Matthew Williams

000-097-066
November 14th, 2022
CISB 305
Professor Clarke
Assignment 4
1. Name four examples of secondary storage media other than hard disks.
Answer
Some examples are Compact Discs (CDs), Blu-ray discs, external solid-state drives, and
USB memory sticks.
2. Given a typical magnetic hard drive with 5 platters, answer the following:
a) How many recording surfaces would you expect it to have?
Answer
Since it has 5 platters it would have 10 recording surfaces.

b) How many read/write heads would it need to serve all recording surfaces?
Answer
There would be one for each recording surface thus it would be 10 read/write heads.

c) How many arms holding read/write heads would it need?

Answer
There would be a total of 6 arms

3. In your own words explain the concept of the virtual cylinder.

Answer
A set of tracks arranged in a systematized manner, which all have equal diameters and are
stacked over each other which makes it appear like a cylinder.

4. Which optical disc makes use of red lasers, and which uses blue lasers?
Answer
DVDs use red lasers while Blu-Ray discs use a blue-violet laser.
5. Explain briefly the difference between buffering and blocking.

Answer
Buffering is recognized when data is written into a temporary area, waiting to be sent to
an I/O device. The system will run an application and when it does so the operating system,
will load it into the buffer which would be the RAM. All of the data will be held temporarily
making it easier to move it to another location. While blocking is a storage-saving and I/O-
saving technique that groups individual records into a block that can be stored and retrieved
as a unit as stated by McHoes and Flynn (McHoes & Flynn, 2018, p. 246).

6. Some operating systems support both menus and command-line interfaces. Do you think file
retrieval is different on a menu-driven system and a command-driven system? Explain your
answer and describe any differences between the two. Give an example of when you think
one would be preferred over the other.

Answer
File retrieval differs in both menu-driven systems and command-driven systems, as it is
the methodology for retrieving files. In menu-driven systems, it is an interactive intelligent
computer system framework in which they operate will request the processor to perform by
making selections from a series of menus whereas in command-driven systems the system
recognizes commands which are usually typed in. In the beginning, command-driven system
file retrieval is harder to learn but can become faster to use once the user learns it as a user
can state a request quickly. So if a teacher in a primary school is teaching a group of students
how to find a file on their computer they would probably teach them using a menu-driven
system as it is more interactive and colorful and speed probably wouldn’t be needed as much
at that age. Whereas a college professor would probably teach his class using a command-
driven menu because, in their future job, speed may be more valuable than them knowing
how to do it via the menu-driven systems.

7. Using your own words, describe the relationship between a hashing algorithm and a key
field. In your opinion, what are the potential consequences of a modification of the data in a
key field?
Answer
Mchoes and Flynn recognize a hashing algorithm as a set of instructions used to store the
data; while the key field is a field (or combination of fields) in the record format. The
relationship here is that the hashing algorithm transforms each key into a number (the record’s
logical address). That record’s address is then given to the File Manager, which takes steps to
translate the logical address into a physical address (McHoes & Flynn, 2018, p. 268).
8. Is device independence important to the File Manager? Why or why not? Describe the
consequences if that were not the case.

Answer
Device independence is recognized as the ability to run a program with different I/O devices
without having to modify the I/O instructions, thus it is important to the File Manager. This is
possible because programs are written with logical I/O device names and the operating system
determines which device is actually needed when a program makes its I/O request. A lack of
device independence would require that the File Manager take all the actions required to start,
stop and use files stored on each device.

9. Explain why it’s difficult to support direct access to files with variable-length records.
Suggest a method for handling this type of file if direct access is required.

Answer
It's virtually impossible to access a record directly because the address of the desired
record can't be easily computed; for direct access with variable-length records. In order to access
a record, the File Manager must do a sequential search through the records. The File Manager
could search forward from the CBA if the address of the desired record was between the CBA
and the end of the file. Otherwise, the search would start from the beginning of the file. Thus if
direct access is required the user should use fixed-length fields as it would be easier to access
directly.

10. In your own words, describe the purpose of the working directory and how it can speed up or
slow file access. In your opinion, should there be more than one working directory? Explain.

Answer
The working directory is recognized as a file path on your computer that sets the default
location of a file you read. When you read a file it concatenates the filename to the working
directory path. These directories make it easier to find files which consequently causes it to
speed up processes. Only one working directory can be active and a time, therefore since it is
efficient enough I don’t believe there should be more than one as it would become redundant.
References
McHoes, A. M., & Flynn, M. I. (2018). Understanding Operating Systems (Vol. Eight). Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America: Cengage Learning.