We report on a bulk object-loading algorithm for persistent object stores c
alled Ghosted Allocation. It allocates large numbers of objects in a persis
tent store atomically, efficiently, and reliably. Its main strengths are th
at it minimizes I/O traffic, optimizes the disk access pattern, and does no
t impose complex requirements on applications. Our experiments demonstrate
that the Ghosted Allocation algorithm is efficient and most importantly sca
lable, sustaining allocation rates of up to 63 000 objects s(-1). Copyright
(C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.