Operating systems – I/O strategies: What is the term for staging data for a peripheral device on disk so it can be transferred later at a convenient time or in bulk?

Introduction / Context:
Operating systems often decouple the production of data from its consumption by slow peripherals (like printers). A classic technique is to queue output to disk and process it later, improving throughput and user responsiveness.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The task involves writing to an intermediate store (usually disk) before the peripheral uses the data.
• The transfer happens later or in batches.
• We distinguish this from memory caching or CPU scheduling.

Concept / Approach:
SPOOL stands for Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line. The OS writes jobs (for example, print jobs) to a spool directory on disk. A background service (spooler) then feeds the device at its own pace. This design prevents applications from blocking on slow device operations and allows job reordering or prioritization.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Printer queues and mail queues are standard examples of spooling; system administration tools show jobs in the spool directory being processed asynchronously.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Multiprogramming: CPU scheduling concept. Caching: performance optimization in fast memory, not disk queuing for devices. Virtual programming: not a recognized OS concept.

Common Pitfalls:
Confusing caching with spooling because both improve responsiveness; caching is about read performance, spooling is about deferred writes/outputs.

Final Answer:
spooling