LOGICAL DISK: A SIMPLE NEW APPROACH TO IMPROVING FILE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
Wiebren de Jonge, F. Kaashoek, Wilson C. Hsieh · DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) · 1993
Making a file system efficient usually requires extensive modifications. For example, making a file system log-structured requires the introduction of new data structures that are tightly coupled with the general file system code. This paper describes a new organization for file systems, using a Logical Disk (LD); LD defines a simple new interface that separates file management and disk management. The interface simplifies the implementation of file systems and also improves performance. An implementation of a POSIX-compliant file system using LD confirms the benefits of this new organization. By trading main memory for a clean separation between file and disk management, LD allows file systems to achieve high performance.