Storage Devices

Storage Devices
Storage Devices

is a device for recording (storing) information (data).

Recording can be done using virtually any form of energy,
spanning from manual muscle power in handwriting, to
acoustic vibrations in phonographic recording, to
electromagnetic energy modulating magnetic tape and optical
discs.

Storage Devices
Optical Storage Devices- CD
CD-ROM - CD Read Only Memory. When you buy the disk, it already has the data or program
stored on it. You can read it, but can't save to it. For example would be a music CD.
CD-WORM - CD Write Once Read Many. This means that you are able to save to this disk one
time, so you can store your data or an application on it. However, once you have saved onto
the disk once, you can access the data many times but can't save onto it again.
CD-RW - CD Read Write. This means that you can save data to your disk over and over again,
just like you can with a floppy disk.
Compact disks are known as optical storage devices. Data is burned onto the surface of the
disk using a laser beam in the CD drive. A laser beam is also used to read the data stored on
the disk.
A typical CD can store around 650 Mb of data - equivalent to 450 floppy disks.

Advantages
Small and portable
Very cheap to produce
Fairly fast to access the data - quicker than a floppy disk or magnetic tape

Disadvantages
Fairly fragile, easy to snap or scratch
Smaller storage capacity than a hard drive or DVD
Slower to access than the hard disk.

Storage Devices
Optical Storage Devices-DVD
DVDs are amongst the most common methods of copying and backing up data at home.
A DVD is similar to a CD in that it is an optical device and that a laser is used to store
the data and read the data.
A single sided DVD can store about 4.7Gb of data. DVDs which store data on both
sides can hold over 9Gb of data.

Advantages
Very large storage capacity
Sound and picture quality is excellent, making them ideal for storing films with video
and sound.
DVDs are now mass produced so they are relatively cheap
DVD players can read CDs

Disadvantages
DVDs do not work in CD drives
There is no single standard of DVD
They can be easily damaged by breaking or scratching

Storage Devices
CD Rom & DVD Rom
Application which require the prevention of deletion of data accidentally
.CDs use by software company for distributing software programs and data,
by Music companies for distributing music albums and by book publishers for
distributing reference books.DVD used by film distributor.

Advantage
Can store data permanently
Not expensive

Disadvantage
Cannot edit or delete data

Storage Devices
CD R & DVD R
Applications which require a single burning of data, e.g. CDs recording of
music downloads from the Internet, recording of music from MP3 format,
recording of data for archiving or backup purposes. DVDs recording of
film movies and television programs

Advantage :
Light and thin
Not expensive
Fast responding

Disadvantage :
Single Burning
Can be written once

Storage Devices
Storage Devices
CD RW & DVD RW
Applications which require the updating of information and ability to record over old
data. These are rewritable optical discs. Not suitable for music recording but is very
useful for keeping generations of files. DVDs have between five to ten times the
capacity of CDs.
DVD-RW discs are commonly used to store data in a non-volatile format, such as when
creating backups or collections of files. They are also used for home DVD video
recorders. One benefit to using a rewritable disc is if there are writing errors when
recording data, the disc is not ruined and can still store data by erasing the faulty data.
CD-RW discs need to be blanked before reuse. Different blanking methods can be
used, including "full" blanking in which the entire surface of the disc is cleared, and
"fast" blanking in which only meta-data areas are cleared.

Advantage :
Hold 650 mb of data 74 mins of audio
Less expensive than Blu-ray and HD-DVD

Disadvantage :
Slower to write
CD-RW discs require more sensitive laser optics

Storage Devices
DVD RAM
Housed in a cartridge. Used in video recorders, camcorders and computer
memory.
DVD-RAM technology provides excellent data integrity, data retention and
damage protection through a number of mechanisms and properties.
Therefore, DVD-RAM is perceived by people (who need to store their data
on DVDs for long periods of time) to be better than the other DVD
technologies for traditional computer usage tasks such as general data
storage, and especially data backup and archival.
DVD-RAM has a larger presence in camcorders and set-top boxes than in
computers, although the popularity of DVD-RAM in these devices can be
explained by its being very easily written to and erased, which for example
allows extensive in-camera editing.

Advantage :
Superior quality of the disc
Less problem about formatting and finalizing

Disadvantage :
Less compatibility than DVD-RW and DVD+RW




Storage Devices
HD DVD
HD DVD, also known as High-Definition DVD, is an optical disc that is able to store
large amounts of data, such as high-definition videos. It was considered to be the
successor of the DVD. It used to compete against the Blu-ray Disc, a similar version of
a optical disc that is designed to hold large amounts of media, but all of the companies
that backed it decided to only use Blu-Ray discs, so the HD DVD format is now
considered dead.


Advantage :
Cheaper price comparing to Blu-ray
Fully compatible with all features
More user/consumer friendly

Disadvantage :
Less support for 7.1 surround, no uncompressed soundtracks
Less studio support


Storage Devices
Blu-ray
Blu-ray is a high-density optical disc format similar to DVD. Blu-ray is the type of disc
used for Playstation 3 games and for playing high-definition movies, formerly competing
against the now obsolete HD DVD format. One dual-layer Blu-ray disc can store up to
50GB (gigabytes) of data. That is five times more than a DVD, and 70 times more than a
CD or VCD.
The name Blu-ray Disc refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows
information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-
wavelength red laser used for DVDs.

Advantage :
Greater storage space allows for greater amounts of information on one disc this
results in the ability to carry 7.1 surround
Support from more movie studios
Uncompressed sound

Disadvantage :
More expensive than HD DVD
Storage Devices
Pinky 10GM
Storage Devices
Magnetic Storage Devices-Floppy
Disk
Floppy disks are one of the oldest types of portable storage devices still in use.
A floppy disk can store up to 1.44 Mb of data which is equivalent to around 300 pages of A4
text. They used to be the ideal storage device for transferring small files from home to
work/school or from one office computer to another. But nowadays, many files contain
graphics that are larger than the size of the floppy disk.
Floppy disks are a magnetic storage device.
All disks must be formatted before data can be written to the disk. Formatting divides the
disk up into sections or sectors onto which data files are stored.

Advantages
Portable - small and lightweight ,inexpensive
Useful for transferring small files between home and school
Security tab to stop data from being written over
Can be used many times

Disadvantages
Not very strong - easy to damage
Data can be erased if the disk comes into contact with a magnetic field
Quite slow to access and retrieve data when compared to a hard disk
Can transport viruses from one machine to another
Small storage capacity



Storage Devices
Magnetic Storage Devices-Zip Disk

Zip disks look similar to a floppy disk but are a little bit thicker.
Computers generally didn't come with a zip drive installed, so you couldn't just use one
in the same way as a floppy disk. You needed a separate plug in drive, which was an
extra expense.
They can store around 100Mb of data - 70 times more than a floppy disk.

Advantages
Stores more data than a floppy disk
Compresses data, reducing the file size, so more data can be stored
Portable

Disadvantages
Almost obselete now
Need a separate zip drive to read the disk
More expensive than floppy disks

Storage Devices
Magnetic Storage Devices-Magnetic
Tape

Large organizations who need to back up their systems daily tend to use magnetic tapes
to store their data.
Magnetic tape uses 'serial access' to find a piece of data. It works as much the same
way as a video tape. To find a specific piece of data, you have to start at the beginning
of the tape and continue fast forwarding until you get to the piece of data. This makes
it fairly slow to find and retrieve data so it would not be much use to store data that
are needed to get hold of quickly.

Advantages
relatively cheap per megabyte of storage
can store large amounts of data - over 100 GB
can be set up to do the back up overnight or over the weekend

Disadvantages
serial access so can be quite slow to access data
need a special piece of equipment to record and read the data on the tape

Storage Devices
Solid State Devices Flash memory
card &Memory stick
Flash memory storage devices are typically small, lightweight, removable and rewritable.
They consist of a small printed circuit board which is encased in plastic or metal casing.
They usually have a removable cap which covers and protects the part of the stick
which is inserted into a USB port.

Memory stick are available from 1GB up to 8GB

Advantages
They are more compact than floppy disks or CDs/DVDs.
They hold more data than a floppy disk, nowadays often more than a CD.
They are being developed with fashionable looking outer casings and are almost
becoming a 'fashion accessory.

Disadvantages
The cost per megabyte of storage is more expensive than floppy disks, CDs or DVDs.
They can be easily lost .
The metal part which is inserted into the USB port can be snapped off if they are
handled roughly.

Storage Devices
Storage Devices