Computer Organization and Architecture

Designing for Performance

11th Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 7
External Memory

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Magnetic Disk
• A disk is a circular platter constructed of nonmagnetic
material, called the substrate, coated with a magnetizable
material
– Traditionally the substrate has been an aluminium or aluminium alloy
material
– Recently glass substrates have been introduced

• Benefits of the glass substrate:

– Improvement in the uniformity of the magnetic film surface to increase
disk reliability
– A significant reduction in overall surface defects to help reduce read-
write errors
– Ability to support lower fly heights
– Better stiffness to reduce disk dynamics
– Greater ability to withstand shock and damage

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Data are recorded on and later
retrieved from the disk via a
conducting coil named the head The write mechanism exploits
• In many systems there are two heads, a the fact that electricity flowing
read head and a write head through a coil produces a
• During a read or write operation the magnetic field
head is stationary while the platter
rotates beneath it
Magnetic
Read
The write head itself is made of and Write
Electric pulses are sent to the
easily magnetizable material
write head and the resulting Mechanisms
and is in the shape of a
magnetic patterns are recorded
rectangular doughnut with a
on the surface below, with
gap along one side and a few
different patterns for positive
turns of conducting wire along
and negative currents
the opposite side

An electric current in the wire

Reversing the direction of the
induces a magnetic field across
current reverses the direction of
the gap, which in turn
the magnetization on the
magnetizes a small area of the
recording medium
recording medium

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Figure 7.1
Inductive Write/Magnetoresistive Read Head
Read
current

MR
sensor Write current

h Shield
i dt
ckw
a
Tr

Inductive
N write element
S
S
N
N
S
Magnetization S
N
N
S
S
N
N
S
Recording
medium

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Figure 7.2 Inter-track gap
Rotation
Track

Inter-sector gap
Disk Data Layout S6 •••

S6 •••
Track sector
Sector •••

SN
S6

S5

SN
S5

SN
S5
S4

S1
S4

S1
S3 S2

S4

S1
S3 S2

S3 S2

Read-write head
(1 per surface)

Platter

Direction of
Cylinder Spindle Boom
arm motion

Figure 7.2 Disk Data Layout

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Figure 7.3
Comparison of Disk Layout Methods
Track Zone
Sector

(a) Constant angular velocity (b) Multiple zone recording

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Figure 7.4
Legacy and Advanced Sector Formats

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Table 7.1
Physical Characteristics of Disk Systems

Head Motion Platters

Fixed head (one per track) Single platter
Movable head (one per surface) Multiple platter
Disk Portability Head Mechanism
Nonremovable disk Contact (floppy)
Removable disk Fixed gap
Sides Aerodynamic gap (Winchester)
Single sided
Double sided

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Characteristics
• Fixed-head disk • Removable disk
– One read-write head per – Can be removed and replaced
track with another disk
– Heads are mounted on a
fixed ridged arm that extends – Advantages:
across all tracks ▪ Unlimited amounts of data are
available with a limited number
• Movable-head disk of disk systems
– One read-write head ▪ A disk may be moved from one
– Head is mounted on an arm computer system to another
– The arm can be extended or
retracted – Floppy disks and ZIP cartridge
disks are examples of
• Non-removable disk removable disks
– Permanently mounted in the
disk drive • Double sided disk
– The hard disk in a personal – Magnetizable coating is applied
computer is a non-removable to both sides of the platter
disk

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Disk Classification
The head mechanism provides
a classification of disks into
three types
• The head must generate or Winchester Heads
sense an electromagnetic field
of sufficient magnitude to write • Used in sealed drive assemblies
and read properly that are almost free of contaminants
• The narrower the head, the • Designed to operate closer to the
closer it must be to the platter disk’s surface than conventional
surface to function rigid disk heads, thus allowing
– A narrower head means greater data density
narrower tracks and • Is actually an aerodynamic foil that
therefore greater data rests lightly on the platter’s surface
density when the disk is motionless
• The closer the head is to the – The air pressure generated by a
disk the greater the risk of spinning disk is enough to make
error from impurities or the foil rise above the surface
imperfections
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Figure 7.5
Timing of a Disk I/O Transfer

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Disk Performance Parameters
• When the disk drive is operating the disk is rotating at constant speed
• To read or write the head must be positioned at the desired track and at the beginning of
the desired sector on the track
– Track selection involves moving the head in a movable-head system or electronically selecting one head on
a fixed-head system
– Once the track is selected, the disk controller waits until the appropriate sector rotates to line up with the
head
• Seek time
– On a movable–head system, the time it takes to position the head at the track
• Rotational delay (latency time)
– The time it takes for the beginning of the sector to reach the head
• Bloc access time (access time)
– The sum of the seek time, the latency time, and the transfer time
• Transfer time
– Once the head is in position, the read or write operation is then
performed as the sector moves under the head
– This is the data transfer portion of the operation

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Table 7.2
Typical Hard Disk Drive Parameters
HGST Ultrastar
Characteristics HGST Ultrastar HE Toshiba L200
C15K600
Application Enterprise Data Center Laptop
Capacity 12 TB 600 GB 500 GB
Average seek time 8.0 ms read 2.9 ms read 11 ms
8.6 ms write 3.1 ms write

Spindle speed 7200 rpm 15,030 rpm 5400 rpm

Average latency 4.16 < 2 ms 5.6 ms
Maximum sustained 255 MB/s 1.2 GB/s 3 GB/s
transfer rate

Bytes per sector 512/4096 512/4096 4096

Tracks per cylinder 8 6 4
(number of platter
surfaces)

Cache 256 MB 128 MB 16 MB

Diameter 3.5 in (8.89 cm)s 2.5 in (6.35 cm) 2.5 in (6.35 cm)
Maximum areal density 134 82 66
(Gb/cm2)

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RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks

• Consists of 7 levels
• Levels do not imply a hierarchical relationship but designate
different design architectures that share three common
characteristics:
1) Set of physical disk drives viewed by the operating system as a single logical
drive

2) Data are distributed across the physical drives of an array in a scheme known as
striping

3) Redundant disk capacity is used to store parity information, which guarantees

data recoverability in case of a disk failure

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 Table 7.3
RAID Levels
Disks Large I/O Data Small I/O
Category Level Description Data Availability
Required Transfer Capacity Request Rate

Very high for both read and

Striping 0 Nonredundant N Lower than single disk Very high
write
Higher than RAID 2, Higher than single disk Up to twice that of a single
Mirroring 1 Mirrored 2N 3, 4, or 5; lower than for read; similar to single disk for read; similar to
RAID 6 disk for write single disk for write
Parallel Much higher than
Access Redundant via Highest of all listed Approximately twice that
2 N+m single disk; comparable
Hamming code alternatives of a single disk
to RAID 3, 4, or 5

Much higher than

Bit-interleaved Highest of all listed Approximately twice that
3 N+1 single disk; comparable
parity alternatives of a single disk
to RAID 2, 4, or 5
Much higher than Similar to RAID 0 for Similar to RAID 0 for read;
Block-interleaved
4 N+1 single disk; comparable read; significantly lower significantly lower than
parity
to RAID 2, 3, or 5 than single disk for write single disk for write

Much higher than Similar to RAID 0 for Similar to RAID 0 for read;
Independent Block-interleaved
access 5 N+1 single disk; comparable read; lower than single generally lower than single
distributed parity
to RAID 2, 3, or 4 disk for write disk for write
Block-interleaved Similar to RAID 0 for Similar to RAID 0 for read;
Highest of all listed
6 dual distributed N+2 read; lower than RAID 5 significantly lower than
alternatives
parity for write RAID 5 for write

N = number of data disks; m proportional to log N

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Figure 7.6
RAID Levels (1 of 2)
strip 0 strip 1 strip 2 strip 3
strip 4 strip 5 strip 6 strip 7
strip 8 strip 9 strip 10 strip 11
strip 12 strip 13 strip 14 strip 15

(a) RAID 0 (non-redundant)

strip 0 strip 1 strip 2 strip 3 strip 0 strip 1 strip 2 strip 3

strip 4 strip 5 strip 6 strip 7 strip 4 strip 5 strip 6 strip 7
strip 8 strip 9 strip 10 strip 11 strip 8 strip 9 strip 10 strip 11
strip 12 strip 13 strip 14 strip 15 strip 12 strip 13 strip 14 strip 15

(b) RAID 1 (mirrored)

b0 b1 b2 b3 f0(b) f1(b) f2(b)

(c) RAID 2 (redundancy through Hamming code)

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Figure 7.6 RAID Levels (page 1 of 2)
Figure 7.6
RAID Levels (2 of 2)

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Figure 7.7
Data Mapping for a RAID Level 0 Array
Logical Disk

strip 0 strip 0 strip 1 strip 2 strip 3

strip 1 strip 4 strip 5 strip 6 strip 7
strip 2 strip 8 strip 9 strip 10 strip 11
strip 3 strip 12 strip 13 strip 14 strip 15
strip 4
strip 5
Physical Physical Physical Physical
strip 6 Disk 0 Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
strip 7
strip 8
strip 9
Array
Management
strip 10
Software
strip 11
strip 12
strip 13
strip 14
strip 15

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RAID • Addresses the issues of request patterns of
the host system and layout of the data
Level 0 • Impact of redundancy does not interfere
with analysis

RAID 0 for High Data Transfer

Capacity
RAID 0 for High I/O Request Rate
• For applications to experience a
high transfer rate two • For an individual I/O request for a
requirements must be met: small amount of data the I/O time
is dominated by the seek time and
1. A high transfer capacity must rotational latency
exist along the entire path
between host memory and the • A disk array can provide high I/O
individual disk drives execution rates by balancing the
I/O load across multiple disks
2. The application must make I/O
requests that drive the disk • If the strip size is relatively large
array efficiently multiple waiting I/O requests can
be handled in parallel, reducing
the queuing time for each request

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RAID
Level 1

Characteristics Positive Aspects

• Differs from RAID levels 2 through 6 in • A read request can be serviced by
the way in which redundancy is either of the two disks that contains
achieved the requested data

• Redundancy is achieved by the simple • There is no “write penalty”

expedient of duplicating all the data
• Recovery from a failure is simple,
• Data striping is used but each logical when a drive fails the data can be
strip is mapped to two separate accessed from the second drive
physical disks so that every disk in the
• Provides real-time copy of all data
array has a mirror disk that contains
the same data • Can achieve high I/O request rates if
the bulk of the requests are reads
• RAID 1 can also be implemented
without data striping, although this is • Principal disadvantage is the cost
less common

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RAID
Level 2

Characteristics Performance
• Makes use of a parallel access • An error-correcting code is calculated
technique across corresponding bits on each
data disk and the bits of the code are
• In a parallel access array all member stored in the corresponding bit
disks participate in the execution of positions on multiple parity disks
every I/O request
• Typically a Hamming code is used,
• Spindles of the individual drives are which is able to correct single-bit
synchronized so that each disk head errors and detect double-bit errors
is in the same position on each disk at • The number of redundant disks is
any given time
proportional to the log of the number of
• Data striping is used data disks
• Would only be an effective choice in
– Strips are very small, often as an environment in which many disk
small as a single byte or word errors occur

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RAID
Level 3

Redundancy Performance
• Requires only a single redundant disk, • In the event of a drive failure, the parity
no matter how large the disk array drive is accessed and data is
reconstructed from the remaining devices
• Employs parallel access, with data • Once the failed drive is replaced, the
distributed in small strips missing data can be restored on the new
drive and operation resumed
• Instead of an error correcting code, a
simple parity bit is computed for the • In the event of a disk failure, all of the
set of individual bits in the same data are still available in what is referred
position on all of the data disks to as reduced mode
• Return to full operation requires that the
• Can achieve very high data transfer failed disk be replaced and the entire
rates contents of the failed disk be regenerated
on the new disk
• In a transaction-oriented environment
performance suffers
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RAID
Level 4

Characteristics Performance
• Makes use of an independent access • Involves a write penalty when an I/O
technique write request of small size is
performed
− In an independent access array,
each member disk operates • Each time a write occurs the array
independently so that separate I/O management software must update
requests can be satisfied in parallel not only the user data but also the
corresponding parity bits
• Data striping is used • Thus each strip write involves two
reads and two writes
− Strips are relatively large

• To calculate the new parity the array

management software must read the
old user strip and the old parity strip

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 RAID RAID
Level 5 Level 6

Characteristics Characteristics
• Organized in a similar fashion to • Two different parity calculations
RAID 4 are carried out and stored in
separate blocks on different disks
• Difference is distribution of the
parity strips across all disks • Advantage is that it provides
extremely high data availability
• A typical allocation is a round- • Three disks would have to fail
robin scheme
within the mean time to repair
• The distribution of parity strips (MTTR) interval to cause data to
across all drives avoids the be lost
potential I/O bottleneck found in • Incurs a substantial write penalty
RAID 4 because each write affects two
parity blocks

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Table 7.4
RAID Comparison (1 of 2)
Level Advantages Disadvantages Applications

I/O performance is greatly improved The failure of just one Video production and
by spreading the I/O load across many drive will result in all data editing
channels and drives in an array being lost Image Editing
0 No parity calculation overhead is involved Pre- press applications
Very simple design Any application requiring
Easy to implement high bandwidth

100% redundancy of data means no Highest disk overhead Accounting

rebuild is necessary in case of a disk of all RAID types Payroll
failure, just a copy to the replacement disk (100%)—inefficient
Financial
1 Under certain circumstances, RAID 1
can sustain multiple simultaneous drive Any application requiring
Failures very high availability
Simplest RAID storage subsystem design

Extremely high data transfer rates possible Very high ratio of ECC No commercial imple-
The higher the data transfer rate disks to data disks mentations exist/not
required, the better the ratio of data with smaller word commercially viable
2 disks to ECC disks sizes— inefficient
Relatively simple controller design compared Entry level cost very high—
to RAID levels 3, 4, & 5 requires very high transfer
rate requirement to justify

Very high read data transfer rate Transaction rate equal to Video production and live
Very high write data transfer rate that of a single disk drive streaming
at best (if spindles are
(Table can be found
Image editing
Disk failure has an insignificant impact synchronized) on pages 230-231 in
3 on throughput Video editing
Controller design is fairly the textbook.)
Low ratio of ECC (parity) disks to data complex Prepress applications
disks means high efficiency Any application requiring
high throughput

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Table 7.4
RAID Comparison (2 of 2)
Level Advantages Disadvantages Applications

Very high Read data transaction rate Quite complex controller No commercial
Low ratio of ECC (parity) disks to data design implementations
disks means high efficiency Worst write transaction exist/not
rate and Write aggregate commercially viable

4 transfer rate
Difficult and inefficient
data rebuild in the event
of disk failure

Highest Read data transaction rate Most complex controller File and application servers
Low ratio of ECC (parity) disks to data design Database servers
disks means high efficiency Difficult to rebuild in the Web, e- mail, and news
Good aggregate transfer rate event of a disk failure
5 (as compared to RAID servers
level 1) Intranet servers
Most versatile RAID level

Provides for an extremely high data More complex controller Perfect solution for mission
fault tolerance and can sustain multiple design critical applications
simultaneous drive failures Controller overhead to
6
compute parity addresses
is extremely high

(Table can be found on

pages 230-231 in the textbook.)

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SSD Compared to HDD

• SSDs have the following advantages over HDDs:

– High-performance input/output operations per second (IOPS)

– Durability

– Longer lifespan

– Lower power consumption

– Quieter and cooler running capabilities

– Lower access times and latency rates

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Table 7.5
Comparison of Solid State Drives and Disk
Drives

NAND Flash Drives Seagate Laptop Internal HDD

File copy/write speed 200–550 Mbps 50–120 Mbps

Power draw/battery life Less power draw, averages 2–3 watts, More power draw, averages 6–7 watts
resulting in 30+ minute battery boost and therefore uses more battery

Storage capacity Typically not larger than 1 TB for Typically around 500 GB and 2 TB
Notebook size drives; 4 max for max for notebook size drives; 10 TB
desktops max for desktops

Cost Approx. $0.20 per GB for a 1-TB drive Approx. $0.03 per GB for a 4-TB drive

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Figure 7.8
Host System

Solid State Drive Operating System

Software
File System Software
Architecture I/O Driver Software

Interface

Interface SSD

Controller

Addressing

Data buffer/ Error

cache correction

Flash
memory
components
Flash
memory
components
Flash
memory
components

Flash
memory
components

Copyright
Figure 7.8 ©Solid
2022 Pearson
State Drive Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Architecture
Practical Issues
There are two practical issues peculiar to SSDs
that are not faced by HDDs: • Flash memory becomes
• SDD performance has a unusable after a certain
number of writes
tendency to slow down as the – Techniques for prolonging life:
device is used  Front-ending the flash with a
cache to delay and group
– The entire block must be read write operations
from the flash memory and  Using wear-leveling
placed in a RAM buffer algorithms that evenly
distribute writes across block
– Before the block can be written of cells
back to flash memory, the entire  Bad-block management
block of flash memory must be techniques
erased – Most flash devices estimate
their own remaining lifetimes
– The entire block from the buffer so systems can anticipate
is now written back to the flash failure and take preemptive
memory action
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Table 7.6
Optical Disk Products
CD
Compact Disk. A nonerasable disk that stores digitized audio information. The standard system uses
12-cm disks and can record more than 60 minutes of uninterrupted playing time.
CD-ROM
Compact Disk Read- Only Memory. A nonerasable disk used for storing computer data. The standard
system uses 12-cm disks and can hold more than 650 Mbytes.
CD-R
CD Recordable. Similar to a CD-ROM. The user can write to the disk only once.
CD-RW
CD Rewritable. Similar to a CD-ROM. The user can erase and rewrite to the disk multiple times.
DVD
Digital Versatile Disk. A technology for producing digitized, compressed representation of video
information, as well as large volumes of other digital data. Both 8 and 12 cm diameters are used, with
a double-sided capacity of up to 17 Gbytes. The basic DVD is read-only (DVD-ROM).
DVD-R
DVD Recordable. Similar to a DVD-ROM. The user can write to the disk only once. Only one-sided
disks can be used.
DVD-RW
DVD Rewritable. Similar to a DVD-ROM. The user can erase and rewrite to the disk multiple times.
Only one- sided disks can be used.
Blu-ray DVD
High-definition video disk. Provides considerably greater data storage density than DVD, using a
405-nm (blue- violet) laser. A single layer on a single side can store 25 Gbytes.

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Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
(CD-ROM)

• Audio CD and the CD-ROM share a similar technology

– The main difference is that CD-ROM players are more rugged and
have error correction devices to ensure that data are properly transferred

• Production:
– The disk is formed from a resin such as polycarbonate
– Digitally recorded information is imprinted as a series of microscopic pits on the
surface of the polycarbonate
▪ This is done with a finely focused, high intensity laser to create a master disk
– The master is used, in turn, to make a die to stamp out copies onto
polycarbonate
– The pitted surface is then coated with a highly reflective surface, usually
aluminum or gold
– This shiny surface is protected against dust and scratches by a top
coat of clear acrylic
– Finally a label can be silkscreened onto the acrylic

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Figure 7.9
CD Operation

Protective
acrylic Label

Land
Pit
Polycarbonate Aluminum
plastic

Laser transmit/
receive

Figure 7.9 CD©Operation

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Figure 7.10
CD-ROM Block Format

Layered

Sector

Mode
MIN

SEC
00 FF . . . FF 00 Data ECC

12 bytes 4 bytes 2048 bytes 288 bytes

SYNC ID Data L-ECC

2352 bytes

Figure 7.10 CD-ROM Block Format

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CD-ROM

• CD-ROM is appropriate for the distribution of large

amounts of data to a large number of users
• Because the expense of the initial writing process it is not
appropriate for individualized applications
• The CD-ROM has two advantages:
▪ The optical disk together with the information stored on it can be mass
replicated inexpensively
▪ The optical disk is removable, allowing the disk itself to be used for archival
storage
– The CD-ROM disadvantages:
▪ It is read-only and cannot be updated
▪ It has an access time much longer than that of a magnetic disk drive

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CD Recordable CD Rewritable
(CD-R) (CD-RW)
• Write-once read-many • Can be repeatedly written and
overwritten
• Accommodates applications in • Phase change disk uses a material that
which only one or a small
number of copies of a set of has two significantly different
data is needed reflectivities in two different phase
states
• Disk is prepared in such a way
that it can be subsequently • Amorphous state
written once with a laser beam – Molecules exhibit a random
of modest-intensity orientation that reflects light poorly
• Medium includes a dye layer • Crystalline state
which is used to change – Has a smooth surface that reflects
reflectivity and is activated by a light well
high-intensity laser • A beam of laser light can change the
• Provides a permanent record of material from one phase to the other
large volumes of user data • Disadvantage is that the material
eventually and permanently loses its
desirable properties
• Advantage is that it can be rewritten
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Figure 7.11
CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
Label

Protective layer
(acrylic)
1.2 mm
Reflective layer thick
(aluminum)
Polycarbonate substrate Laser focuses on polycarbonate
(plastic) pits in front of reflective layer.

(a) CD-ROM - Capacity 682 MB

Polycarbonate substrate, side 2

Semireflective layer, side 2

Polycarbonate layer, side 2

Fully reflective layer, side 2

Fully reflective layer, side 1 1.2 mm

thick
Polycarbonate layer, side 1

Semireflective layer, side 1 Laser focuses on pits in one layer

on one side at a time. Disk must
Polycarbonate substrate, side 1 be flipped to read other side.

(b) DVD-ROM, double-sided, dual-layer - Capacity 17 GB

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Figure 7.11 CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
Figure 7.12
Optical Memory Characteristics
CD 2.11 µm

Data layer
Beam spot Land

Pit 1.2 µm
0.58 µm
Blu-ray
Track

laser wavelength
= 780 nm

0.1 µm
1.32 µm
DVD

405 nm

0.6 µm

650 nm

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Magnetic Tape
• Tape systems use the same reading and recording techniques as
disk systems
• Medium is flexible polyester tape coated with magnetizable material
• Coating may consist of particles of pure metal in special binders or
vapor-plated metal films
• Data on the tape are structured as a number of parallel tracks
running lengthwise
• Serial recording
– Data are laid out as a sequence of bits along each track

• Data are read and written in contiguous blocks called physical

records
• Blocks on the tape are separated by gaps referred to as inter-record
gaps
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Figure 7.13
Typical Magnetic Tape Features
Track 2

Track 1

Track 0

Direction of
Bottom read/write
edge of tape

(a) Serpentine reading and writing

Track 3 4 8 12 16 20

Track 2 3 7 11 15 19

Track 1 2 6 10 14 18

Track 0 1 5 9 13 17
Direction of
tape motion

(b) Block layout for system that reads/writes four tracks simultaneously

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Table 7.7
LTO Tape Drives
LTO-1 LTO-2 LTO-3 LTO-4 LTO-5 LTO-6 LTO-7 LTO-8

Release date 2000 2003 2005 2007 2010 2012 TBA TBA

Compressed
200 GB 400 GB 800 GB 1600 GB 3.2 TB 8 TB 16 TB 32 TB
capacity

Compressed 40 80 160 240 280 400 788 1.18

transfer rate MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s MB/s GB/s
Linear density
4880 7398 9638 13,250 15,142 15,143 19,094
(bits/mm)

Tape tracks 384 512 704 896 1280 2176 3,584

Tape length (m) 609 609 680 820 846 846 960

Tape width (cm) 1.27 1.27 1.27 1.27 1.27 1.27 1.27

Write elements 8 8 16 16 16 16 32

WORM? No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Encryption
No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Capable?

Partitioning? No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

(Table can be found on page 241 in the textbook.)

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Summary
External Memory
Chapter 7
• Magnetic disk • RAID
– Magnetic read and write – RAID level 0
mechanisms – RAID level 1
– Data organization and – RAID level 2
formatting – RAID level 3
– Physical characteristics – RAID level 4
– Disk performance – RAID level 5
parameters – RAID level 6
• Optical memory
• Solid state drives
– Compact disk
– SSD compared to HDD
– Digital versatile disk
– SSD organization
– High-definition optical
– Practical issues disks
• Magnetic tape
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