<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
specifically	O
in	O
Unix	B-Application
and	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
raw	B-Application
device	I-Application
is	O
a	O
special	O
kind	O
of	O
logical	O
device	O
associated	O
with	O
a	O
character	O
device	B-Application
file	I-Application
that	O
allows	O
a	O
storage	O
device	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
hard	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drive	I-Device
to	O
be	O
accessed	O
directly	O
,	O
bypassing	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
's	O
caches	B-General_Concept
and	O
buffers	O
(	O
although	O
the	O
hardware	O
caches	B-General_Concept
might	O
still	O
be	O
used	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Applications	O
like	O
a	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
can	O
use	O
raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
directly	O
,	O
enabling	O
them	O
to	O
manage	O
how	O
data	O
is	O
cached	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
deferring	O
this	O
task	O
to	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
FreeBSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
all	O
device	B-Application
files	I-Application
are	O
in	O
fact	O
raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
,	O
raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
were	O
deprecated	O
and	O
scheduled	O
for	O
removal	O
at	O
one	O
point	O
,	O
because	O
the	O
flag	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
instead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
later	O
the	O
decision	O
was	O
made	O
to	O
keep	O
raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
support	O
since	O
some	O
software	O
cannot	O
use	O
the	O
flag	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
simply	O
open	O
block	O
devices	O
as	O
if	O
the	O
flag	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
specified	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Raw	B-Application
devices	I-Application
are	O
character	O
devices	O
(	O
major	O
number	O
162	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
command-line	B-Device
utility	I-Device
called	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
bind	O
a	O
raw	B-Application
device	I-Application
to	O
an	O
existing	O
block	O
device	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
"	O
existing	O
block	O
devices	O
"	O
may	O
be	O
disks	O
or	O
CD-ROMs/DVDs	O
whose	O
underlying	O
interface	O
can	O
be	O
anything	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
IDE/ATA	O
or	O
SCSI	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
