Visual Processing File

Extensions (.sdf)
SmartDraw automates the creation of charts and
diagrams so that anyone can do it. Just click a few buttons. In fact, you can build diagrams
using only the keyboard. Insert shapes with simple commands. SmartDraw does the rest,
allowing you to focus on your content, not your drawing. SmartDraw includes more than 70
different kinds of charts, diagrams and other visuals. SmartDraw automation only begins at
making diagrams easy to build. It also formats them for you, so that they are always ready to
publish and share. SmartDraw is designed with Microsoft Office integration. What this means
is that with just one click, you can insert your diagram or visual directly into Word, Excel,
PowerPoint or Outlook. Save your drawing as a PDF with a click. SmartDraw also works with
Google DocsTM and other programs.

Audio File Extensions

(.wma)
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology
developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio
codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework A file
with the WMA file extension is a Windows Media Audio file.The easiest way to open a WMA file
is to double-click on it and let your PC decide which default application should open the file. If
no program opens the WMA file then you probably don't have an application installed that can
view and/or edit WMA files. WMA files can be opened with Windows Media Player, and very
likely some other popular media player applications as well.

Text Art File

Extensions
(.nfo, .tag)
The American Standard Code for Information
Interchange ASCII is a character-encoding scheme.
ASCII codes represent text in computers,
communications equipment, and other devices that use text.
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers
for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together
from the 95 printable (from a total of 128) characters defined
by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant
character sets
with proprietary
extended
characters
(beyond the 128
characters of
standard 7-bit
ASCII). The term
is also loosely
used to refer to
text based visual
art in general.
.nfo (also written .NFO or NFO, a contraction
of "info", or "information") is a commonly
used hree-letter filename extension for ext
files that accompany various digital scene
releases with information about them. Unlike
README files, NFO files often contain elaborate
ASCII art that nowadays can be viewed with dedicated NFO viewers, text editors with
appropriate fonts (Terminus) or online in public NFO databases.
Files that contain the .tag file extension are ASCII files that are used by the DFQuery search
string, which allows users to choose specific fields from a data file

Video File Extensions

(.nfo, .tag)
Adobe Flash (formerly called Macromedia Flash and Shockwave Flash) is a multimedia and
software platform used for creating vector graphics, animation, games and rich Internet
applications (RIAs) that can be viewed, played and executed in Adobe
Flash Player. Flash is frequently used to add streamed video or audio
players, advertisement and interactive multimedia content to web
pages, although usage of Flash on websites is declining. Flash
manipulates vector and raster graphics to provide animation of text,
drawings, and still images. It allows bidirectional streaming of audio and
video, and it can capture user input via mouse, keyboard, microphone
and camera. Flash applications and animations can be programmed
using the object-oriented language called ActionScript. Adobe Flash
Professional is the most popular authoring tool for creating the Flash
content, which also allows automation via the JavaScript Flash
language (JSFL). Adobe Flash Player makes the Flash content
accessible on various operating systems such as Windows OS and Linux, and is available free
of charge for common web browsers (as a plug-in) under a few of the major operating systems,
some smartphones and tablets, and a few other electronic devices using Flash Lite.

www.adobe.com/products/flashruntimes.html
Developer(s) =

Adobe Systems

Type =

Rich Internet application

ONLINE STORAGE
Features:

Cloud Storage made Simple is JustCloud's aim and they have

certainly achieved that. As well as software to automated your file
storage JustCloud also have free iPhone, iPad, Android and blackberyy apps so you can
backup these devices and access your files from anywhere at anytime. Additional extras include
file versioning, private and public file sharing, the ability to sync computer files, unlimited
storage, bank grade security and a feature to help find a lost laptop or mobile device.
Storage:

terms of storage space, JustCloud provides an unmatched storage capability by offering

unlimited storage space for its users. To seal the deal, the company also provides a
complimentary free account that allows you to use the software as you see it fit without any
charges whatsoever. Test out how fast downloading and uploading of files take as well as the
uptime of the server each day.
Ease Of Use:

Ease of use is another purchasing factor that is worthy of consideration. A complex system will
not allow convenient access to the data whenever needed by the user. Basically, JustCloud
systems work by simply choosing the documents you wish to upload. Once the initial backup
process is finished, the software will automatically save any modifications to your documents or
backup any new documents that have been added on to your PC or Mac. You can easily access
the data whenever you need to with the use of a computer or any mobile device with an internet
connection.

Features:

ZipCloud is endowed with some of the best features of their own and those of other data
storage providers. The product has incorporated file versioning, file sharing, automatic backup
and file syncing techniques. It is the complete storage product for all users from novice to
expert. It is worth mentioning that one can access the product from iPad, Blackberry, iPhone,
Mac and PC.
Storage Space:

ZipCloud can be used interchangeably with the term unlimited. The company provides unlimited
cloud storage at a cost of $4.95 on a monthly basis. The pricing is one of the most competitive
ones in the storage industry. The storage space is not limited to the amount of folders or files
that can be stored in them.
ZipCloud is one of the data storage companies that offer unlimited storage plan. The plan is
suitable movie lovers since there is no cap placed on the file size to be stored. It is worth
mentioning that large files tend to reduce the speed of backups but it's normal.
Ease Of Use:

Using ZipCloud is automated apart from the initial setup. One is free to try his or her free
ZipCloud account if there is any doubt about the product.

Features:

Dropbox method is keep things simple so they do lack features with other online backup / cloud
storage providers give you. You can share files and folders which you have dragged into your
dropbox, thats it really for features. Dropbox do have an iPad and iPhone app though which can
be classed as features.

Storage Space:

A basic Dropbox account is free and offers 2 GB of storage. If more storage is desired, a small
monthly fee will purchase up to 100 GB for personal use or more than 1 TB for businesses with
large combined quotas.

Ease Of Use:

Files can be easily added to a drop box, shared with anyone and updated. Updates are made to
all devices and only on the information changed not the whole file. Even if something is
accidentally deleted, Dropbox keeps a one month history of all files so it can be restored quickly.

Features:

SugarSync's most significant feature is the Universal sync platform, which structures SugarSync
- the first real 'push' synchronizing system. SugarSync enables users to choose any folder in
which to sync their data, and to share or access this data via the cloud. Data syncs to the cloud
automatically, and users access it via multiple devices through the SugarSync mobile apps.
Automatic online backup means that you will never lose another file, and data is transferred and
stored securely.
Storage Space:

SugarSync offers a free 5GB data allowance. This free storage provides easy and
instantaneous access to your data, as well as free mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android,
Windows Mobile, Symbian and Blackberry devices. You gain another 250MB if you have one of
these. You can obtain another 750MB by following the 'getting started program', 500MB with
SugarSync's referral plan, plus 10GB to your allowance for every friend you refer who joins up
to a paid account.
Ease Of Use:

SugarSync is fast and intuitive. It provides enough free space to store the files you want, with
plenty of paid options to extend your plan. Mobile apps for a wide range of devices give users
access to the folders they sync, effortlessly. It uses a smart and integrated automatic refreshing
of the sync, so users do not have to schedule weekly updates of information and files. The
service is constantly monitoring modifications to files and updates linked devices and the
SugarSync cloud server as soon as they occur.

Memory cards
Work in much the same way as a Flash drive and can often be converted into Flash Drives.
They have different connectors and are generally smaller than USB Flash drives allowing for
them to be used in cameras, mobile phones and game consoles.

USB(memory stick) Flash Drive

Internals of a typical USB flash drive

1

USB Standard-A plug

USB mass storage controller device

Test points

Flash memory chip

Crystal oscillator

LED

Write-protect switch (Optional)

Space for second flash memory chip

USB Flash drives are solid state, that means that there are no moving parts. This is very useful
for seek times as we don't have to wait for mechanical movement, meaning seek time is very
low and it allows for fast Random Access Memory. Flash drives can be set to read only mode,
but they will always allow for reading and writing. The size of flash drives is not as great as a
Hard Disk and they are generally much more expensive per megabyte
1. put drive into USB socket
2. USB driver loads, providing the computer with code on how to read and write from the
USB
3. The USB is read, giving information on the file and folder structure (File Allocation Table)
to the Computer
4. [Reading] The user chooses to open a file, the Computer sends the address wanted to
the USB port
5. [Reading] The USB returns the data at the location requested
6. [Writing] The computer sends data to the USB port where it is place into empty space on
the drive
7. [Writing] The computer then requests a new version of the file and folder structure
Pros
Very fast seek times
Very portable
Cons
Limited capacity
expensive per MB when compared to Hard Disks

CD-RW
The CD-RW is made of a reflective metal disk with a layer of a special ('phase change') metal
on top.
Writing to a CD-RW
1. A single track runs in a spiral pattern from the centre of the disc to the outside.
2. A high-powered laser is shone onto the CD-ROM. Depending on whether this is very
high powered or heats at a slightly lower temperature, the top layer of metal cools
differently. These will result in different amounts of reflectivity, which represent the 1s
and 0s.
3. The disc spins and the laser follows the track, putting the binary data onto the CD in a
spiral track
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4. The data has been written

Reading from a CD-RW
1. A single track runs in a spiral pattern from the centre of the disc to the outside, this track
is made of pits and lands to represent the ones and zeroes of binary data
2. A low-powered laser is shone on the surface and the reflection is captured in a
photodiode sensor. The different ways the metal has cooled reflect different amounts,
meaning it can tell the difference between a 1 and 0
3. The disc spins and the laser follows the track
4. The binary data (the 1s and 0s) are put together and the CD-ROM has been read
Pros
Cheap
Can be written to using a conventional home computer
Cons
Slow seek time
Data degrades with time, discs from 20 years ago might not work!
Data can be changed after writing
Not all CD players (mostly older ones) can read CD-RWs, as opposed to CD-ROMs and
CD-Rs

DD and SSD Explained

The traditional spinning hard drive (HDD) is the basic nonvolatile storage on a computer. That
is, it doesn't "go away" like the data on the system memory when you turn the system off. Hard
drives are essentially metal platters with a magnetic coating. That coating stores your data,
whether that data consists of weather reports from the last century, a high-definition copy of the
Star Wars trilogy, or your digital music collection. A read/write head on an arm accesses the
data while the platters are spinning in a hard drive enclosure.
An SSD does much the same job functionally (saving your data while the system is off, booting
your system, etc.) as an HDD, but instead of a magnetic coating on top of platters, the data is
stored on interconnected flash memory chips that retain the data even when there's no power
present. The chips can either be permanently installed on the system's motherboard (like on
some small laptops and ultrabooks), on a PCI/PCIe card (in some high-end workstations), or in
a box that's sized, shaped, and wired to slot in for a laptop or desktop's hard drive (common on

everything else). These flash memory chips differ from the flash memory in USB thumb drives in
the type and speed of the memory. That's the subject of a totally separate technical treatise, but
suffice it to say that the flash memory in SSDs is faster and more reliable than the flash memory
in USB thumb drives. SSDs are consequently more expensive than USB thumb drives for the
same capacities

dvantages and Disadvantages

Both SSDs and HDDs do the same job: They boot your system, store your applications, and
store your personal files. But each type of storage has its own unique feature set. The question
is, what's the difference, and why would a user get one over the other? We break it down:
Price: To put it bluntly, SSDs are very expensive in terms of dollar per GB. For the same
capacity and form factor 1TB internal 2.5-inch drive, you'll pay about $75 for an HDD, but as of
this writing, an SSD is a whopping $600. That translates into eight-cents-per-GB for the HDD
and 60 cents per GB for the SSD. Other capacities are slightly more affordable (250 to 256GB:
$150 SSD, $50 HDD), but you get the idea. Since HDDs are older, more established
technologies, they will remain less expensive for the near future. Those extra hundreds may
push your system price over budget.
Maximum and Common Capacity: As seen above, SSD units top out at 1TB, but those are
still very rare and expensive. You're more likely to find 128GB to 500GB units as primary drives
in systems. You'd be hard pressed to find a 128GB HDD in a PC these days, as 250 or even
500GB is considered a "base" system in 2014. Multimedia users will require even more, with
1TB to 4TB drives as common in high-end systems. Basically, the more storage capacity, the
more stuff (photos, music, videos, etc.) you can hold on your PC. While the (Internet) cloud may
be a good place to share these files between your phone, tablet, and PC, local storage is less
expensive, and you only have to buy it once.

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Speed: This is where SSDs shine. An SSD-equipped PC will boot in seconds, certainly under a
minute. A hard drive requires time to speed up to operating specs, and will continue to be
slower than an SSD during normal operation. A PC or Mac with an SSD boots faster, launches
apps faster, and has higher overall performance. Witness the higher PCMark scores on laptops
and desktops with SSD drives, plus the much higher scores and transfer times for external
SSDs vs. HDDs. Whether it's for fun, school, or business, the extra speed may be the difference
between finishing on time or failing.
Fragmentation: Because of their rotary recording surfaces, HDD surfaces work best with larger
files that are laid down in contiguous blocks. That way, the drive head can start and end its read
in one continuous motion. When hard drives start to fill up, large files can become scattered
around the disk platter, which is otherwise known as fragmentation. While read/write algorithms
have improved where the effect in minimized, the fact of the matter is that HDDs can become
fragmented, while SSDs don't care where the data is stored on its chips, since there's no
physical read head. SSDs are inherently faster.
Durability: An SSD has no moving parts, so it is more likely to keep your data safe in the event
that you drop your laptop bag or your system is shaken about by an earthquake while it's
operating. Most hard drives park their read/write heads when the system is off, but they are
flying over the drive platter at hundreds of miles an hour when they are in operation. Besides,
even parking brakes have limits. If you're rough on your equipment, a SSD is recommended.
Availability: Hard drives are simply more plentiful. Look at the product lists from Western
Digital, Toshiba, Seagate, Samsung, and Hitachi, and you'll see many more HDD model
numbers than SSDs. For PCs and Macs, HDDs won't be going away completely, at least for the
next couple of years. You'll also see many more HDD choices than SSDs from different

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manufacturers for the same capacities. SSD model lines are growing in number, but HDDs are
still the majority for storage devices in PCs.

Form Factors: Because HDDs rely on spinning platters, there is a limit to how small they can
be manufactured. There was an initiative to make smaller 1.8-inch spinning hard drives, but
that's stalled at about 320GB, since the MP3 player and smartphone manufacturers have
settled on flash memory for their primary storage. SSDs have no such limitation, so they can
continue to shrink as time goes on. SSDs are available in 2.5-inch laptop drive-sized boxes, but
that's only for convenience, as stated above. As laptops become slimmer and tablets take over
as primary Web surfing platforms, you'll start to see the adoption of SSDs skyrocket.
Noise: Even the quietest HDD will emit a bit of noise when it is in use from the drive spinning or
the read arm moving back and forth, particularly if it's in a system that's been banged about or in
an all-metal system where it's been shoddily installed. Faster hard drives will make more noise
than slower ones. SSDs make virtually no noise at all, since they're non-mechanical.
Overall: HDDs win on price, capacity, and availability. SSDs work best if speed, ruggedness,
form factor, noise, or fragmentation (technically part of speed) are important factors to you. If it
weren't for the price and capacity issues, SSDs would be the winner hands down.
As far as longevity goes, while it is true that SSDs wear out over time (each cell in a flash
memory bank has a limited number of times it can be written and erased), thanks to TRIM
technology built into SSDs that dynamically optimizes these read/write cycles, you're more likely
to discard the system for obsolescence before you start running into read/write errors. The
possible exceptions are high-end multimedia users like video editors who read and write data
constantly, but those users will need the larger capacities of hard drives anyway. Hard drives
will eventually wear out from constant use as well, since they use physical recording methods.
Longevity is a wash when it's separated from travel and ruggedness concerns.

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