This week I learned about input/output (I/O) devices and their interactions with the operating system (OS). Two types of devices I learned about were block and character devices. Block devices, like hard drives and SSDs, store data in fixed-size blocks and allow random access, making them ideal for large data transfers. Character devices, such as keyboards and mice, handle data streams one character at a time, supporting sequential access.
The OS play a crucial role in managing these devices through device drivers that provide a standard interface to interact with the hardware. Performance characteristics of hard drives, such as seek time, rotational latency, and transfer rates, are pivotal in determining overall system efficiency. By calculating transfer rates for different workloads, I learned how disk access patterns significantly impact performance. Additionally, understanding RAID levels provided insights into how redundancy and striping enhance data reliability and performance.
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