CSE 330 MODULE 7 - FILE SYSTEMS AND STORAGE
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS
Question 1. During crash-recovery reasoning, which technical observation about SSTF is accurate?
A. Benefits depend on device characteristics; SSDs have different seek behavior from HDDs.
B. SCAN bounds some starvation behavior by sweeping across the address range.
C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
D. Different RAID levels trade capacity, write cost, read performance, and failure tolerance.
Correct Answer: C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
Explanation: SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
Question 2. When examining file metadata, which design choice best addresses the requirement to locate file
data and attributes after pathname resolution?
A. Inode
B. File
C. File descriptor
D. Directory
Correct Answer: A. Inode
Explanation: Inode is the best fit because it is used to locate file data and attributes after pathname resolution.
Question 3. When examining file metadata, how should SCAN scheduling be characterized?
A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput, latency, and fairness on
devices where request order matters.
B. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one direction, then reverses
direction.
C. Shortest-seek-time-first disk scheduling selects the pending request closest to the current head position.
D. A technique combining multiple storage devices to improve performance, capacity organization, and/or fault
tolerance through striping, mirroring, or parity.
Correct Answer: B. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one
direction, then reverses direction.
Explanation: SCAN scheduling: An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one
direction, then reverses direction.
Question 4. During crash-recovery reasoning, which technical observation about Symbolic link is accurate?
A. A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
B. Files are accessed through OS-managed metadata, permissions, and file operations.
C. Descriptors index process open-file state and can be duplicated/inherited according to OS rules.
D. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Correct Answer: A. A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
Explanation: A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
,Question 5. When examining file metadata, which design choice best addresses the requirement to build
resilient/high-throughput storage arrays?
A. Disk scheduling
B. RAID
C. SSTF
D. SCAN scheduling
Correct Answer: B. RAID
Explanation: RAID is the best fit because it is used to build resilient/high-throughput storage arrays.
Question 6. When examining file metadata, how should File descriptor be characterized?
A. A named persistent byte/object abstraction used by an OS to store information on secondary storage.
B. A Unix-like filesystem metadata structure that stores file attributes and references to data blocks but normally not
the filename itself.
C. A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel object.
D. A filesystem object that maps names to files/subdirectories and supports hierarchical pathname organization.
Correct Answer: C. A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel
object.
Explanation: File descriptor: A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel
object.
Question 7. When examining file metadata, which behavior is associated with Page cache?
A. Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization semantics.
B. Benefits depend on device characteristics; SSDs have different seek behavior from HDDs.
C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
D. SCAN bounds some starvation behavior by sweeping across the address range.
Correct Answer: A. Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization
semantics.
Explanation: Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization semantics.
Question 8. In a storage-allocation analysis, an implementation needs to perform reads, writes, and other
operations on an opened resource. What should it use?
A. File descriptor
B. File
C. Inode
D. Directory
Correct Answer: A. File descriptor
Explanation: File descriptor is the best fit because it is used to perform reads, writes, and other operations on an opened
resource.
, Question 9. In a storage-allocation analysis, which design mistake is most closely associated with Page
cache?
A. Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile media.
B. Applying a seek-minimization policy to an SSD and assuming identical performance rationale.
C. Assuming locally shortest seeks guarantee fairness to all requests.
D. Calling SCAN identical to FCFS because both eventually serve requests.
Correct Answer: A. Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile
media.
Explanation: The key pitfall is: Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile
media.
Question 10. In a storage-allocation analysis, what should an engineer remember about Inode?
A. Files are accessed through OS-managed metadata, permissions, and file operations.
B. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
C. Descriptors index process open-file state and can be duplicated/inherited according to OS rules.
D. Directory permissions affect lookup/create/remove operations independently of file-content permissions.
Correct Answer: B. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Explanation: Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Question 11. During a filesystem review, which definition best describes Disk scheduling?
A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput, latency, and fairness on
devices where request order matters.
B. Shortest-seek-time-first disk scheduling selects the pending request closest to the current head position.
C. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one direction, then reverses
direction.
D. A technique combining multiple storage devices to improve performance, capacity organization, and/or fault
tolerance through striping, mirroring, or parity.
Correct Answer: A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput,
latency, and fairness on devices where request order matters.
Explanation: Disk scheduling: The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput,
latency, and fairness on devices where request order matters.
Question 12. During a filesystem review, which misuse of Inode should be avoided?
A. Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
B. Assuming a filename itself contains all metadata needed to locate every data block directly.
C. Treating descriptor number 3 in one process as necessarily referring to the same object as descriptor 3 in
another.
D. Assuming write permission on a file alone always permits deleting its directory entry.
Correct Answer: A. Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
Explanation: The key pitfall is: Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS
Question 1. During crash-recovery reasoning, which technical observation about SSTF is accurate?
A. Benefits depend on device characteristics; SSDs have different seek behavior from HDDs.
B. SCAN bounds some starvation behavior by sweeping across the address range.
C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
D. Different RAID levels trade capacity, write cost, read performance, and failure tolerance.
Correct Answer: C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
Explanation: SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
Question 2. When examining file metadata, which design choice best addresses the requirement to locate file
data and attributes after pathname resolution?
A. Inode
B. File
C. File descriptor
D. Directory
Correct Answer: A. Inode
Explanation: Inode is the best fit because it is used to locate file data and attributes after pathname resolution.
Question 3. When examining file metadata, how should SCAN scheduling be characterized?
A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput, latency, and fairness on
devices where request order matters.
B. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one direction, then reverses
direction.
C. Shortest-seek-time-first disk scheduling selects the pending request closest to the current head position.
D. A technique combining multiple storage devices to improve performance, capacity organization, and/or fault
tolerance through striping, mirroring, or parity.
Correct Answer: B. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one
direction, then reverses direction.
Explanation: SCAN scheduling: An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one
direction, then reverses direction.
Question 4. During crash-recovery reasoning, which technical observation about Symbolic link is accurate?
A. A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
B. Files are accessed through OS-managed metadata, permissions, and file operations.
C. Descriptors index process open-file state and can be duplicated/inherited according to OS rules.
D. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Correct Answer: A. A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
Explanation: A symlink can become dangling if its target path no longer resolves.
,Question 5. When examining file metadata, which design choice best addresses the requirement to build
resilient/high-throughput storage arrays?
A. Disk scheduling
B. RAID
C. SSTF
D. SCAN scheduling
Correct Answer: B. RAID
Explanation: RAID is the best fit because it is used to build resilient/high-throughput storage arrays.
Question 6. When examining file metadata, how should File descriptor be characterized?
A. A named persistent byte/object abstraction used by an OS to store information on secondary storage.
B. A Unix-like filesystem metadata structure that stores file attributes and references to data blocks but normally not
the filename itself.
C. A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel object.
D. A filesystem object that maps names to files/subdirectories and supports hierarchical pathname organization.
Correct Answer: C. A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel
object.
Explanation: File descriptor: A per-process small integer handle referring to an open file, pipe, socket, or similar kernel
object.
Question 7. When examining file metadata, which behavior is associated with Page cache?
A. Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization semantics.
B. Benefits depend on device characteristics; SSDs have different seek behavior from HDDs.
C. SSTF can starve requests far from the current busy region.
D. SCAN bounds some starvation behavior by sweeping across the address range.
Correct Answer: A. Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization
semantics.
Explanation: Cached writes may be delayed, so durability requires appropriate flush/synchronization semantics.
Question 8. In a storage-allocation analysis, an implementation needs to perform reads, writes, and other
operations on an opened resource. What should it use?
A. File descriptor
B. File
C. Inode
D. Directory
Correct Answer: A. File descriptor
Explanation: File descriptor is the best fit because it is used to perform reads, writes, and other operations on an opened
resource.
, Question 9. In a storage-allocation analysis, which design mistake is most closely associated with Page
cache?
A. Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile media.
B. Applying a seek-minimization policy to an SSD and assuming identical performance rationale.
C. Assuming locally shortest seeks guarantee fairness to all requests.
D. Calling SCAN identical to FCFS because both eventually serve requests.
Correct Answer: A. Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile
media.
Explanation: The key pitfall is: Treating a cache hit or completed buffered write as proof the data is already on nonvolatile
media.
Question 10. In a storage-allocation analysis, what should an engineer remember about Inode?
A. Files are accessed through OS-managed metadata, permissions, and file operations.
B. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
C. Descriptors index process open-file state and can be duplicated/inherited according to OS rules.
D. Directory permissions affect lookup/create/remove operations independently of file-content permissions.
Correct Answer: B. Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Explanation: Multiple directory entries can refer to the same inode through hard links.
Question 11. During a filesystem review, which definition best describes Disk scheduling?
A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput, latency, and fairness on
devices where request order matters.
B. Shortest-seek-time-first disk scheduling selects the pending request closest to the current head position.
C. An elevator-style disk algorithm that services requests while moving the head in one direction, then reverses
direction.
D. A technique combining multiple storage devices to improve performance, capacity organization, and/or fault
tolerance through striping, mirroring, or parity.
Correct Answer: A. The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput,
latency, and fairness on devices where request order matters.
Explanation: Disk scheduling: The policy for ordering pending storage requests to balance seek cost, throughput,
latency, and fairness on devices where request order matters.
Question 12. During a filesystem review, which misuse of Inode should be avoided?
A. Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
B. Assuming a filename itself contains all metadata needed to locate every data block directly.
C. Treating descriptor number 3 in one process as necessarily referring to the same object as descriptor 3 in
another.
D. Assuming write permission on a file alone always permits deleting its directory entry.
Correct Answer: A. Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
Explanation: The key pitfall is: Assuming renaming a directory entry must move or copy all file data blocks.
