New Click here to Enroll for SIDBI MSME Expert Class by ex-GM, SBI on Nov 24

    Register

    Question

    Why does paging incur memory overhead in operating systems?

    A Because it requires additional disk space for storing page tables. Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    B Because it needs extra CPU cycles to manage page faults. Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    C Because it requires extra memory to store page tables and translation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    D Because it increases the process's virtual address space. Correct Answer Incorrect Answer
    E Because it causes fragmentation in physical memory. Correct Answer Incorrect Answer

    Solution

    Paging is a memory management scheme that eliminates the need for contiguous allocation of physical memory and allows processes to be stored in non-contiguous locations, thereby reducing fragmentation. However, this flexibility comes at a cost: memory overhead . Paging incurs memory overhead primarily because it requires additional memory to store page tables . A page table maps virtual addresses to physical addresses, and each process has its own page table. For large processes, these tables can become quite large themselves, consuming significant amounts of memory. Additionally, to speed up memory access, Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs) are used to cache recent translations of virtual to physical addresses, and managing these buffers also adds to the overhead.

    Practice Next