Unit IV

Disk Scheduling Algorithms

Disk scheduling is done by operating systems to schedule I/O requests
arriving for the disk. Disk scheduling is also known as I/O scheduling.

Disk scheduling is important because:

 Multiple I/O requests may arrive by different processes and only
one I/O request can be served at a time by the disk controller. Thus
other I/O requests need to wait in the waiting queue and need to be
scheduled.
 Two or more request may be far from each other so can result in
greater disk arm movement.
 Hard drives are one of the slowest parts of the computer system
and thus need to be accessed in an efficient manner.

There are many Disk Scheduling Algorithms but before discussing them
let’s have a quick look at some of the 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 Access Time: Disk Access Time is:

Disk Access Time = Seek Time +

Rotational Latency +
Transfer Time
  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.

Disk Scheduling Algorithm

1FCFS: FCFS is the simplest of all the Disk Scheduling

Algorithms. In FCFS, the requests are addressed
in the order they arrive in the disk queue.Let us
understand this with the help of an example.
Example:Suppose the order of request is-
(82,170,43,140,24,16,190)And current position of
Read/Write head is : 50

So, total seek time:

=(82-50)+(170-82)+(170-43)+(140-43)+(140-24)+(24-16)+(190-16)
=642
Advantages:
 Every request gets a fair chance
 No indefinite postponement
Disadvantages:
 Does not try to optimize seek time
 May not provide the best possible service

2. SSTF: In SSTF (Shortest Seek Time First), requests having shortest

seek time are executed first. So, the seek time of every request is
calculated in advance in the queue and then they are scheduled
according to their calculated seek time. As a result, the request near the
disk arm will get executed first. SSTF is certainly an improvement over
FCFS as it decreases the average response time and increases the
throughput of system.Let us understand this with the help of an
example.

Example:
Suppose the order of request is- (82,51, 170,
49,43,140,24,16,190)And current position of
Read/Write head is : 50
51 49 43 24 16 82 140 170 190

So, total seek time:

=(50-43)+(43-24)+(24-16)+(82-16)+(140-82)+(170-40)+(190-170)
=208
Advantages:
 Average Response Time decreases
 Throughput increases
Disadvantages:
 Overhead to calculate seek time in advance
 Can cause Starvation for a request if it has higher seek time as
compared to incoming requests
 High variance of response time as SSTF favours only some
requests

3.SCAN: In SCAN algorithm the disk arm moves into a particular

direction and services the requests coming in its path and after reaching
the end of disk, it reverses its direction and again services the request
arriving in its path. So, this algorithm works as an elevator and hence
also known as elevator algorithm. As a result, the requests at the
midrange are serviced more and those arriving behind the disk arm will
have to wait.

Example:
Suppose the requests to be addressed are-82,170,43,140,24,16,190.
And the Read/Write arm is at 50, and it is also given that the disk arm
should move “towards the larger value”.

Therefore, the seek time is calculated as:

3. =(199-50)+(199-16)
=332
Advantages:
 High throughput
 Low variance of response time
 Average response time
Disadvantages:
 Long waiting time for requests for locations just visited by disk arm

CSCAN: In SCAN algorithm, the disk arm again scans the path that has
been scanned, after reversing its direction. So, it may be possible that
too many requests are waiting at the other end or there may be zero or
few requests pending at the scanned area.
These situations are avoided in CSCAN  algorithm in which the disk arm
instead of reversing its direction goes to the other end of the disk and
starts servicing the requests from there. So, the disk arm moves in a
circular fashion and this algorithm is also similar to SCAN algorithm and
hence it is known as C-SCAN (Circular SCAN).
Example:
Suppose the requests to be addressed are-82,170,43,140,24,16,190.
And the Read/Write arm is at 50, and it is also given that the disk arm
should move “towards the larger value”.

Seek time is calculated as:

=(199-50)+(199-0)+(43-0)
=391
Advantages:
 Provides more uniform wait time compared to SCAN

5. LOOK: It is similar to the SCAN disk scheduling algorithm except

for the difference that the disk arm in spite of going to the end of the
disk goes only to the last request to be serviced in front of the head
and then reverses its direction from there only. Thus it prevents the
extra delay which occurred due to unnecessary traversal to the end
of the disk.

Example:
Suppose the requests to be addressed are-82,170,43,140,24,16,190.
And the Read/Write arm is at 50, and it is also given that the disk arm
should move “towards the larger value”.
 So, the seek time is calculated as:=(190-50)+(190-
16)=314

6CLOOK: As LOOK is similar to SCAN algorithm, in

similar way, CLOOK is similar to CSCAN disk
scheduling algorithm. In CLOOK, the disk arm in
spite of going to the end goes only to the last
request to be serviced in front of the head and then
from there goes to the other end’s last request.
Thus, it also prevents the extra delay which
occurred due to unnecessary traversal to the end
of the disk.
Example:Suppose the requests to be addressed
are-82,170,43,140,24,16,190. And the Read/Write
arm is at 50, and it is also given that the disk arm
should move “towards the larger value”

So, the seek time is calculated as:

=(190-50)+(190-16)+(43-16)
=341
6. RSS– It stands for random scheduling and just like its name it is
nature. It is used in situations where scheduling involves random
attributes such as random processing time, random due dates,
random weights, and stochastic machine breakdowns this algorithm
sits perfect. Which is why it is usually used for and analysis and
simulation.
7. LIFO– In LIFO (Last In, First Out) algorithm, newest jobs are
serviced before the existing ones i.e. in order of requests that get
serviced the job that is newest or last entered is serviced first and
then the rest in the same order.
Advantages
 Maximizes locality and resource utilization
Disadvantages
Can seem a little unfair to other requests and if
new requests keep coming in, it cause starvation to
the old and existing ones.
ExampleSuppose the order of request is-
(82,170,43,142,24,16,190)And current position of
Read/Write head is : 50

8. N-STEP SCAN – It is also known as N-STEP LOOK algorithm. In

this a buffer is created for N requests. All requests belonging to a
buffer will be serviced in one go. Also once the buffer is full no
new requests are kept in this buffer and are sent to another one.
Now, when these N requests are serviced, the time comes for
another top N requests and this way all get requests get a
guaranteed service
Advantages
 It eliminates starvation of requests completely
9. FSCAN– This algorithm uses two sub-queues. During the scan all
requests in the first queue are serviced and the new incoming
requests are added to the second queue. All new requests are kept
on halt until the existing requests in the first queue are serviced.

Advantages
 FSCAN along with N-Step-SCAN prevents “arm stickiness”
(phenomena in I/O scheduling where the scheduling algorithm
 continues to service requests at or near the current sector and
thus prevents any seeking)
Each algorithm is unique in its own way. Overall Performance depends
on the number and type of requests.
Note:Average Rotational latency is generally taken as 1/2(Rotational
latency).

Exercise
1) Suppose a disk has 201 cylinders, numbered from 0 to 200. At some
time the disk arm is at cylinder 100, and there is a queue of disk access
requests for cylinders 30, 85, 90, 100, 105, 110, 135 and 145. If
Shortest-Seek Time First (SSTF) is being used for scheduling the disk
access, the request for cylinder 90 is serviced after servicing
____________ number of requests. (GATE CS 2014
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 3
(D) 4
Answer: (C) 

Explanation: In Shortest-Seek-First algorithm, request closest to the

current position of the disk arm and head is handled first.
In this question, the arm is currently at cylinder number 100. Now the
requests come in the queue order for cylinder numbers 30, 85, 90, 100,
105, 110, 135 and 145.
The disk will service that request first whose cylinder number is closest
to its arm. Hence 1st serviced request is for cylinder no 100 ( as the arm
is itself pointing to it ), then 105, then 110, and then the arm comes to
service request for cylinder 90. Hence before servicing request for
cylinder 90, the disk would had serviced 3 requests.
Hence option C.

Consider an operating system capable of loading and executing a

single sequential user process at a time. The disk head scheduling
algorithm used is First Come First Served (FCFS). If FCFS is
replaced by Shortest Seek Time First (SSTF), claimed by the vendor
to give 50% better benchmark results, what is the expected
improvement in the I/O performance of user programs?
(A) 50%
(B) 40%
(C) 25%
(D) 0%
 Answer: (D) 
Explanation: Since Operating System can execute a single
sequential user process at a time, the disk is accessed in FCFS
manner always. The OS never has a choice to pick an IO from
multiple IOs as there is always one IO at a time

3) Suppose the following disk request sequence (track numbers) for a

disk with 100 tracks is given: 45, 20, 90, 10, 50, 60, 80, 25, 70. Assume
that the initial position of the R/W head is on track 50. The additional
distance that will be traversed by the R/W head when the Shortest Seek
Time First (SSTF) algorithm is used compared to the SCAN (Elevator)
algorithm (assuming that SCAN algorithm moves towards 100 when it
starts execution) is _________ tracks
(A) 8
(B) 9
(C) 10
(D) 11
Answer: (C) 

Explanation: In Shortest seek first (SSTF) , closest request to the

current position of the head, and then services that request next.
In SCAN (or Elevator) algorithm , requests are serviced only in the
current direction of arm movement until the arm reaches the edge of the
disk. When this happens, the direction of the arm reverses, and the
requests that were remaining in the opposite direction are serviced, and
so on.

4) Consider a typical disk that rotates at 15000 rotations per minute

(RPM) and has a transfer rate of 50 × 10^6 bytes/sec. If the average
seek time of the disk is twice the average rotational delay and the
controller’s transfer time is 10 times the disk transfer time, the average
time (in milliseconds) to read or write a 512 byte sector of the disk is
_____________

(A) 6.1

Answer: (A) 

Explanation:
Disk latency = Seek Time + Rotation Time + Transfer Time +
Controller Overhead Seek Time? Depends no. tracks the arm moves and
seek speed of disk Rotation Time? depends on rotational speed and
how far the sector is from the head Transfer Time? depends on data
rate (bandwidth) of disk (bit density) and the size of request Disk

latency = Seek Time + Rotation Time +

Transfer Time + Controller Overhead Average Rotational Time =
(0.5)/(15000 / 60) = 2 miliseconds
[On average half rotation is made] It is given that the average
seek time is twice the average rotational delay So Avg. Seek Time =
2 * 2 = 4 miliseconds. Transfer Time = 512 / (50 × 10 6 bytes/sec)
= 10.24 microseconds Given that controller time is 10 times the
average transfer time Controller Overhead = 10 * 10.24 microseconds
= 0.1 miliseconds Disk latency = Seek Time + Rotation Time +
Transfer Time + Controller Overhead = 4 + 2 + 10.24 *
10-3 + 0.1 miliseconds = 6.1 miliseconds