Name: ___________________ Section: _____ Date: __________
ICT Grade 6 Ch- 1 Digital Devices Notes- 5 Storage
Storage
Secondary storage:
• Secondary storage is often referred as ‘storage’.
• Primary storage or main memory, which is used to refer Random Access Memory
(RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM).
• Secondary storage is non-volatile, which means it will not lose data when the system’s
power is turned off.
Secondary storage is used for:
• Storing a document for future use.
• Storing application, ready to be located into RAM when the user opens the application
• Virtual memory
Devices:
• Storage devices are used to store data or
software that is used in a computer
system.
• Storage devices can be either internal or
external. Internal drives connect directly to
the computer’s motherboard. External
devices are connected to the computer’s
motherboard through the different ports
and adapters on the computer’s exterior.
There are different types of storage device:
• Hard disk drives (HDD) contain hard disk media. The drives provide a connection from
the disk to the motherboard, either directly or using a wireless adapter like Wi-Fi or a
wired port like USB.
• Solid state drives (SSD, often referred to as flash drives) contain flash memory media.
They are otherwise identical to hard disk drives.
• Optical disk drives contain optical disk media. Newer drives are often compatible with
older media. For example, a disk drive that can read Blu-ray media can also read DVD
and CD media. This is known as backward compatibility.
1
MEDIA :
HARD DISK :
• Hard disks are made up of many
concentric platters.
• These platters make up a cylinder that
spins on a central spindle.
• A read/write head moves on an arm
across tracks on the platter.
• The amount of time that it takes the
read/write head to access data on the
tracks is determined by how fast the
cylinder of platters spins and how fast the
read/write head is moved across the
tracks.
• When reading, a read/write head changes
magnetic field into electrical current.
• When writing, it transforms electrical
current into a magnetic field.
• Typical spin speeds are 5400 revolutions per minute (rpm) or 7200 rpm.
• The average seek time for a read/write head is 4-15 milliseconds (ms).
OPTICAL MEDIA:
Types of optical media include CDs, DVDs and
Blu-ray disks.
• CDs can store up to 700 MB of data. The data is
written to the disk using a laser, which writes data
to a plastic layer beneath layers of aluminium and
acrylic.
• DVDs look very much like CDs. Data is written to
DVDs using shorter wavelength of red laser light,
which allows DVDs to store more data. They can
store 4.7 GB on a single-sided, single-layer disk.
Double-sided, dual-layer disks can store as much
as 18 GB. Blu-ray disks are similar to CDs and DVDs but use a scratch-protection
coating. Violet laser light is used to store data at greater density than the red laser light
in DVDs. They can store 25 GB on a single-sided disk, and double-sided disks can
store 50 GB.
• All optical media is recordable and is known as CD-R, DVD-R or BD-R. Some CDs and
DVDs can be rewritten (CD-RW, DVD-RW), and some Blu-ray media can be written
then erased and rewritten (BD-RE).
2
How an optical disk drive reads data from a disk.
• A laser light shine (onto the surface)
• A(read) head moves across the surface of a rotating disk
• Light is reflected (to the photocell) if a land /flat area exists (and detected by a
photocell) representing a 1.
• Light is scattered if a pit exists (and not detected by the photocell) representing a 0
How an optical disk drive writes data from a disk
• Laser light burns the CD creating pits and lands. The pit represents 0 and the land
represents 1.
FLASH MEDIA:
• Flash media are more energy- efficient than hard disks as they do not have
moving parts.
• They are also less likely to fail when they are moved around.
• This makes them suitable for use in portable
devices.
MAGNETIC TAPE :
• Magnetic tape was originally designed to record
sound, but it is now also used to store data.
Comparing types of media:
Hard Flash Optical Magnetic
disk media media tape
Data access Fast Fastest Slow slowest
speed
Maximum Varies up to Varies upto CD700MB DVD Varies up to
capacity 128 GB many TB 18GB Blu-ray 185 TB
50GB
Cost per GB High Very high Medium low
Use Servers, PC, Laptops, Multimedia Whole system
backups mobile (music, games backups and
devices and films), file archives
backups
Portability Not suitable Yes Not suitable Not suitable
3
Storage media store data in binary form. This means that each bit of data holds one
of two values: 0 or 1. Different media types interpret 0 or 1 differently.
• Hard disks change the magnetic charge of a platter to either negative or positive,
depending on whether the value is 0 or 1.
• Optical media use tiny bumps on the disk’s surface to represent 0 and 1.
• Flash media use different levels of electrical charge, held in tiny individual cells, to
represent 0 or 1.
• Magnetic tape changes the magnetic charge of the tape to either negative or
positive, depending on whether the value is 0 or 1.
Unit of storage capacity:
1 byte = 8 bits
1 KiB= 1024 Bytes
1 MiB= 1024 KiB
1 GiB= 1024 MiB
1 TiB= 1024 GiB
Subject vocabulary:
Volatile: likely to change, especially quickly or unpredictably
Virtual memory: space on a computer for storing instructions and programs until they
are needed or being used
Motherboard: the circuit in a computer with connectors to which other components
connect
Backwards compatibility: the ability to be used with older technology without having to
be specially adapted
Concentric: (of circles or circular objects) sharing the same central point
Spindle: a rod around which something spins
Platters: circular plates
Read/write head: the part of a disk drive that passes across the platters on a very thin
layer of gas above the platters
Seek time: the time it takes for a read/write head to locate the area on the disk where
the data to be read is stored
Data access speed: how quickly data can be read from or written to media
Capacity: the amount of data that can be stored on media
Bit: a single unit of information with a value of either 0 or 1; eight bits equal to one byte