What is Variable (Dynamic) Partitioning?
It is a part of the Contiguous allocation technique. It is used to alleviate the problem faced by Fixed Partitioning. In contrast with fixed partitioning, partitions are not made before the execution or during system configuration. Various features associated with variable Partitioning-
- Initially, RAM is empty and partitions are made during the run-time according to the process’s need instead of partitioning during system configuration.
- The size of the partition will be equal to the incoming process.
- The partition size varies according to the need of the process so that internal fragmentation can be avoided to ensure efficient utilization of RAM.
- The number of partitions in RAM is not fixed and depends on the number of incoming processes and the Main Memory’s 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