System for simulating access times of a CD ROM on a hard disk by slowing the operation of the hard disk

摘要

A simulation system for simulating transfer operation of blocks of data in a target data storage unit such as an optical compact disk read only memory. Blocks of the data are contained in a memory to which a simulation computer has direct access without requiring that the target data storage unit be operatively connected to the simulation computer. Simulation comprises the steps of characterizing a hypothetical transfer of data operation of the target data storage unit by calculating its performance characteristics for the particular transfer operation in units of time; controlling direct access by the simulation computer to the data in the memory in accordance with the calculated performance time, and providing the results of the direct access simulation to the user. Simultaneous simulations of the target data storage unit may be carried out for the same or different types of host computers.