character device and Block device 1

[ahmedmt1981]

Dears

How are you all??? Hope you are doing well

Please I have a question

What is the difference between raw files in /dev/rdsk and Block files in /dev/dsk files?

I know that there are character device files and block device files and I know the deference in their structure

Also /dev/dsk is used only in mount and umount and /dev/rdsk is used for almost all of other commands

Could you please tell me the difference in their tasks or why we are using two types of device files?

Many many thanks in advance

 

[Annihilannic]

Block devices are buffered by the operating system for more efficient I/O performance. No buffering is done on character devices unless it is done by the application itself.

A good summary here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_device

Annihilannic.