31. Disk Characteristics
The chapter discusses the characteristics and mechanisms of disks, including the differences between fixed and removable disks, as well as single and multiple platter setups. It explains key concepts such as angular velocity, seek time, rotational delay, and access time, relevant to understanding how data is stored and retrieved from disk drives. The chapter emphasizes the importance of addressing formats and transfer rates in optimizing disk performance.
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What we have learnt
- Disks rotate at a constant angular velocity, affecting the time required to access data from different sectors.
- The utilization of zones can help optimize data storage by maintaining consistent bit density across tracks.
- Accessing data involves understanding the addressing format, which includes track number, sector number, and surface number.
Key Concepts
- -- Seek Time
- The time taken to position the read/write head over the correct track on the disk.
- -- Rotational Delay
- The time taken for the desired sector to rotate under the read/write head after the track has been selected.
- -- Access Time
- The total time taken to access a piece of data, which is the sum of the seek time and the rotational delay.
- -- Block Transfer
- The process of reading or writing a complete block of data at once rather than individual bytes.
- -- Bit Density
- The number of bits that can be stored in a given area on a disk track.
- -- Addressing Format
- The structure used to locate data on the disk, typically comprising sector number, surface number, and track number.
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