SSDVis: Teaching Students Modern OS Concepts in a Flash

Motivation: Solid-state drives (SSDs) are now ubiquitous in computing systems, yet their internal data layout and operations remain largely invisible and difficult for students to conceptualize. Existing operating systems (OS) teaching materials provide minimal learning support for these abstract processes, which in turn limits student understanding. Method: We designed SSDVis, a web-based interactive SSD visualizer that enables students to simulate file operations and observe SSD internals through coordinated visualizations and step-by-step execution. We evaluated it in a third-year OS course by surveying students (N=154) on their usage and perceptions of SSDVis. Results: 95.4% of survey participants reported using the visualizer extensively, and the overwhelming majority reported improved understanding of SSD data layout, file operations, and garbage collection when using SSDVis. Students valued the interactive features for predicting and verifying behavior, including the step-by-step mode. While usage for understanding wear leveling was lower, this likely reflects the topic's inherent complexity to observe indirectly in elaborate scenarios, rather than usability issues. Implications: Our findings show that a pedagogically designed SSD visualizer has the potential to effectively support the learning of modern OS topics with complex hidden mechanisms.