Advantages of Variable(Dynamic) Partitioning
- No Internal Fragmentation: In variable Partitioning, space in the main memory is allocated strictly according to the need of the process, hence there is no case of internal fragmentation. There will be no unused space left in the partition.
- No restriction on the Degree of Multiprogramming: More processes can be accommodated due to the absence of internal fragmentation. A process can be loaded until the memory is empty.
- No Limitation on the Size of the Process: In Fixed partitioning, the process with a size greater than the size of the largest partition could not be loaded and the process can not be divided as it is invalid in the contiguous allocation technique. Here, In variable partitioning, the process size can’t be restricted since the partition size is decided according to the process size.
Variable (or Dynamic) Partitioning in Operating System
In operating systems, Memory Management is the function responsible for allocating and managing a computer’s main memory. The memory Management function keeps track of the status of each memory location, either allocated or free to ensure effective and efficient use of Primary Memory.
Below are Memory Management Techniques.
- Contiguous
- Non-Contiguous
In the Contiguous Technique, the executing process must be loaded entirely in the main memory. The contiguous Technique can be divided into:
- Fixed (static) partitioning
- Variable (dynamic) partitioning