Operating System: Understanding External Fragmentation and Deadlock

What is the segment mechanism used for in Operating System memory management?

(a) To subdivide disks into partitions
(b) To solve External Fragmentation problem
(c) To control shared locks
(d) To provide direct access to fixed-length files

Answer:

The correct answer is option (b): To solve External Fragmentation problem

Explanation:

Segmentation is a memory management technique in Operating System (OS) that is used to solve the issue of external fragmentation. External fragmentation occurs when free memory blocks are scattered between used blocks, making it difficult to allocate contiguous memory blocks to processes or applications. Segmentation allows memory allocation in varying size partitions, which helps eliminate wastage caused by external fragmentation.