Optimal Arrangements of Cartridges in Carousel Type Mass Storage Systems

Optimal arrangements of cartridges and file partitioning schemes are examined in carousel type mass storage systems using Markov decision theory. It is shown that the Organ-Pipe Arrangement is optimal under different storage configurations for both the anticipatory as well as the non-anticipatory versions of the problem. When requests arrive as per an arbitrary renewal process this arrangement is also shown to minimize the mean queueing delay and the time spent in the system by the requests.