Log out Go to App
Go to App

Learning Materials

Features

Discover

Chapter 13: Problem 10

How does disk mirroring help improve reliability? Give a quantitative example.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Disk mirroring improves reliability by providing a real-time backup of data. If one disk fails, the system can automatically switch to the mirror disk without any data loss or downtime. For instance, with a disk MTBF of 100,000 hours, disk mirroring would double the MTBF to 200,000 hours.

Step by step solution

01

Defining Disk Mirroring

Disk Mirroring is a part of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) where data is copied exactly on two or more disks. This redundancy increases the reliability as the data is not lost if one disk fails.
02

Explaining Reliability

Reliability, in computer science, refers to the ability of a system to run without failure over a specific period. In the context of data storage and disk mirroring, it refers to the robustness of data storage and the ability to avoid data loss.
03

Quantitative Example

Consider a disk drive which has a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of 100,000 hours. With disk mirroring, even if one disk fails, the other disk can prevent data loss until the faulty disk is replaced. This would effectively double the MTBF to 200,000 hours and halves the Annual Failure Rate (AFR), thus improving the reliability.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

What are mixed files used for? What are other types of primary file organizations?

Define the following terms: disk, disk pack, track, block, cylinder, sector, interblock gap, read/write head.

What are the components of a disk block address?

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using (a) an unordered file, (b) an ordered file, and (c) a static hash file with buckets and chaining. Which operations can be performed efficiently on each of these organizations, and which operations are expensive?

Suppose we have a sequential (ordered) file of 100,000 records where each record is 240 bytes. Assume that \(B=2400\) bytes, \(s=16 \mathrm{ms}, r d=8.3 \mathrm{ms},\) and \(b t t=0.8 \mathrm{ms}\) Suppose we want to make \(X\) independent random record reads from the file. We could make \(X\) random block reads or we could perform one exhaustive read of the entire file looking for those \(X\) records. The question is to decide when it would be more efficient to perform one exhaustive read of the entire file than to perform \(x\) individual random reads. That is, what is the value for \(X\) when an exhaustive read of the file is more efficient than random \(X\) reads? Develop this as a function of \(X\)
See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Computer Science Textbooks

Data Representation in Computer Science

Read Explanation

Computer Programming

Read Explanation

Algorithms in Computer Science

Read Explanation

Issues in Computer Science

Read Explanation

Computer Network

Read Explanation

Problem Solving Techniques

Read Explanation
View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free