CEGEP VANIER COLLEGE 

Department of Computer Science 
Assignment #6: Max Marks (70) 
 
Course Title  :  Operating Systems (Sec‐02)  Teacher  :  Syed Naseem Afzal 
Course Number :  420‐330‐VA  Due Date  :  April 18, 2018 

Q1. Briefly explain the differences between seek time and search time. In your opinion, why do some
people confuse the two? (Marks: 05)

Q2. Given the following characteristics for a magnetic tape using linear recording as described in this
chapter:
Density = 1600 bpi
Speed = 1500 inches/second
Size = 2400 feet
Start/stop time = 4 ms
Number of records to be stored = 200,000 records
Size of each record = 160 bytes
Block size = 10 logical records
IBG = 0.5 inch
Find the following:
Q2a) Number of blocks needed (Marks: 02)
Q2b) Size of the block in bytes (Marks: 02)
Q2c) Time required to read one block (Marks: 02)
Q2d) Time required to write all of the blocks. (Marks: 02)
Q2e) Amount of tape used for data only, in inches (Marks: 02)
Q2f) Total amount of tape used (data + IBGs), in inches (Marks: 02)

Q3. Given the following characteristics for a magnetic disk pack with 10 platters yielding 18
recordable surfaces (not using the top and bottom surfaces):
Rotational speed = 13 ms
Transfer rate = 0.15 ms/track
Density per track = 19,000 bytes
Number of records to be stored = 200,000 records
Size of each record = 160 bytes
Block size = 10 logical records
Number of tracks per surface = 500
Find the following:
Q3a) Number of blocks per track (Marks: 02)
Q3b) Waste per track (Marks: 02)
Q3c) Number of tracks required to store the entire file (Marks: 02)
Q3d) Total waste to store the entire file (Marks: 02)
Q3e) Time to write all of the blocks (Use rotational speed; ignore the time it takes to move to
the next track.) (Marks: 02)
Q3f) Time to write all of the records if they’re not blocked. (Use rotational speed; ignore the
time it takes to move to the next track.) (Marks: 02)
Q3g) Optimal blocking factor to minimize wasted space (Marks: 02)

Understanding Operating System 7e, By Ann McIver McHoes and Ida M. Flynn  Chapter Seven, Page 1
 Q3h) What would be the answer to (e) if the time it takes to move to the next track were 5 ms?
(Marks: 02)
Q3i) What would be the answer to (f) if the time it takes to move to the next track were 5 ms?
(Marks: 02)

Q4. Given that it takes 1.75 ms to travel from one track to the next of a hard drive; that the arm is
originally positioned at Track 15 moving toward the low-numbered tracks; and that you are using
the LOOK scheduling policy: Compute the total seek time to satisfy the following requests
4, 40, 35, 11, 14, and 7.
Assume all requests are initially present in the wait queue. (Ignore rotational time and transfer
time; just consider seek time.) (Marks: 06)

Q5. Describe how secondary storage differs from primary storage and give an example of each.
(Marks: 05)

Q6. Consider a virtual cylinder identical to the one shown in Figure 7.12 with the following
characteristics: seek time is 4 ms/track, search time is 1.7 ms/sector, and data transfer time is
0.9 ms. Calculate the resulting seek time, search time, data transfer time, and total time for the
following Request List, assuming that the read/write head begins at Track 0, Sector 0. Finally,
calculate the total time required to meet all of these requests. (Marks: 12)

Track Sector Seek Time Search Time Data Transfer Time Total Time
0 0
1 0
1 4
1 0
3 1
2 4
3 0

Q7. Using an identical environment to the previous question, calculate the resulting seek time,
search time, data transfer time, and total time for the following Request List, assuming that the
read/write head begins at Track 3, Sector 0. Calculate the total time required. (Marks: 12)

Track Sector Seek Time Search Time Data Transfer Time Total Time
3 0
2 5
1 2
1 0
2 3
2 4
1 0

Understanding Operating System 7e, By Ann McIver McHoes and Ida M. Flynn  Chapter Seven, Page 2