UNIT III

OPERATING SYSTEM & STORAGE DEVICES

Introduction to Operating System (OS)

Operating system (often referred to as OS) is an integrated set of programs that

controls the resources (C memory, I/O devices, etc.) of a computer system and

provides its users with an interface or virtual machine it’s easier to use than the bare

machine. According to this definition, the two primary objectives of an open system

are:

1. Make a computer system easier to use. A computer system consists of one or

more processors, r memory, and many types of I/O devices such as disks, tapes,

terminals, network interfaces, etc. Writing programs for using these hardware

resources correctly and efficiently is an extremely difficult requiring in-depth

knowledge of functioning of these resources. Hence, to make computer systems usable

by a large number of users, it became clear several years ago that computer systems

need n mechanism to shield programmers and other users from the complexity of

hardware resource Researchers gradually evolved a solution to handle this problem by

putting a layer of software on to] the bare hardware. This layer of software manages

all hardware resources of the system, and presents users with an interface or virtual

machine that is easier, safer, and efficient to program arid use. It is called the

operating system.

Hence, an operating system hides details of hardware resources from programmers and

other users. It provides a high-level interface to low-level hardware resources, making it

easier for programmers and other users to use a computer system.

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Following figure 1 shows the logical architecture of a computer system. As shown, operating

system layer surrounds hardware resources. Then a layer of other system software (such as

compilers, editors, utilities, etc.) and a set of application programs (such as commercial data

processing applications, scientific and engineering applications, entertainment and educational

applications, etc.) surrounds operating system layer. Finally, end users view the computer

system in terms of the user interfaces of the application programs.

Figure1: Logical architecture of a computer system. Operating system hides details of hardware from

Programmers and other users and provides them with a convenient interface for using the

system.

2. Manage the resources of a computer system. An operating system manages all the

resources of a computer system. This involves performing such tasks as keeping track of

who is using what resources, granting resource requests, accounting for resource usage,

and mediating conflicting requests from different programs and users. Efficient and fair

sharing of system resources among users and/or programs is a key goal of all operating

systems.

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF AN OPERATING SYSTEM

Operating systems perform the functions given below. A separate module of operating

system software each of these functions:

1. Process management. A process is a program in execution. During execution, a

process needs certain resources such as CPU time, memory space, files, and I/O devices. At

a particular instance of time, a computer system normally consists of a collection of

processes. Process management module takes care of creation and deletion of processes,

scheduling of system resources to different processes requesting them, and providing

mechanisms for synchronization and communication among processes.

2. Memory management. To execute a program, it must be loaded in main memory (at
least partially), together with the data it accesses. To improve CPU utilization and to provide

better response time to its users, a computer system normally keeps several programs in

main memory. Memory management module takes care of allocation and de-allocation of

memory space to programs in need of this resource.

3. File management. All computer systems store, retrieve, and share information.
Normally, a computer stores such information in units called files. Processes read

information from files and create new files for storing newly generated information. File

management module takes care of file-related activities suitable organization storage,

retrieval, naming, sharing, and protection of files.

4. Device management. Normally, a computer system consists of several I/O devices

such as term printer, disk, and tape. The device management module of an operating

system controls all I/O device keeps track of I/ O requests from processes, issues

commands to I/O devices, and ensures correct transmission to/from a device. It also

provides a simple and easy to use interface between the devices of the system. '

5. Security. Computer systems often store large amount of information, some of which
are highly sensitive and valuable to their users. Users can trust a computer system and

rely on it only if its various resources and information stored in it are protected against

destruction and unauthorized access. Security module protects the resources and

information of a computer system against destruction and unauthorized access. It also

ensures that when the system executes several disjoint processes simultaneously, one

process did not interfere with others or with the operating system itself.

6. Command interpretation. For using various system resources, a user communicates

with the operating system via a set of commands provided by it. The operating system

also provides a simple language known as command language (CL) or job control language

(JCL). Command interpretation module interprets user commands and directs system

resources to process the command with this mode of interaction with a system users are

not much concerned about hardware, details or u system.

Types of Operating Systems

1. Single- and multi-tasking

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A single-tasking system can only run one program at a time, while a multi-tasking operating

system allows more than one program to be running in concurrency. This is achieved by time-

sharing, dividing the available processor time between multiple processes that are each

interrupted repeatedly in time slices by a task-scheduling subsystem of the operating system.

Multi-tasking may be characterized in preemptive and co-operative types. In preemptive

multitasking, the operating system slices the CPU time and dedicates a slot to each of the

programs. UNIX-like operating systems, e.g., Solaris, Linux, as well as Amiga OS support

preemptive multitasking. Cooperative multitasking is achieved by relying on each process to

provide time to the other processes in a defined manner. 16-bit versions of Microsoft

Windows used cooperative multi-tasking. 32-bit versions of both Windows NT and Win9x

used preemptive multi-tasking.

2. Single and multi-user

Single-user operating systems have no facilities to distinguish users, but may allow multiple

programs to run in tandem. A multi-user operating system extends the basic concept of multi-

tasking with facilities that identify processes and resources, such as disk space, belonging to

multiple users, and the system permits multiple users to interact with the system at the same

time. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may

also include accounting software for cost allocation of processor time, mass storage, printing,

and other resources to multiple users.

3. Distributed

A distributed operating system manages a group of distinct computers and makes them appear to

be a single computer. The development of networked computers that could be linked and

communicate with each other gave rise to distributed computing. Distributed computations are

carried out on more than one machine. When computers in a group work in cooperation, they form

a distributed system.[6]

4. Templated

In an OS, distributed and cloud computing context, templates refers to creating a single virtual

machine image as a guest operating system, then saving it as a tool for multiple running virtual

machines. The technique is used both in virtualization and cloud computing management, and is

common in large server warehouses.

5. Embedded

Embedded operating systems are designed to be used in embedded computer systems. They are

designed to operate on small machines like PDAs with less autonomy. They are able to operate

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with a limited number of resources. They are very compact and extremely efficient by design.

Windows CE and Minix 3 are some examples of embedded operating systems.

6. Real-time

A real-time operating system is an operating system that guarantees to process events or data by

a specific moment in time. A real-time operating system may be single- or multi-tasking, but when

multitasking, it uses specialized scheduling algorithms so that a deterministic nature of behaviour

is achieved. An event-driven system switches between tasks based on their priorities or external

events while time-sharing operating systems switch tasks based on clock interrupts

7. Library

A library operating system is one in which the services that a typical operating system provides,

such as networking, are provided in the form of libraries and composed with the application and

configuration code to construct a uni-kernel: a specialized, single address space, machine image

that can be deployed to cloud or embedded environments.

SOME POPULAR OPERATING SYSTEMS

UNIX

Development of UNIX

UNIX is a multi-user, time-sharing operating system. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie

developed UNIX in early 1970s at Bell Laboratories for a PDP-11 computer. It was the first

operating system written in a high-level language, C. Earlier operating systems were written

in assembly language, due to which they were system dependent (were usable only on a

system for which they were developed). However, since UNIX was written in C language,

moving it to a new system, known as po r ti ng it, was much easier. This was an important

reason for its popularity and availability on a wide variety of systems.

Structure of UNIX
UNIX operating system has the following three layers:

1. Kernel. This layer has all the modules for process, memory, file, device, and security

management.

2. Shell. This layer has the command interpreter. Unix basically provides a command-

line interface (some vendors have added GUI to their new versions of Unix). The

shell provides a large number of very useful commands. Every command does a single,

very specific task. To do larger, more complex tasks, users can easily combine

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 several commands in the form of a shell script to produce the result they want. A

user can even store a shell script in an executable file. When the user executes the

file, it acts like a new shell command.

3. Utilities. This layer has all the OS capability enhancement software including

language compilers, text editors, text-processing programs, and a variety of utilities

and tools. Over the years, this layer has grown to include several powerful tools,

which allow effective program development and system management. Because of this,

many users refer to UNIX as a complete programming environment, not just an

operating system.

MS-DOS
MS-DOS stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System. It is a single-user operating system

for IBM and IBM- compatible personal computers. Microsoft and IBM introduced it jointly

in 1981. It was the most popular operating system for personal computers in the 1980s.

Because of its popularity, Microsoft later took a decision to launch independently Microsoft

Windows operating system in 1990s.

Structure of MS-DOS
MS-DOS has the following three layers:

1. BIOS: BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. It contains device drivers for

standard devices such as keyboard, disk, floppy, printer, and display monitor. It also

contains basic low-level services such as time-of-day and system configuration

analysis. With hardware-dependent services in BIOS, the operating system ensures

that it can offer other higher-level operating system services in a hardware-

independent manner. This enables those operating system services to be portable

easily to other machines.

Usually, computer manufacturers (not Microsoft) supply the BIOS. Generally, the

BIOS is locate part, in a ROM, which is a non-erasable memory. When a user switches

on a computer, the computer hardware transfers control to the bootstrap procedure

of the BIOS in ROM. The bootstrap process carries out some hardware tests to

check whether the memory and other hardware devices are function properly. If the

hardware tests pass successfully, the bootstrap procedure loads into memory a

portion of the operating system from disk. This part of the operating system then

loads the rest o memory resident portions of the operating system into memory from

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 disk. This step-by-step process loading the operating system into memory is known as

bo ot i ng th e s ys tem.

2. Kernel. This layer contains all the modules for process management, memory

management, and management. These modules usually are machine-independent,

enabling their easy portability to c machines.

3. Shell. This layer has the command interpreter. MS-DOS provides a command-line

interface. MS-I shell, known as co mm and.co m, has about 70 commands, which are

partitioned into two category internal commands and external commands. I nt er nal

comma nds are those, which are always men resident, whereas ext er nal

comma nds are those, which normally reside on disk. The operating sys loads an1

external command into memory whenever a user executes it. Due to this, the

operating sys takes more time to execute an external command than an internal

comma nd. La te r,) the d e si gn er s added GUI (known as D O S sh ell) to this

layer, which was largely a menu-driven user interface.

Microsoft Windows
Microsoft developed Microsoft Windows operating system to overcome the limitations of

its own MS-DOS operating system. Windows 3.0 was the first Successful version of this

operating system. It was, released in 1990s. Subsequently released versions were

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP,XP professional,

Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Main features of Microsoft Windows are as follows:

1. Its native interface is a GUI. Hence, for a new user it is easier to learn and use a

computer system.

2. Microsoft Windows is not just an operating system, b ut. j a complete operating

environment. That is, all its programs conform to a standard way of working. For

example, a Microsoft Windows word processor works similarly the way a Microsoft

Windows spreadsheet (or any other type of Windows program) works. This means

that if a user learns one Windows program, this experience is useful while using any

other Microsoft Windows program.

3. It is a single-user, multitasking operating system. That is, a user may run more than

one program at a time. For example, while editing a file in foreground, a user can run a

sorting job in background. The user can partition the Monitor's screen into multiple

windows and can view the progress of different programs on different windows.

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 4. It allows file names to contain up to 255 characters as well as some punctuation

marks, such as periods, commas, and semicolons.

With these features, Microsoft Windows became an operating system of choice for most

personal computer users after 1990.

Microsoft Windows NT
Microsoft Windows NT is a multi-user, timesharing operating system developed by

Microsoft. It has UNIX-like features. Hence, it is suitable for use with powerful

workstations, networks, and database servers. Like UNIX/Linux, Windows NT and its

subsequent versions have native support for networking and network services. We classify

such operating systems as N etw or k O per ati ng S yst em (NOS). Its main features are:

1. Unlike UNIX, its native interface is a GUI. The look and feel of Microsoft Windows

NT's GUI is similar to that of Microsoft Windows' GUI.

2. It supports multiprogramming and takes advantage of multiprocessing on systems

having multiple processors.

3. It has built-in networking and communications features. Hence, it enables

configuration of any computer with Microsoft Windows NT as a network client or

server.

4. It provides strict system security.

5. It has a rich set of tools for software development and system administration.

6. It has Sun Microsoft Windows applications and many UNIX applications directly.

Linux
Linux is an open-source operating system. Thousands of programmers worldwide continuously

enhance its features and back its development and support. It is a multi-tasking,

multiprocessing operating system. Originally, its designers had targeted it for personal

computers, but today it is popular on all types of systems. The name "Linux" is derived from

its inventor Linus Torvalds. Torvalds was a student at the University of Helsinki, Finland in

early 1990s when he wrote the first version of an UNIX-like kernel as a toy project. He

later posted the code or the Internet and asked programmers across the world to help him

build it into a working system. The result w as Linux. Torvalds holds the copyright but

permits free distribution of source code. That is, he oversees development of kernel and

owns its trademark. When someone submits a change or a feature, Torvalds and his team

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kernel developers review the merit of adding it to kernel source code. Linux Development

Process Linux being an open-source operating system, various parties participate in its

development process. Various participants play the following key roles:

The open-source development community (programmers across the world) develops the

source code th e operating system kernel and submits it to the core team of kernel

developers headed by Torvalds. Th e team reviews the merit of adding a submitted change

or feature in the kernel and incorporates it into the kernel if the team sees merit in doing

so. This is how the kernel evolves and matures to become better day-by-day.

Application vendors and programmers download the freely available kernel and develop all

types v: application software for it.

Distribution companies package and sell various Linux versions.

Hardware vendors bundle Linux on their systems and supply their systems along with the

Linux operating system and a set of application software. End users run Linux and

applications to meet their processing needs.

Hard Disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data

storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using

one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. The

platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which

read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner,

meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not

only sequentially. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored data even when

powered off.

Introduced by IBM in 1956, HDDs became the dominant secondary storage device

for general-purpose computers by the early 1960s. Continuously improved, HDDs have

maintained this position into the modern era of servers and personal computers. More than

224 companies have produced HDDs historically, though after extensive industry

consolidation most units are manufactured by Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. HDDs

dominate the volume of storage produced for servers. The primary characteristics of an

HDD are its capacity and performance. Capacity is specified in unit prefixes corresponding

to powers of 1000: a 1-terabyte (TB) drive has a capacity of 1,000 gigabytes (GB; where 1

gigabyte = 1 billion bytes). Typically, some of an HDD's capacity is unavailable to the user

because it is used by the file system and the computer operating system, and possibly inbuilt

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redundancy for error correction and recovery. Also there is confusion regarding storage

capacity, since capacities are stated in decimal Gigabytes (powers of 10) by HDD

manufacturers, whereas some operating systems report capacities in binary Giga bytes,

which results in a smaller number than advertised. Performance is specified by the time

required to move the heads to a track or cylinder (average access time) adding the time it

takes for the desired sector to move under the head (average latency, which is a function of

the physical rotational speed in revolutions per minute), and finally the speed at which the

data is transmitted (data rate).

The two most common form factors for modern HDDs are 3.5-inch, for desktop computers,

and 2.5-inch, primarily for laptops. HDDs are connected to systems by

standard interface cables such as PATA (Parallel ATA), SATA (Serial ATA), USB or SAS

(Serial Attached SCSI) cables.

Compact Disk (CD)

Compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed

by Philips and Sony and released in 1982. The format was originally developed to store and

play only sound recordings (CD-DA) but was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM).

Several other formats were further derived from these, including write-once audio and data

storage (CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW), Video Compact Disc (VCD), Super Video Compact

Disc (SVCD), Photo CD, Picture CD, and Enhanced Music CD. The first commercially available

audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan.

Standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres (4.7 in) and can hold up to about 80

minutes of uncompressed audio or about 700 MB of data. The Mini CD has various diameters

ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres (2.4 to 3.1 in); they are sometimes used for CD singles,

storing up to 24 minutes of audio, or delivering device drivers.

At the time of the technology's introduction in 1982, a CD could store much more data than

a personal computer hard drive, which would typically hold 10 MB. By 2010, hard drives
commonly offered as much storage space as a thousand CDs, while their prices had

plummeted to commodity level. In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs

reached about 30 billion discs. By 2007, 200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide.

From the early 2000s CDs were increasingly being replaced by other forms of digital

storage and distribution, with the result that by 2010 the number of audio CDs being sold in

the U.S. had dropped about 50% from their peak; however, they remained one of the

primary distribution methods for the music industry. Following figure shows the basic layers

present on CD

A. A polycarbonate disc layer has the data encoded

by using bumps.
B. A shiny layer reflects the laser.
C. A layer of lacquer protects the shiny layer.
D. Artwork is screen printed on the top of the disc.
E. A laser beam reads the CD and is reflected back to a sensor, which converts it into electronic data

Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

DVD (an abbreviation of digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc storage format

invented and developed in 1995. The medium can store any kind of digital data and is widely

used for software and other computer files as well as video programs watched using DVD

players. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs while having the same

dimensions.

Pre-recorded DVDs are mass-produced using moulding machines that physically stamp data

onto the DVD. Such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not

written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs (DVD-R and DVD+R) can be recorded once

using a DVD recorder and then function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable DVDs (DVD-

RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM) can be recorded and erased many times.

DVDs are used in DVD-Video consumer digital video format and in DVD-Audio consumer

digital audio format as well as for authoring DVD discs written in a special AVCHD format to

hold high definition material (often in conjunction with AVCHD format camcorders). DVDs

containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs.

Discs with multiple layers

Like other optical disc formats before it, a basic DVD disc—known as DVD-5 in the DVD

Books, while called Type A in the ISO standard—contains a single data layer readable from

only one side. However, the DVD format also includes specifications for three types of discs

with additional recorded layers, expanding disc data capacity beyond the 4.7 GB of DVD-5

while maintaining the same physical disc size.

Double-sided discs.

Borrowing from the Laser Disc format, the DVD standard includes DVD-10 discs (Type B in

ISO) with two recorded data layers such that only one layer is accessible from either side

of the disc. This doubles the total nominal capacity of a DVD-10 disc to 9.4 GB, but each

side is locked to 4.7 GB. Like DVD-5 discs, DVD-10 discs are defined as single-layer (SL)

discs.

Dual-layer discs

Dual-layer discs also employ a second recorded layer; however both are readable from the

same side (and unreadable from the other). These DVD-9 discs (Type C in ISO) nearly

double the capacity of DVD-5 discs to a nominal 8.5 GB, but fall below the overall capacity

of DVD-10 discs due to differences in the physical data structure of the additional

recorded layer. However, the advantage of not needing to flip the disc to access the

complete recorded data – permitting a nearly contiguous experience for A/V content whose

size exceeds the capacity of a single layer – proved a more favourable option for mass-

produced DVD movies.

Fig. Scan of a DVD-R; the "a" portion has been recorded on while the

"b" portion has not.

USB Flash Drive

A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an

integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than

an optical disc. Most weigh less than 1 oz (28 grams). Since first appearing on the market in

late 2000, as with virtually all other computer memory devices, storage capacities have risen

while prices have dropped. As of March 2016, flash drives with anywhere from 8 to 256 GB

were frequently sold, while 512 GB and 1 TB units were less frequent. As of 2018, 2TB flash

drives were the largest available in terms of storage capacity. Some allow up to 100,000

write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and are thought to

last between 10 and 100 years under normal circumstances.

USB flash drives are often used for storage; data back-up and transfer of computer files.

Compared with floppy disks or CDs, they are smaller, faster, have significantly more

capacity, and are more durable due to a lack of moving parts. Additionally, they are immune

to electromagnetic interference (unlike floppy disks), and are unharmed by surface

scratches (unlike CDs). Until about 2005, most desktop and laptop computers were supplied

with floppy disk drives in addition to USB ports, but floppy disk drives became obsolete

after widespread adoption of USB ports and the larger USB drive capacity compared to the

1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy disk.

USB flash drives use the USB mass storage device class standard, supported natively by

modern operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Mac OS and other Unix-like systems, as

well as many BIOS boot ROMs. USB drives with USB 2.0 support can store more data and

transfer faster than much larger optical disc drives like CD-RW or DVD-RW drives and can

be read by many other systems such as the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, DVD players,

automobile entertainment systems, and in a number of handheld devices such as smart

phones and tablet computers, though the electronically similar SD card is better suited for

those devices.

A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board carrying the circuit elements and a

USB connector, insulated electrically and protected inside a plastic, metal, or rubberized

case, which can be carried in a pocket or on a key chain, for example. The USB connector

may be protected by a removable cap or by retracting into the body of the drive, although it

is not likely to be damaged if unprotected. Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB

connection allowing connection with a port on a personal computer, but drives for other

interfaces also exist. USB flash drives draw power from the computer via the USB

connection. Some devices combine the functionality of a portable media player with USB

flash storage; they require a battery only when used to play music on the go.

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Memory Card

A memory card or memory cartridge is an electronic data storage device used for storing

digital information, typically using flash memory. These are commonly used in portable

electronic devices, such as digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop,

computers, tablets, PDAs, portable media players, video game

consoles, synthesizers, electronic keyboards and digital pianos.

The basis for memory card technology is flash memory. It was invented by Fujio

Masuoka at Toshiba in 1980, and commercialized by Toshiba in 1987.

PC Cards (PCMCIA) were the first commercial memory card formats (type I cards) to come

out, but are now mainly used in industrial applications and to connect I/O devices such

as modems. Since 1994, a number of memory card formats smaller than the PC Card arrived;

the first one was Compact Flash and later Smart Media and Miniature Card. The desire for

smaller cards for cell-phones, PDAs, and compact digital cameras drove a trend that left the

previous generation of "compact" cards looking big. In digital cameras Smart Media and

Compact Flash had been very successful. In 2001, SM alone captured 50% of the digital

camera market and CF had captured the professional digital camera market. By 2005

however, SD/MMC had nearly taken over Smart Media's spot, though not to the same level

and with stiff competition coming from Memory Stick variants, as well Compact Flash. In

industrial and embedded fields, even the venerable PC card (PCMCIA) memory cards still

manage to maintain a niche, while in mobile phones and PDAs, the memory card has become

smaller.

Since 2010, new products of Sony (previously only using Memory Stick) and Olympus

(previously only using XD-Card) have been offered with an additional SD-Card

slot.[6] Effectively the format war has turned in SD-Card's favor.

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