used to resolve this:
1.Linked scheme: This scheme links two or more index
blocks together for holding the pointers.
• Every index block would then contain a pointer or the
address to the next index block.
2.Multilevel index: In this policy, a first level index block
is used to point to the second level index blocks which in
turn points to the disk blocks occupied by the file.
• This can be extended to 3 or more levels depending on
the maximum file size.
 Indexed Allocation
3.Combined Scheme:
• In this scheme, a special block called the Inode (information
Node) contains all the information about the file such as the
name, size, authority, etc and the remaining space of Inode is
used to store the Disk Block addresses which contain the actual
file.
• The first few of these pointers in Inode point to the direct
blocks i.e the pointers contain the addresses of the disk blocks
that contain data of the file.
• The next few pointers point to indirect blocks. Indirect blocks
may be single indirect, double indirect or triple indirect.
• Single Indirect block is the disk block that does not contain the
file data but the disk address of the blocks that contain the file
data. Similarly, double indirect blocks do not contain the file
data but the disk address of the blocks that contain the address
of the blocks containing the file data.
Indexed Allocation
Combined Scheme
 Free-Space Management

• Another important aspect of disk

management is keeping track of and allocating
free space.
1.Bit Vector
2.Linked List
3.Grouping
4.Counting
5.Space Maps
 Free Space Management
1.Bit Vector: One simple approach is to use a bit
vector, in which each bit represents a disk block,
set to 1 if free or 0 if allocated.
• Fast algorithms exist for quickly finding
contiguous blocks of a given size
• The down side is that a 40GB disk requires
over 5MB just to store the bitmap. ( For
example. )
 Free Space Management
2.Linked List
• A linked list can also be used to keep track of all
free blocks.
• Traversing the list and/or finding a contiguous
block of a given size are not easy, but fortunately
are not frequently needed operations. Generally
the system just adds and removes single blocks
from the beginning of the list.
• The FAT table keeps track of the free list as just
one more linked list on the table.
Free Space Management
 Free Space Management
3.Grouping
• A variation on linked list free lists is to use links of blocks of indices of free
blocks.
• If a block holds up to N addresses, then the first block in the linked-list
contains up to N-1 addresses of free blocks and a pointer to the next block
of free addresses.

4. Counting
• When there are multiple contiguous blocks of free space then the system
can keep track of the starting address of the group and the number of
contiguous free blocks.
• As long as the average length of a contiguous group of free blocks is
greater than two this offers a savings in space needed for the free list.

5.Space Maps
A space map is a fairly straightforward log of the free / allocated space for a
region. Records are appended to the space map as space becomes freed /
allocated from the region
 Efficiency and Performance
Efficiency
• UNIX pre-allocates inodes, which occupies space even before
any files are created.
• UNIX also distributes inodes across the disk, and tries to store
data files near their inode, to reduce the distance of disk seeks
between the inodes and the data.
• Some systems use variable size clusters depending on the file
size.
• The more data that is stored in a directory ( e.g. last access
time ), the more often the directory blocks have to be re-
written.
• Kernel table sizes used to be fixed, and could only be changed
by rebuilding the kernels. Modern tables are dynamically
allocated, but that requires more complicated algorithms for
accessing them.
 Efficiency and Performance
Performance
a. Disk controllers generally include on-board caching.
b. When a seek is requested, the heads are moved into place, and
then an entire track is read, starting from whatever sector is
currently under the heads ( reducing latency. )
c. The requested sector is returned and the unrequested portion
of the track is cached in the disk's electronics.
d. Some OSes cache disk blocks they expect to need again in
a buffer cache.
e. A page cache connected to the virtual memory system is
actually more efficient as memory addresses do not need to be
converted to disk block addresses and back again.
Efficiency and Performance
DISK SCHEDULING
• Disk scheduling is a technique used by
the operating system to schedule
multiple requests for accessing the disk.

• The algorithms used for disk scheduling

are called as disk scheduling
algorithms.
• The purpose of disk scheduling
algorithms is to reduce the total seek
time.
 Important Terms
Seek Time:
Seek time is the time taken to locate the disk arm to a specified track where
the data is to be read or write. So the disk scheduling algorithm that gives
minimum average seek time is better.

Rotational Latency:
Rotational Latency is the time taken by the desired sector of disk to rotate
into a position so that it can access the read/write heads. So the disk
scheduling algorithm that gives minimum rotational latency is better.

Transfer Time: Transfer time is the time to transfer the data. It depends on
the rotating speed of the disk and number of bytes to be transferred.
• Disk Response Time: Response Time is the average of time spent by a
request waiting to perform its I/O operation. Average Response time is the
response time of the all requests.

• Variance Response Time is measure of how individual request are

serviced with respect to average response time. So the disk scheduling
algorithm that gives minimum variance response time is better.
 FCFS DISK SCHEDULING
• As the name suggests, this algorithm
entertains requests in the order they arrive
in the disk queue.
• It is the simplest disk scheduling algorithm.
Advantages:
1.First Come First Serve algorithm has a very simple logic, it
executes the process requests one by one in the sequence they arrive.
2. Thus, First Come First Serve is very simple and easy to
understand and implement.
3.In FCFS eventually, each and every process gets a chance to
execute, so no starvation occur.

Disadvantages :

1. This scheduling algorithm is non-preemptive, which means the

process can’t be stopped in middle of execution and will run it’s
full course.
2. FCFS being a non-preemptive scheduling algorithm, the short
processes which are at the back of the queue have to wait for the
long process at the front to finish
3. The throughput of FCFS is not very efficient.
4. FCFS is implemented on small systems only where input-output
efficiency is not of utmost importance.
 Problem 1

• Consider a disk queue with requests for I/O to blocks

on cylinders
98, 183, 41, 122, 14, 124, 65, 67.

The FCFS scheduling algorithm is used. The head is

initially at cylinder number 53.

The cylinders are numbered from 0 to 199.

The total head movement (in number of cylinders)

incurred while servicing these requests is _______.
 Problem 2:

Input: Request sequence = {176, 79, 34, 60, 92, 11, 41, 114}
Initial head position = 50
Apply FCFS Disk Scheduling algorithm.
Write the seek sequence and calculate the total number of
seek operations
(176-50)+(176-79)+(79-34)+(60-34)+(92-60)+(92-11)+(41-11)+(114-41) = 510
 SSTF Disk Scheduling Algorithm-

• SSTF stands for Shortest Seek Time First.

• This algorithm services that request next which
requires least number of head movements from
its current position regardless of the direction.
• It breaks the tie in the direction of head
movement.
Advantages –
1. The total seek time is reduced compared to First Come
First Serve.
2. SSTF improves and increases throughput.
3. Less average waiting time and response time in SSTF.

Disadvantages –
1. In SSTF there is an overhead of finding out the closest
request.
2. Starvation may occur for requests far from head.
3. In SSTF high variance is present in response time and
waiting time.
4. Frequent switching of the Head’s direction slows the
algorithm.
 Problem-01:

• Consider a disk queue with requests for I/O to blocks on

cylinders 98, 183, 41, 122, 14, 124, 65, 67.

• The SSTF scheduling algorithm is used.

• The head is initially at cylinder number 53 moving towards larger

cylinder numbers on its servicing pass.

• The cylinders are numbered from 0 to 199.

• The total head movement (in number of cylinders) incurred while

servicing these requests is _______.
 Problem 02:
• Request sequence = {176, 79, 34, 60, 92, 11,
41, 114}

Initial head position = 50

• Apply SSTF policy to calculate the total seek

count.
 SCAN Disk Scheduling Algorithm-

• As the name suggests, this algorithm scans all the cylinders of the disk
back and forth.
• Head starts from one end of the disk and move towards the other end
servicing all the requests in between.
• After reaching the other end, head reverses its direction and move
towards the starting end servicing all the requests in between.
• The same process repeats.

NOTE-
•
• SCAN Algorithm is also called as Elevator Algorithm.
• This is because its working resembles the working of an elevator.
Advantages –
1. Scan scheduling algorithm is simple and easy to
understand and implement.
2. Starvation is avoided in SCAN algorithm.
3. Low variance Occurs in waiting time and response
time.

Disadvantages –
1. Long waiting time occurs for the cylinders which are
just visited by the head.
2. In SCAN the head moves till the end of the disk
despite the absence of requests to be serviced.
 Problem 1
• Consider a disk queue with requests for I/O to blocks
on cylinders
• 98, 183, 41, 122, 14, 124, 65, 67.

• The SCAN scheduling algorithm is used.

• The head is initially at cylinder number 53 moving

towards larger cylinder numbers on its servicing pass.

• The cylinders are numbered from 0 to 199. The total

head movement (in number of cylinders) incurred
while servicing these requests is _______.
Problem 2:

Input: Request sequence = {176, 79, 34, 60, 92, 11, 41, 114}
Initial head position = 50
Direction = left

Apply SCAN algorithm to find the seek sequence and total seek count
 Circular SCAN (C-SCAN)
• Circular SCAN (C-SCAN) scheduling algorithm is a
modified version of SCAN disk scheduling algorithm
that deals with the inefficiency of SCAN algorithm by
servicing the requests more uniformly.
• Like SCAN (Elevator Algorithm) C-SCAN moves the
head from one end servicing all the requests to the
other end.
• However, as soon as the head reaches the other end,
it immediately returns to the beginning of the disk
without servicing any requests on the return trip and
starts servicing again once reaches the beginning.
This is also known as the “Circular Elevator Algorithm”
as it essentially treats the cylinders as a circular list
that wraps around from the final cylinder to the first
one.
 Problem 1

Apply C-Scan scheduling algorithm.

 C-Scan
Advantages –
1. C-SCAN Algorithm is the successor and the improved version of the
SCAN scheduling Algorithm.
2. The Head move from one end to the other of the disk while serving all
the requests in between.
3. The waiting time for the cylinders which were just visited by the head is
reduced in C-SCAN compared to the SCAN Algorithm.
4. Uniform waiting time is provided.
5. Better response time is provided.

Disadvantages –
1. More seek movements are caused in C-SCAN compared to SCAN
Algorithm.
2. In C-SCAN even if there are no requests left to be serviced the Head
will still travel to the end of the disk unlike SCAN algorithm.
 LOOK Algorithm
• LOOK Algorithm is an improved version of the
SCAN Algorithm.
• Head starts from the first request at one end of
the disk and moves towards the last request at
the other end servicing all the requests in
between.
• After reaching the last request at the other end,
head reverses its direction.
• It then returns to the first request at the starting
end servicing all the requests in between.
• The same process repeats.
The main difference between SCAN
Algorithm and LOOK Algorithm is-
• SCAN Algorithm scans all the cylinders of
the disk starting from one end to the other
end even if there are no requests at the
ends.
• LOOK Algorithm scans all the cylinders of
the disk starting from the first request at
one end to the last request at the other
end.
Problem 2
Advantages :

• If there are no requests left to be services the Head will not move to the
end of the disk unlike SCAN algorithm.
• Better performance is provided compared to SCAN Algorithm.
• Starvation is avoided in LOOK scheduling algorithm.
• Low variance is provided in waiting time and response time.

Disadvantages :

• Overhead of finding the end requests is present.

• Cylinders which are just visited by Head have to wait for long time.
 C-LOOK Algorithm
• Circular-LOOK Algorithm is an improved version of the LOOK
Algorithm.

• Head starts from the first request at one end of the disk and moves
towards the last request at the other end servicing all the requests in
between.

• After reaching the last request at the other end, head reverses its
direction.

• It then returns to the first request at the starting end without

servicing any request in between.

• The same process repeats.

Problem 2:
C-LOOK :

Advantages –
1. In C-LOOK the head does not have to move till the end of the disk if
there are no requests to be serviced.
2. There is less waiting time for the cylinders which are just visited by the
head in C-LOOK.
3. C-LOOK provides better performance when compared to LOOK
Algorithm.
4. Starvation is avoided in C-LOOK.
5. Low variance is provided in waiting time and response time.

• Disadvantages –
1. In C-LOOK an overhead of finding the end requests is present.