SECONDARY STORAGE

TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH BACKING STORAGE AND

MEDIA DEVICES

READ/WRITE HEAD
A mechanism in the drive which is used to read

information from or write information to a disk

It is positioned on the surface of the rotating disk
When writing to a disk it generates electronic

impulses representing the bits to be recorded

To retrieve data from different tracks on the disk,

the drive moves the read/write head from track

to track

 The process of transferring

data from main memory to
secondary storage media.

WRITE

Write

The process of transferring

data, instructions and
information from a storage
medium into main memory.

READ

READ vs WRITE

 A set of track clusters

The path on a tape, disk or drum on which data

are stored
On a disk these paths are concentric circles
Each track is numbered
Helps in the location of data stored on a disk

CLUSTE
R
TRACK

A pie (wedge)-shaped piece of a track

Each sector is numbered
The amount of data that can be read from or
written to
a disk by the computer in one
read/write operation
The smallest addressable portion of a track

SECTOR

ILLUSTRATION OF A SECTOR, TRACK

AND CLUSTER

CYLINDER
A cylinder is a set

of
matched
tracks one above
the other.
A

hard disk is
actually a set of
hard metal disks
mounted in the
same spindle

BUFFER
A buffer is a temporary area holding data that is in

transit from one device to another, so that neither

device is delayed by the other.
Buffering is used to match different speeds of various

devices and peripherals

For example, when the speed at which the Control Unit

is processing data to be outputted is not the same as

the speed at which the data is being outputted, the
data that is waiting to be processed or outputted is
stored in a temporary block of memory called a buffer.
The buffer empties when the data has been outputted
or the Control Unit is ready to accept more data .

ACCESS TIME
The time a program or device takes to locate a single piece of
information and make it available to the computer for processing
is calledSEQUENTIAL
ACCESS TIME

ACCESS

is where items
are read, one at a
time, from the start of
the file, in key value
order.

DIRECT ACCESS

This

This

is where any item can be

retrieved immediately, provided its
position in the file is known.

Examples

Example of media with

sequential access:
magnetic tape.

of
media
with
random/direct access: floppy disk,
CD, hard disk.

DEVICE INTERFACES
A

SCSI (Small Computer System

Interface)

peripheral interface
that can independently
distribute data very
quickly
among
peripherals attached to
the computer

Usually associated with

hard disks and tape

devices,
but
can
connect a wide range
of
other
devices
(including
scanners,

Is
backward
compatible this
means, a faster, newer
storage device can still
work with the older
and slower interface

IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronics

or Integrated Drive Electronics)
A general purpose

interface used to
connect
internal
storage
devices,
such as CD-ROM
drives, hard drives,
and floppy drives,
within a computer
system.

SATA (Serial Advanced

Technology Attachment)
A

computer bus
primarily designed
for transfer of data
between
a
computer and mass
storage
devices
such as hard disk
drives and optical
drives.

USB (Universal
Serial Bus)
Most used interface

to connect devices
like a printer, mouse,
and scanner to a
personal computer

FIREWIRE
A
high-speed
serial bus with
easier
cabling
than SCSI, which
makes it more
practical

CALCULATING DISK
STORAGE
DISKETTE
Total storage space =

Number of disk surfaces (2)

Number of tracks on each disk

surface (80)

Number of sectors per track (18)

Number of bytes per sector ()

HARD DISK
Total storage space =

Number of disk read/write heads

Number of cylinders

Number of sectors per track

Number of bytes per sector