- Operating Systems Basics
- Operating System (OS) Home
- Operating System Basics
- What is an Operating System
- History of Operating System
- Mainframe Operating System
- Server Operating System
- Multiprocessor Operating System
- Personal Computer OS
- Real-Time Operating System
- Embedded Operating System
- Smart Card Operating System
- OS Processors
- OS Memory
- OS System Calls
- Operating System Structure
- OS Processes and Threads
- OS Processes
- OS Process Model
- OS Process Creation
- OS Process Termination
- OS Process Hierarchies
- OS Process States
- OS Process Implementation
- OS Threads
- OS Thread Model
- OS Thread Implementation
- OS Pop-up Threads
- OS Interprocess Communication
- OS Scheduling
- OS Thread Scheduling
- OS Deadlocks
- OS Deadlocks
- OS Deadlock Resources
- OS Deadlock Conditions
- OS Deadlock Modelling
- OS Deadlock Detection
- OS Deadlock Recovery
- OS Deadlock Avoidance
- OS Deadlock Prevention
- OS Two-Phase Locking
- OS Memory Management
- OS Memory Management
- OS Monoprogramming
- OS Multiprogramming
- OS Relocation and Protection
- Memory Management with Bitmap
- Memory Management with Linked List
- OS Virtual Memory
- OS Page Replacement Algorithms
- OS Local vs Global Allocation Policie
- OS Load Control
- OS Page Size
- OS Separate Instruction & Data Space
- OS Shared Pages
- OS Cleaning Policies
- OS Virtual Memory Interface
- OS Implementation Issues
- OS Involvement with Paging
- OS Page Fault Handling
- OS Instruction Backup
- OS Locking Pages in Memory
- OS Backing Store
- OS Separation of Policy & Mechanism
- OS Segmentation
- Operating System Input/Output
- Operating System Input/Output
- OS Input/Output Devices
- OS Device Controllers
- OS Memory-Mapped Input/Output
- OS Direct Memory Access DMA
- OS Input/Output Software Goals
- OS Programmed Input/Output
- OS Interrupt-Driven Input/Output
- OS Input/Output using DMA
- OS Input/Output Software Layers
- OS Disks
- OS Disk Hardware
- OS Disk Formatting
- OS Stable Storage
- OS Clocks
- OS Character-Oriented Terminals
- OS RS-232 Terminal Hardware
- OS Graphical User Interfaces
- OS Network Terminals
- OS Power Management
- OS File Systems
- OS Files
- OS File Naming
- OS File Structure
- OS File Types
- OS File Access
- OS File Attributes
- OS File Operations
- OS Memory-Mapped Files
- OS Directories
- OS Single-Level Directory System
- OS Two-Level Directory System
- OS Hierarchical Directory System
- OS Path Names
- OS Directory Operations
- OS File System Implementation
- OS File System Layout
- OS Disk Space Management
- Multimedia Operating System
- Multimedia Operating System
- OS Multimedia Files
- OS Audio Encoding
- OS Video Encoding
- OS Video Compression
- OS Multimedia Process Scheduling
- OS Multimedia File System Paradigm
- OS File Placement
- OS Caching
- OS Disk Scheduling
- OS Multiple Processor System
- OS Multiprocessors
- OS Multiprocessor Hardware
- OS Multiprocessor Synchronization
- OS Multiprocessor Scheduling
- OS Multicomputers
- OS Multicomputer Hardware
- Low-Level Communication Software
- User-Level Communication Software
- OS Remote Procedure Call
- OS Distributed Shared Memory
- OS Multicomputer Scheduling
- OS Load Balancing
- OS Distributed System
- OS Network Hardware
- OS Network Services and Protocols
- OS Document-Based Middleware
- OS File System-Based Middleware
- OS Shared Object-Based Middleware
- Operating System Security
- Operating System Security
- OS Threats
- OS Intruders
- OS Accidental Data Loss
- Basics of Cryptography
- Secret-Key Cryptography
- Public-Key Cryptography
- OS Digital Signatures
- OS User Authentication
- OS Trojan Horses
- OS Login Spoofing
- OS Logic Bombs
- OS Trap Doors
- OS Viruses
- OS AntiViruses
- OS Internet Worms
- Give Online Test
- All Test List
- Operating System Test
OS File Access
There is only one type of file access that was support by the early OS which is called as sequential access.
In sequential access file systems, a process could read all bytes/records in a file in order, starting at the beginning, but couldn't skip around and read them out of the order.
Sequential files could be read as often as needed.
Sequential files are very convenient when magnetic tape was the storage medium.
But when the disks as the storage medium came into picture/use for storing the required files, then it became possible to read the bytes or records of a file out of the order, or to access any record by the key, rather than by position.
That files whose bytes/records can be read in any order are called random access files.
Random access files are required and essential for many computer application, for eg., database systems.
« Previous Tutorial Next Tutorial »
Like/Share Us on Facebook 😋