Introduction to
Computers
Storage Devices
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Storage
What is storage?
➢ Holds data, instructions, and information for future use
➢ Hard disk is physical material used for storage
▪ Also called secondary storage
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Storage
What is storage capacity?
➢ Number of bytes (characters) a storage medium can hold
Kilobyte (KB) 1 thousand
Megabyte (MB) 1 million
Gigabyte (GB) 1 billion
Terabyte (TB) 1 trillion
Petabyte (PB) 1 quadrillion
Exabyte (EB) 1 quintillion
Zettabyte (ZB) 1 sextillion
Yottabyte (YB) 1 septillion
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Storage
How does volatility compare?
➢ Storage medium is non-volatile, contents retained when
power is off
➢ Memory is volatile, holds data and instructions temporarily
ON OFF
Screen Display Display Display
Volatile
appears disappears
Memory Data and Data and
(most RAM) instructions instructions erased
(chips on motherboard) available to user
Nonvolatile
Storage Medium Contents Contents
(hard disks, CDs, DVDs, available to user retained
USB flash drives, etc.)
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Storage
What is reading/ writing?
Hardware that
Reading records and Writing
Process of transferring
retrieves items Process of transferring
items from storage to and from items from memory
media to memory storage media to storage media
Functions as source Creates output
of input
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Magnetic Disks : use magnetic particles
What are track and sectors?
___track___ sectors
__sector_
is narrow
recording band track stores up to
that forms full 512 bytes
circle on disk of data
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Magnetic Disks : use magnetic particles
For reading and writing purposes, sectors are grouped into clusters.
A cluster is the smallest unit of disk space that stores data and information, and consists of two
to eight sectors
Even if a file consists of only a few bytes, it uses an entire cluster.
Each cluster holds data from only one file, but one file can span many clusters.
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Magnetic Disks
What is a hard disk?
➢ High-capacity storage
➢ Consists of several
inflexible, circular
platters that store items
electronically
➢ Components enclosed in
airtight, sealed case for
protection
Longitudinal recording
Perpendicular recording
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Magnetic Disks
What are characteristics of a hard disk?
Sample Hard Disk Characteristics
Advertised capacity 500 GB
Platters 4
Read/write heads 8
Cylinders 16,383
Bytes per second 512
Sectors per track 63
Sectors per drive 973,773,168 actual
disk
Revolutions per minute 7,200 capacity
Transfer rate 300 MBps
Access time 8.5 ms
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Magnetic Disks
How does a hard disk work?
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Magnetic Disks
Top view of platter
What is a hard disk platter? track
➢ Vertical section of sector
track through all
platters
➢ Single movement
of read/write head
arms accesses all
platters
read/write
in cylinder. head
side view of platter
platter
sides
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cylinder
Magnetic Disks
What is a head crush?
➢ Occurs when read/write head touches platter surface
➢ Usually resultiing in a loss of data or sometimes loss of the entire drive
➢ Spinning creates cushion of air that floats read/write head above platter
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Magnetic Disks
What are external hard disks and removable hard disks?
➢ Used to back up or transfer files
Removable hard disk—hard disk
External hard disk—freestanding that you insert and remove
hard disk that connects to system unit from hard disk drive
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Magnetic Disks
What is online storage ?
➢ Service on Web that provides storage for
minimal monthly fee
➢ Files can be accessed from
any computer with Web
access
➢ Large files can be downloaded
instantaneously
➢ Others can be authorized
to access your data
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Magnetic Disks
What is a floppy disk?
➢ Portable, inexpensive storage
medium (also called diskette)
Thin, circular, flexible film enclosed
in 3.5” wide plastic shell
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Optical Discs
What are optical disks?
➢ Flat, round, portable
metal discs made of
metal, plastic, and
lacquer
➢ Can be read only or
read/write
➢ Most PCs include an
optical disc drive
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Optical Discs
How does a laser read data on an optical disc?
disc label
lens pit land lens
Step 3.
Step 2. Reflected light is
0 1
If light strikes deflected to a
a pit, it scatters. light-sensing diode,
If light strikes a which send a digital
prism land, it is prism signals of 1 to
light- reflected back light- computer. Absence
Step 1.
sensing toward diode. sensing of reflected light is
Laser diode
shines a light diode diode read as a digital
beam toward laser laser signal of 0.
disc. diode diode
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Optical Discs
How is data stored on an optical disc?
➢ Typically stored in
single track
➢ Track divided
into evenly
sized sectors
that store
items
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Optical Discs
What is a CD_ROM?
➢ Compact disc read-only memory
➢ Cannot erase or modify contents
➢ Typically holds 650 MB to 1 GB
➢ Commonly used to distribute multimedia and complex software
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Optical Discs
What is the data transfer rate of a CD-ROM drive?
Ranges from
48X to 75X 75X
or faster
75 150 KBps = 11,250 KBps
75X is 150 KBps
or 12.25 MBps
(KB per second)
48X:
48 150 KBps = 7,200 KBps
or 7.2 MBps
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Optical Discs
What are CD_R and CD_RW? Must have
CD recorder
or CD-R drive
(compact disc-recordable)
— disc you can write on once
c
Cannot erase
disc’s contents
_________ (compact disc-rewritable)
— erasable disc you can write on
ce
multiple times
Must have
CD-RW software
and CD-RW drive
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Optical Discs
What is a DVD_ROM (digital versatile
disc-ROM or digital video disc-ROM)?
➢ Stores databases, music,
complex software, and movies
➢ Blu-ray discs have storage
capacity of up to 100 GB
➢ HD-DVD discs have storage
capacity of up to 60 GB
➢ HD-VMDs have storage
capacity of up to 40 GB or more
➢ UMD can store up to 1.8 GB
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Tape
What is a Tape?
➢ Magnetically coated plastic ribbon
capable of storing large amounts
of data at low cost
➢ Primarily used for backup
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Tape
How is data stored on a tape?
➢ Sequential access
▪ Reads and writes data consecutively, like music tape
▪ Unlike direct access — used on hard disks, CDs, and
DVDs — which can locate particular item immediately
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PC Cards and ExpressCard Modules
Removable devices.
➢ PC Card : a thin credit card sized removable flash memory
deice.
➢ Express Card : a removable device, smaller than PC Card.
➢ They can be used for adding memory, storage,
communications, multimedia, and security capabilites.
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Miniature Mobile Storage Media
What is miniature mobile storage media?
➢ Storage for small mobile devices
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Miniature Mobile Storage Media
What are common types of flash memory cards?
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Miniature Mobile Storage Media
What is a USB?
➢ Plugs in a USB port on a computer or mobile device
➢ Storage capacities up to 64 GB
➢ May eventually make the floppy disk nearly obsolete
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Miniature Mobile Storage Media
What is a smart card ?
➢ Stores data on microprocessor
embedded in small card
➢ Input, process, output, and
storage capabilities
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