A problem inherent to the performance of disk systems is the data placement in cyinders in such a way that the seek time is
minimized. If successive searchers are independent, then the optimal placement for conventional one-headed disk systems is
the organ-pipe arrangement. According to this arrangement the most frequent cylinder is placed in the central location, while
the less frequent cylinders are placed right and left alternatively. This paper proves that the optimal placement for two-headed
disk systems is the “camel” arrangement, which may be viewed as two consecutive organ-pipe arrangements. It is also proved
that, for a two-headed disk system withN=2(2n+1) cylinders, the total number of these optimal camel arrangements is exp2 (N/2+1).
CR categories and subject descriptors D.4.2
General terms Algorithms - Performance
Additional key-words and phrases Camel arrangement - Data placement - Organ-pipe arrangement - Seek distance - Two-headed disk
Professor J. G. Kollias died untimely December 1989.