Secondary Storage Devices Magnetic Tapes A recording medium consisting of a thin tape with a coating of a fine magnetic material,

used for recording analogue or digital data. Data is stored in frames across the width of the tape. The frames are grouped into blocks or records which are separated rom other blocks by gaps. Magnetic tape is a serial access medium, similar to an audio cassette, and so data (like the songs on a music tape) cannot be quickly located. However large amounts of information can be stored within magnetic tape. This characteristic has prompted its use in the regular backing up of hard disks. Magnetic Disk The primary computer storage device. Like tape, it is magnetically recorded and can be re-recorded over and over. Disks are rotating platters with a mechanical arm that moves a read/write head between the outer and inner edges of the platter's surface. It can take as long as one second to find a location on a floppy disk to as little as a coupleof milliseconds on a fast hard disk. Tracks and Spots The disk surface is divided into concentric tracks (circles within circles). The thinner thet racks, the more storage. The data bits are recorded as tiny magnetic spots on thet racks. The smaller the spot, the more bits per inch and the greater the storage. Sectors Tracks are further divided into sectors, which hold a block of data that is read or written at one time; for example, READ SECTOR 782, WRITE SECTOR 5448. In order to . update the disk, one or more sectors are read into the computer, changed and written back to disk. The operating system figures out how to fit data into these fixed spaces. Modern disks have more sectors in the outer tracks than the inner ones because the outer radius of the platter is greater than the inner radius Tracks are concentric circle son the disk, broken up into storage units called "sectors." The sector, which is typically512 bytes, is the smallest unit that can be read or written. SAN (Storage Area Network) A SAN (Storage Area Network) is a network specifically dedicated to the task of transporting data for storage and retrieval. SAN architectures are alternatives to storing data on disks directly attached to servers or storing data on Network Attached Storage(NAS) devices which are connected through general purpose networks. In order to meet the demands of the storage system, enterprises apply SAN to increase the system efficiency and capacity expansion. According to SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association), SAN is:1. The purpose of the SAN is transmitting data between storage systems and storage systems or storage systems and client servers. The SAN fabric contains physical connections from storage systems to client, and then storage management devices, servers, and network devices. However, SAN is usually defined as block I/O services provider.2. The storage system contains storage components, devices, computer equipments, software applications, and network devices.SAN is able to attach with various kinds of storage devices, such as disk-array sub systems, CD towers, magnetic tape drivers and libraries, and provides data I/O services via hub or switches through network connections technologies to obtain ultra-high data density. A typical MO cartridge is slightly larger than a conventional 3.5-inch magnetic diskette, and looks similar. But while the older type of magnetic

diskette can store 1.44 megabytes (MB) of data, an MO diskette can store many times that amount ,anging from 100 MB up to several An MO system achieves its high data density by using a laser and a magnetic read/write head in combination. Both the laser and the magnet are used to write data onto the diskette. The laser heats up the diskette surface so it can be easily magnetized, and also to allow the region of magnet ization to be precisely located and confined. A less intense laser isused to read data from the diskette. Data can be erased and/oroverwritten an unlimitednumber of times, as with a conventional3.5-inch diskette. Examples of magneto-optical drives are the Fujitsu Dyna MO, a 230 MB drive used in the PowerPC Apple Power book, a note book computer, and the Pinnacle Micro Vertex, a 2.6 GB drive. DVD DVD is an abbreviation of Digital Versatile Disc- read only memory. DVD-ROM is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, which includes movies with high video and sound quality. DVD-ROM is a non-volatile optical storage medium similar to CD-ROM, which contains computer data that cannot beerased or rewritten. These DVDs are read-only disks that have storage capacity for 133minutes of high quality video, in format, and audio full- length feature film. The discs are pressed in a similar fashion as the CDs. The reflective surface is gold or silver colored. DVD-ROM can be accessed using a DVD-ROM drive attached to the personal computer. DVD-ROM drives are backward compatible, i.e. they are also capable of reading CD-ROMs and audio CDs as well. The DVD-ROM supports disks withcapacities of 4.7 GB to 17 GB and access rates of 600 KBps to 1.3 MBps. A standardDVD disc store up to 9.4 GB of data. DVD-ROMs are of same size as a compact disc,but holds data about 7 times more. DVD can store that much of data because both thesides of a disc are used, with sophisticated data compression technologies. DVD-ROM is a variation of CD-ROM that is being used in place of CD-ROMs in manypersonal computers. All DVD-ROMs contain a file system, UDF, which is an extensionof the ISO 9660 Standard used for data CDs. Memory Card A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card ) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices. Most of the current products useflash memory, although other technologies are being developed. There are a number of memory cards on the market, including the SD card ( secure digital card), the CF card ( Compact Flash card), the Smart Media card, the Memory Stick, and the Multi Media Card (MMC). These cards are of varying sizes, andeach is available in a range of storage capacities that typically corresponds directly to the price. The Compact Flash card is about the size of a matchbook, while the Multi Media Card and Secure Digital card are each about the size of a postage stamp. The latter two are expected to reach storage capacities up to 1 gigabyte (GB) by the end of 2002.

Most available cards have constantly powerednonvolatile memory, which means thatdata is stable on the card, is not threatened by a loss of power source, and does notneed to be periodically refreshed. Because memory cards are solid state media, theyhave no moving parts, and therefore, are unlikely to suffer mechanical difficulties.Earlier removable storage media, such as thePC card, thesmart card, and similar cards used for game systems, can also be considered to be memory cards. However,the newer cards are smaller, require less power, have higher storage capacity, and areportable among a greater number of devices. Because of these features, memory cardsare influencing the production of an increasing number of small, lightweight and low-power devices.Memory cards offer a number of advantages over thehard disk drive: they're muchsmaller and lighter, extremely portable, completely silent, allow more immediate access,and are less prone to mechanical damage. In comparison, however, the hard disk stilloffers a compelling advantage: currently, a memory card (for example, CompactFlash)with a 192MB capacity typically costs more than a hard drive with a capacity of 4OGB