Module 13 Vocab Flashcards

(74 cards)

1
Q

Disk Block

A

basic logic unit of storage on disk of a contiguous set of bytes

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2
Q

Superblock

A

contains basic information about the file system, including the file system size, list of free blocks, list of allocated blocks, and time of the last modification to the partition; the superblock can be read into memory at boot time

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2
Q

Disk Partitions

A

logical split of the actual disk drive. The operating system views each partition as a distinct disk, and different operating systems may be run in each split; each partition has at least one directory, in which all the partition’s files are listed.

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3
Q

Boot Blockk

A

contains information on the disk layout and code for loading the operating system into the kernel space

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4
Q

Free Space Data Structure

A

tracks the free blocks in the disk

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5
Q

I-Nodes List

A

stores information about the individual files stored on disk, and allocatable blocks for directories and file systems

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6
Q

Master Boot Record

A

stores information about the entire drive

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7
Q

Parition Table

A

specifies the beginning of each partition

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8
Q

Contiguous Allocation

A

each file occupies a contiguous region of blocks

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8
Q

Disk Space Allocation

A

managing data in the disk with the aims to ensure fast sequential access, fast random access, the ability to grow a file system quickly, and to minimize fragmentation

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8
Q

File Allocation Table

A

stores a condensed version of the linked list to be stored at the beginning of the file system; the file is stored in allocated clusters

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9
Q

linked List Allocation

A

hold a linked list of blocks for each file such that each block contains a pointer to the next block

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10
Q

Linked List with Indexing or i-nodes

A

supports direct access to the file’s blocks by storing files in the i-node data structure

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11
Q

Link-counter

A

counts the number of ways that an i-node can be retrieved along different paths

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11
Q

i-node (index node)

A

a kernel structure storing information about each file in the file system; contains a pointer to the disk blocks containing the file’s data, and information such as the file permissions, ownership, modification time, and file type

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12
Q

Directory

A

a file that holds the list of filenames and their inodes; provides information needed to find the disk data blocks of a file

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13
Q

Hard Links

A

to represent two different paths for a file, create a single i-node and have two directory entries that point to the same i-node; relies on the link-counter

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14
Q

Symbolic/soft link

A

the original file has its own i-node and for each reference or path to the file, there is a separate i-node, of type LINK, for a file that just contains the path name to the original file

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15
Q

Free Space Management

A

tracking unallocated blocks in a portion of the disk partition

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16
Q

Bitmap

A

maintains for the entire disk partition with one encoding the fact that the block of a particular number is free and zero otherwise

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17
Q

Linked List

A

List storing the free blocks

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18
Q

In-memory cache

A

uses a scheme to store blocks that are likely to be requested from disk, to shortcut the need for a disk search and propagate the data to the requesting process

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19
Q

LRU Scheme

A

given the limited in-memory cache size, evicts the least recently used block from the cache when new blocks are being added in

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20
Q

Incremental Backups

A

every time you synchronize with your server, it will only backup files that have been changed since the last time

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20
Logical Backup
Copies files from one disk to another
21
Physical Backup
Physical copy block by block from one disk to another
22
What does fseek() do?
Moves the file pointer to a specific location, such as the beginning of a file.
23
What are the 3 steps of file access under the hood?
1) File system maps name + offset to block number 2) Device driver sends commands to disk 3) Disk controller locates physical sector.
24
What is a block in a file system?
A fixed-size unit of data (2–16 KB). File I/O is done in full blocks.
25
Why not use very small or very large blocks?
Small blocks = more overhead. Large blocks = internal fragmentation.
26
What is the structure of a disk?
Disk → Partition → File System
27
What is a partition table (MBR)?
A fixed location on disk that tells where each partition begins.
28
What are the 6 parts of a typical partition?
Boot block, Superblock, Free-space info, I-nodes, Root Directory, Data blocks.
29
What is the goal of file allocation strategies?
Enable fast sequential/random access, allow dynamic growth, and reduce fragmentation.
30
What is contiguous allocation?
Stores file in a single sequence of blocks. Fast access, but hard to grow and prone to fragmentation.
31
What is linked allocation?
Each block contains a pointer to the next block. Flexible, but poor random access.
32
What is FAT (File Allocation Table)?
A table in memory that links blocks together for each file. Faster than linked allocation, but scales poorly.
33
What is stored in each FAT directory entry?
File name, creation time, size, and starting block number.
34
What is a limitation of FAT?
Entire FAT must be in memory, and it gets large on big disks.
35
What is an i-node?
A structure that stores metadata and pointers for a file. Used in Unix-like systems.
36
What does each i-node contain?
Owner, permissions, size, and direct/indirect pointers to data blocks.
37
How do indirect blocks work in i-nodes?
Indirect blocks point to more blocks (single, double, triple indirection).
38
Why are i-nodes better than FAT?
Only open files are loaded into memory. Memory usage scales with open files, not total files.
39
What is a con of i-nodes?
Slower access for large files due to multiple levels of indirection.
40
How are directory entries stored in Unix-style systems?
As mappings of file names to i-node numbers.
41
What is the benefit of fixed-size directory entries?
Simple to implement. Downside: limited file name length.
42
What is the benefit of variable-size/long name entries?
More flexible, supports long names, and scales well.
43
What is an inline name layout?
File name is stored inside the i-node itself. Good for small directories, bad for long names.
44
What is a heap-based name layout?
Stores a pointer to a block containing a long file name. Flexible but requires extra lookup.
45
What is the root directory usually associated with?
i-node number 2.
46
How does directory traversal work?
Follow i-nodes from root, resolving names step by step.
47
What is a hard link?
Multiple directory entries pointing to the same i-node. File is deleted when reference count hits zero.
48
What is a soft link (symbolic link)?
A file containing a path to another file. Can break if target is moved/deleted.
49
What are two strategies for free space management?
Linked list and bitmap.
50
What is the linked list method for free space?
Stores a chain of free blocks. Works well when disk is nearly full.
51
What is the bitmap method for free space?
One bit per block. 1 = free, 0 = used. Efficient for disks with lots of free blocks.
52
Why is caching important in file systems?
Disk access is slow; caching keeps recently used blocks in memory for fast reuse.
53
What is LRU caching?
A doubly-linked list where the least recently used blocks are evicted first.
54
What is lazy write (write-back)?
Delays writing data to disk for performance, risking data loss in crashes.
54
What is the cache consistency problem?
Cached data in memory might not match the disk, leading to inconsistencies.
55
What is write-through?
Immediately writes data to disk. Used for metadata to ensure consistency.
56
What is a physical backup?
Block-by-block copy of the disk. OS-dependent, used by IT tools.
57
What is a logical backup?
File-by-file copy using OS APIs. Cross-platform and i-node-aware.
58
How do incremental logical backups work?
Track changed files with a bitmap, and copy only relevant i-nodes and directories.
59
What is reference count consistency?
The number of directory entries should match the i-node's reference count.
60
What is fsck?
A Linux tool that fixes file system inconsistencies after crashes.
61
What does scandisk do?
A Windows tool to check and repair file system issues.
62
What is the tradeoff of contiguous allocation?
Fast access, but poor resizing and external fragmentation.
63
What is the tradeoff of linked allocation?
Flexible and no fragmentation, but slow random access.
64
What is the tradeoff of FAT?
Fast access from RAM, but doesn’t scale on large disks.
65
What is the tradeoff of i-nodes?
Scalable and efficient, but slower for large files due to indirection.
66
What is the tradeoff of caching?
Faster access, but risk of inconsistency.
67
What is the tradeoff of write-through?
Safer and consistent, but slower.
68
What is the tradeoff of lazy writing?
Faster, but risks losing data if the system crashes.