UNIT 4

DEVICE MANAGEMENT

Device management refers to the part of the operating system that is responsible for managing and controlling
various hardware devices connected to a computer. This includes both input and output devices, such as disks,
printers, display screens, keyboards, and more. The device management component of an operating system
plays a crucial role in providing a uniform interface for applications to interact with different hardware
devices.
Fundamental components of device management in operating systems:

1. Device Drivers: Operating systems utilize device drivers to communicate with and control hardware devices.
Device drivers act as intermediaries between the operating system's kernel and the specific hardware,
translating high-level commands from the operating system into low-level instructions that the device
understands.
2. I/O (Input/Output) Management: Device management handles input and output operations between the
CPU and various devices. This involves managing data transfers, buffering, and ensuring efficient use of
system resources.
3. Interrupt Handling: Devices often generate interrupts to signal the CPU that they need attention. The
operating system's device management is responsible for handling these interrupts, prioritizing them, and
directing the CPU to the appropriate interrupt service routine (ISR) for each device.
4. Device Allocation and Deallocation: The operating system must keep track of which devices are in use,
allocate them to processes as needed, and release them when they are no longer required. This involves
managing device queues and handling conflicts when multiple processes attempt to access the same device
simultaneously.
5. Error Handling: Device management is responsible for detecting and handling errors that may occur during
device operations. This includes error recovery mechanisms and reporting errors to the appropriate software
layers.
6. Device Synchronization: Managing the order and timing of device operations to ensure correct and
predictable behaviour. This is particularly important in systems with multiple devices and concurrent
processes.
7. Power Management: In mobile devices and laptops, device management may also involve power
management strategies to optimize energy usage and extend battery life.
 DISK SCHEDULING

Disk scheduling is a key aspect of operating systems that involves managing and optimizing the order in
which read and write requests to a computer's hard disk drive (HDD) are serviced.

Disk scheduling algorithms:

Disk scheduling algorithms are techniques used by operating systems to determine the order in which pending
input/output (I/O) requests to a disk are serviced. These algorithms aim to minimize the seek time and
rotational latency, thereby optimizing the overall performance of the disk subsystem.
The effectiveness of a disk scheduling algorithm is influenced by various parameters and considerations.
Here are some key parameters and factors associated with disk scheduling algorithms:

Seek Time: As we know, the data may be stored on various blocks of disk. To access these data according to
the request, the disk arm moves and finds the required block. The time taken by the arm in doing this search
is known as "Seek Time".

Rotational Latency: The required data block needs to move at a particular position from where the read/write
head can fetch the data. So, the time taken in this movement is known as "Rotational Latency". This rotational
time should be as less as possible so, the algorithm that will take less time to rotate will be considered a better
algorithm.

Transfer Time: When a request is made from the user side, it takes some time to fetch these data and provide
them as output. This taken time is known as "Transfer Time".

Disk Access Time: It is defined as the total time taken by all the above processes. Disk access time = (seek
time + rotational latency time + transfer time)

Disk Response Time: The disk processes one request at a single time. So, the other requests wait in a queue
to finish the ongoing process of request. The average of this waiting time is called "Disk Response Time".

Starvation: Starvation is defined as the situation in which a low-priority job keeps waiting for a long time to
be executed. The system keeps sending high-priority jobs to the disk scheduler to execute first.
1. FCFS disk scheduling algorithm-

It stands for 'first-come-first-serve'. As the name suggests, the request that comes first will be processed first
and so on. The requests coming to the disk are arranged in a proper sequence as they arrive. Since every
request is processed in this algorithm, so there is no chance of 'starvation'.

Example: Suppose a disk having 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence (82,170,43,140,24,16,190) of the
disk is shown as in the given figure and the head start is at request 50.

Explanation: In the above image, we can see the head starts at position 50 and moves to request 82. After
serving them the disk arm moves towards the second request which is 170 and then to the request 43 and so
on. In this algorithm,, the disk arm will serve the requests in arriving order. In this way, all the requests are
served in arriving order until the process executes.

"Seek time" will be calculated by adding the head movement differences of all the requests:

Total head count / Seek time= (82-50) + (170-82) + (170-43) + (140-43) + (140-24) + (24-16) + (190-16)
= 642

Average Seek Length/Time: 642/7=91.71ms

Advantages:

• Implementation is easy.
• No chance of starvation.

Disadvantages:

• 'Seek time' increases.

• Not so efficient.

2. SSTF disk scheduling algorithm-

It stands for 'Shortest seek time first'. As the name suggests, it searches for the request having the least 'seek
time' and executes them first. This algorithm has less 'seek time' as compared to the FCFS Algorithm.

Example: Suppose a disk has 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence(82,170,43,140,24,16,190) are
shown in the given figure and the head position is at 50.

Explanation: The disk arm searches for the request which will have the least difference in head movement.
So, the least difference is (50-43). Here the difference is not about the shortest value but it is about the
shortest time the head will take to reach the nearest next request. So, after 43, the head will be nearest to 24,
and from here the head will be nearest to request 16, After 16, the nearest request is 82, so the disk arm will
move to serve to request 82 and so on.

Hence, Total head count / Seek Time = (50-43) + (43-24) + (24-16) + (82-16) + (140-82) + (170-140) +
(190-170) = 208

Average Seek Length/Time: 208/7=29.71ms

Advantages:

• In this algorithm, disk response time is less.

• More efficient than FCFS.

Disadvantages:

• Less speed of algorithm execution.

• Starvation can be seen.

3. SCAN disk scheduling algorithm:

In this algorithm, the head starts to scan all the requests in a direction and reaches the end of the disk. After
that, it reverses its direction and starts to scan again the requests in its path and serves them. Due to this
feature, this algorithm is also known as the "Elevator Algorithm".

Example: Suppose a disk has 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence(82,170,43,140,24,16,190) is shown
in the given figure and the head position is at 50. The 'disk arm' will first move to the larger values.
Explanation: In the above image, we can see that the disk arm starts from position 50 and goes in a single
direction until it reaches the end of the disk i.e.- request position 199. After that, it reverses and starts
servicing in the opposite direction until reaches the other end of the disk. This process keeps going on until
the process is executed.

Hence, Total head count / Seek Time = (82-50) + (140-82)+(170-140)+(190-170)+(190-43)+(43-24)+(24-

16) =332

Average Seek Length/Time: 332/7=47.42ms

Advantages:

• Implementation is easy.
• Requests do not have to wait in a queue.

Disadvantage:

• The head keeps going on to the end even if there are no requests in that direction.

4. C-SCAN disk scheduling algorithm:

It stands for "Circular-Scan". This algorithm is almost the same as the Scan disk algorithm but one thing that
makes it different is that 'after reaching the one end and reversing the head direction, it starts to come back.
The disk arm moves toward the end of the disk and serves the requests coming into its path.

After reaching the end of the disk it reverses its direction and again starts to move to the other end of the
disk but while going back it does not serve any requests.

Example: Suppose a disk having 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence(82,170,43,140,24,16,190) are
shown in the given figure and the head position is at 50.

Explanation: In the above figure, the disk arm starts from position 50 and reached the end (199), and serves
all the requests in the path. Then it reverses the direction and moves to the other end of the disk i.e.- 0
without serving any task in the path.
After reaching 0, it will again go move towards the largest remaining value which is 43. So, the head will
start from 0 and moves to request 43 serving all the requests coming in the path. And this process keeps
going.

Hence, Total head count / Seek Time =(82-50)+(140-82)+(170-140)+(190-170)+(199-190)+(199-0)+(16-

0)+(24-16)+(43-24)=391

Average Seek Length/Time: 391/9=43.44ms

Advantages:

• The waiting time is uniformly distributed among the requests.

• Response time is good in it.

Disadvantages:

• The time taken by the disk arm to locate a spot is increased here.
• The head keeps going to the end of the disk.

5. LOOK the disk scheduling algorithm:

In this algorithm, the disk arm moves to the 'last request' present and services them. After reaching the last
requests, it reverses its direction and again comes back to the starting point. It does not go to the end of the
disk, in spite; it goes to the end of requests.

Example a disk having 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence (82,170,43,140,24,16,190) are shown in
the given figure and the head position is at 50.

Explanation: The disk arm is starting from 50 and starts to serve requests in one direction only but in spite
of going to the end of the disk, it goes to the end of requests i.e.-190. Then comes back to the last request of
other ends of the disk and serves them. And again starts from here and serves till the last request of the first
side. Hence,

Total head count / Seek time = (82-50) + (140-82)+(170-140)+(190-170)+(190-43)+(43-24)+(24-16) =314

Average Seek Length/Time: 314/7=44.85ms

Advantages:

• Starvation does not occur.

• Since the head does not go to the end of the disk, the time is not wasted here.

Disadvantage:

• The arm has to be conscious to find the last request.

6. C-LOOK disk scheduling algorithm:

The C-Look algorithm is almost the same as the Look algorithm. The only difference is that after reaching
the end requests, it reverses the direction of the head and starts moving to the initial position. But in moving
back, it does not serve any requests.

Example: Suppose a disk having 200 tracks (0-199). The request sequence (82,170,43,140,24,16,190) are
shown in the given figure and the head position is at 50.

Explanation: The disk arm starts from 50 and starts to serve requests in one direction only but in spite of
going to the end of the disk, it goes to the end of requests i.e.-190. Then comes back to the last request of
other ends of a disk without serving them. And again starts from the other end of the disk and serves
requests of its path. Hence,

Total head count / Seek Time = (82-50) + (140-82)+(170-140)+(190-170)+(190-16)+(24-16)+(43-24)

=341

Average Seek Length/Time: 341/7=48.71ms

Advantages:

• The waiting time is decreased.

• If there are no requests till the end, it reverses the head direction immediately.
• Starvation does not occur.
• The time taken by the disk arm to find the desired spot is less.

Disadvantage:

• The arm has to be conscious about finding the last request.

 DISK MANAGEMENT
Disk management in an operating system is the process of organizing and managing physical storage devices,
like solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives, in a computer system.

It includes creating, formatting, editing, partitioning, and managing disk volumes to store and access
data efficiently. The operating system keeps track of the files and space on the physical drives and manages
the associated read and writes operations.

Disk Management tasks like managing the hard drives and storage are performed in the Windows
Operating System using a graphical interface. We can create, format, and resize different parts of our disks
and assign letters or rename them for easy access.

The operating system is responsible for several aspects of disk management.

Disk Format

Before storing data, it divides the disc into sectors so that the disc controller can read and write. Each section
might be anything from:

Optional discs employ the operating system's own data structures to maintain files utilizing discs, but the
header retains information, data, and error correction code (ECC) sectors of data, typically 512 bytes of data.

It is carried out in two stages:

• Separate the disc into cylinder groups. Each one is considered a logical disc.
• Create a file system in a logical format. On the disc, the OS saves the data structure of the first file
system. It has both free and assigned space.

Most file systems organize blocks into clusters for efficiency. Disk I/O happens in chunks. File I/O is
performed in a cluster.

Boot block

A system must run an initial program when it is turned on or restarted. The bootstrap program is the system's
initialization program. It begins the OS after all of the system's components have been initialized. The
bootstrap program searches for the OS kernel on the disc, load it into memory, and then jumps to a beginning
address to begin OS operation.

On most computer systems, the bootstrap is kept in read-only memory. It's useful since read-only memory
doesn't need to be initialized and is in a fixed location where the CPU may start executing regardless of
whether the computer is turned on or off. Furthermore, because ROM is read-only, it may not be impacted by
a computer virus. The problem is that upgrading the ROM hardware chips are required to update this bootstrap
code.

As a result, most computer systems include minimal boot ROM software whose primary role is to load a full
bootstrap program from a disc drive. The entire bootstrap program is easily customizable, and the disc is
rewritten with a new version. The boot block contains the bootstrap program stored in a partition. A boot disc,
sometimes known as a system disc, is a disc that includes the boot partition.

Bad block

Here, Most discs are packed with faulty blocks right out of the manufacturing and treated in a variety of ways.
Because moving parts have short tolerances, discs are prone to errors. In this, the controller keeps a list of
problematic blocks. Each faulty sector can be logically replaced with one of the spare sectors by the controller.
Sector sparing or transfer is the term for this strategy.

The data recovery process is triggered by a mild error. On the other hand, unrecoverable hard mistakes can
result in data loss and need user intervention.

What does disk management do?

Disk management in an operating system provides tools to manage and control the storage devices, such as a
computer system's hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs). Some key tasks performed by disk
management are:

1. Partitioning: Disk management allows users to create many partitions on a single disk. We can also resize
the disk partitions as per the need without facing any data loss.

2. Formatting: Disk management provides options to format partitions with specific file systems, such as
FAT32, NTFS, etc.

3. Disk Cleanup: Disk management tools also offer disk cleanup tools that help in removing unnecessary and
junk files from the disk.

4. Disk Encryption: Some disk management tools provide disk encryption features to secure the data stored
on disks.

Advantage of disk management in OS

The advantages of disk management in OS are:

a) Storage Organization: Disk management allows users to efficiently organize their storage devices and
hard drives. It provides tools to create partitions, format drives, and perform the associated read and
write operations.
b) Improved Efficiency: Disk management in an Operating System is useful in improving the
performance of a computer system by freeing up space and preventing system lag
c) Increased Security: Disk management in OS enhances data security by storing files in a secure manner.
Some disk management tools offer disk encryption features that allow users to encrypt their disks or
specific partitions, adding an extra layer of security to protect sensitive data, thus preventing data loss
or theft.
d) Better Backup: With the help of disk management, we can store data in files that are organized in a
logical format.
e) Disk monitoring: Disk management also offers monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. We can get
information about disk health, including temperature, performance, and other attributes.

Disadvantages of disk management in OS

The disadvantages of disk management in OS are:

1. Increased complexity: Disk management can be complex for beginners with little technical knowledge.
The complexity increases when there are multiple disk partitions already.
2. Risk of data loss: If the Disk management tools are not used correctly, there can be a risk of data loss.
3. Time-taking processes: Some disk management operations, such as disk defragmentation or partition
resizing, can be time-taking, specifically when dealing with large amounts of data.
 DEVICE DRIVER AND INTERFACES
Device Driver:

A device driver is a specialized software component that allows the operating system to communicate with
and control the functions of hardware devices. It acts as a bridge between the hardware device and the
operating system, enabling them to work together seamlessly.

Functions:

Hardware Interaction: Device drivers facilitate communication between the operating system and various
hardware components, such as printers, graphics cards, or storage devices.

Abstraction Layer: They provide a standardized interface, abstracting the complexities of the hardware from
the operating system and application software.

Error Handling: Device drivers manage errors and exceptions that may occur during interactions with
hardware, ensuring system stability.

Types of Device Drivers:

Kernel Mode Drivers: Run in privileged mode, with direct access to system resources.

User Mode Drivers: Run in a less privileged mode, interacting with the kernel through system calls.

Updates and Compatibility:

Device drivers may need updates to improve performance, fix bugs, or ensure compatibility with new
operating system versions or hardware revisions.

Interfaces:

An interface defines a set of rules and protocols that allow different software components or systems to
communicate with each other. It serves as a boundary that separates the internal workings of a system from
external interactions.

Types of Interfaces:

User Interfaces (UI): Interaction points between users and software applications, encompassing graphical user
interfaces (GUI) or command-line interfaces (CLI).

Application Programming Interfaces (API): Defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to
communicate with each other.

Hardware Interfaces: Allow software to communicate with hardware components, often facilitated by device
drivers.

Network Interfaces: Enable communication between devices over a network, defining how data is transmitted
and received.

Standardization:

Interfaces often follow standards to ensure compatibility and interoperability between different software or
hardware components. Examples include USB, HTTP, or POSIX.
Abstraction:

Interfaces provide a level of abstraction, allowing developers to interact with complex systems without
needing to understand their internal workings.

Security:

Well-defined interfaces contribute to system security by restricting access to sensitive components and
preventing unauthorized interactions.
 CPU DEVICE INTERACTION

The interaction between the CPU (Central Processing Unit) and devices involves the use of device drivers and
various communication mechanisms. Here's a brief overview of how the CPU interacts with devices:

1. Device Detection and Initialization:

• When the system boots, the operating system identifies and initializes connected devices.
• Device drivers play a crucial role in this process by providing the necessary software to control and
communicate with specific hardware.
2. Memory-Mapped I/O:
• Many devices are mapped to specific memory addresses, allowing the CPU to communicate with them
by reading from or writing to those memory locations.
• This method simplifies device interaction as if the device were a portion of the system's memory.
3. I/O Ports:
• Some devices use I/O ports for communication. These are specific addresses reserved for interacting
with peripheral devices.
• The CPU can send commands and receive data by reading from or writing to these designated I/O
ports.
4. Interrupts:
• Devices can signal the CPU through interrupts to indicate that they require attention or have completed
a task.
• The CPU responds to interrupts by suspending its current task, saving its state, and executing an
interrupt service routine (ISR) associated with the triggering device.
5. Direct Memory Access (DMA):
• DMA allows devices to transfer data directly to or from memory without involving the CPU. This
enhances efficiency by reducing the CPU's involvement in data transfer operations.
6. Device Controllers:
• Device controllers, often embedded in or connected to the device, manage the low-level details of
communication, such as handling protocols and converting data formats.

CPU interacts with devices through a combination of memory-mapped I/O, I/O ports, interrupts, DMA, and
device controllers. Device drivers act as intermediaries, facilitating communication between the operating
system and specific hardware components, ensuring a standardized and efficient interaction.
 I/O OPTIMIZATION
I/O optimization in operating systems involves improving input/output performance. Strategies include
buffering, caching, and perfecting data to minimize delays and enhance overall system efficiency. I/O
optimization in operating systems aims to enhance the efficiency of input/output operations. Here are key
strategies:

1. Caching: Maintain a cache in memory to store frequently accessed data. This reduces the need to fetch
data from slower storage devices, improving overall I/O performance.

2. Buffering: Use buffers to accumulate data before transferring it to or from a device. This helps in
minimizing the number of I/O operations and reducing overhead.

3. Perfecting: Predict and fetch data that is likely to be accessed soon, based on past patterns. This
anticipatory approach can reduce latency by having data ready before it is actually needed.

4. Read-ahead and Write-behind: Read-ahead involves fetching additional data beyond what is
currently required, anticipating future requests. Write-behind delays the actual writing of data to a later
time, optimizing the overall flow of I/O operations.

5. I/O Scheduling: Prioritize and schedule I/O requests to optimize disk access. Algorithms like elevator
or deadline scheduling help organize and order requests for efficient processing.

6. Asynchronous I/O: Allow processes to continue execution while waiting for I/O operations to
complete. Asynchronous I/O enables overlapping of computation and I/O, improving overall system
responsiveness.

7. File System Optimization: Optimize file system structures and algorithms for quicker access to data.
This includes efficient indexing, directory structures, and allocation strategies.

8. DMA (Direct Memory Access): Use DMA controllers to transfer data directly between memory and
I/O devices without involving the CPU, reducing CPU overhead and improving speed.

9. Smart Disk Scheduling: Utilize intelligent disk scheduling algorithms to minimize seek times and
rotational delays on storage devices, enhancing overall I/O performance.

10. Parallelism: Exploit parallelism in I/O operations where possible. For instance, use multiple I/O
channels or devices simultaneously to increase throughput.

By employing these techniques, operating systems can significantly optimize I/O performance, leading to
faster and more efficient data transfers between the CPU and external devices.