CHAPTER - 3

SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICES

INTRODUCTION

Storing data into a machine so that it can be accessed again is not a new concept. In the earlier
times, cards punched with holes were used to store data. In the first digital computer in early
1940’s, vacuum tubes stored the data but by 1950s, magnetic tape came in widespread use,
which was followed shortly by magnetic drums. In 1957 the IBM introduced the first hard drive
for storing the data. The early drive used over 50, 24-inch disks to store just 5 megabyte of data
and was quite expensive. However today, a 40GB hard drive makes use of less then 2.5” inch
platter and cost less than Rs.5000. Like these there are number of other storage devices some
of them make use of magnetic particles and other use optical technology for storing the high
volume data. There have been concerted efforts in developing storage devices with higher
capacities and faster access time. This was necessitated due to the increasing use of interactive
and multimedia programs and data i.e. text, audio, video and graphics in almost every
application. The files with such kind of data require higher storage capacities. To meet this
demand, the storage capacities are increasing at a faster pace i.e. from 20MB in 1990s to 40
GB in 2000, an increase of 2,000 times. In this chapter, we shall discuss about the concepts of
storage, techniques for storage, various storage medias, their characteristics, data
compression, fragmentation and the criteria for rating secondary storage devices.

OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you would be able to:

 Understand the need for secondary storage

 Describe the process of compression and decompression
 Compare secondary storage devices
 Identify various storage devices and their characteristics
 Appreciate the problems of fragmentation
 Discuss the devices for mass storage
 Compare Optical and hard disks

STORAGE

The term ‘storage’ refers to both primary and secondary storage or memory. The primary
memory or storage (also called as main or internal memory) or RAM (Random Access Memory)
is the working memory is most important component in a computer system. It stores the data to
be processed, the application program or instructions to be performed on the data and the
results of processing i.e. processed data. It therefore interacts with input devices, output devices
and the CPU for performing the above tasks.

The RAM of a computer is a limited resource due to its high cost. The RAM is never large
enough to store all sizes of applications programs or data. It is volatile is nature. Volatile
memory or storage means temporary memory, all data stored in which is lost as soon as the
computer power is switched off. In addition, the primary storage is limited due to its enormous
cost. For this reason, secondary storage (also called mass, auxiliary or external storage) is
made available in a computer system. For example, Floppy Disk Drive, Hard Disk Drive, CD-
Drive, etc. It is the location where data is available when it is not being processed. Secondary

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memory or storage consists of devices that stores data and programs permanently and are
therefore non-volatile in nature as the contents are not lost when power is turned off. These
devices provide huge storage capacity needed to store multimedia data and programs. For
example the RAM in a typical system may be only 64MB but may have secondary storage of
20GB or 40 GB. Data in permanent storage cannot be immediately processed, they must be
read into RAM first. Data coming from storage are processed somewhat slower than data that is
in memory.

There are four basic steps performed by the operating system in storing data: 

1. Data are temporarily copied to special areas of RAM called output buffers.

2. The physical location is determined based on the file allocation information maintained
by the operating system.

3. Commands are sent to the storage device controller to position the read/write heads.
 

4. Electrical impulses representing the data are converted to magnetic spots according to
coding schemes (i.e. ASCII) 

HIERARCHY OF DATA

The data for storage needs to be represented in some way so that it can be referred according
to needs. The individual items of data are represented in terms of 0s and 1s i.e. the binary
digits. A binary digit 0 or 1 is called a bit. A collection of bits (normally 8) is called a byte. It is
used to represent a digit, a character or any other value. The bits and bytes are handled by
hardware and therefore a user may not be concerned about them. However, the data storage
hierarchy consists of the following:

Bit – A binary digit 1 or 0 is called a bit.

Byte – A collection of bits (normally 8) is referred to as a byte. It may be a single alphabet, digit,
or special character such as 5, A, @, etc.

Data Field - A collection of bytes to form a unit of meaningful data. The name, age, address,
employee number are example of data field each one of which represents some attribute.

Data Record – A data record is a collection of inter-related data fields. Example of a record
could be for a particular product: Product code, Product description, Stock, etc. or your Name,
Age, Address, Qualification, etc.

Data File – A collection of inter-related records. Examples are employee file, income tax file,
purchase order file, etc. Each file contains number of records related to same operation/activity.

Database – A collection of inter-related data files. For example, an organizational database may
contain data on various activities of the organization in various files such as marketing, sales,
production, finance, etc.

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 Figure 3.1: Hierarchy of Data

MEASUREMENT OF DATA STORAGE CAPACITY

The data capacity of a storage device is measured in terms of the following units:

Kilobytes (KB) - A kilobyte is equivalent to 1024 bytes i.e. 2 10 bytes. It used to be a common unit
of measure for storage capacity. A kilo means 1000 so 1 KB is approximately considered to be
about 1000 bytes. But due to increasing storage capacities, it has become uncommon.

Megabytes (MB) – A megabyte is equivalent to 1024 KB or 1024 x 1024 byte or 1048576 bytes.
However it is normally considered to be around 1 million or 10 6 bytes. This is the unit used for
describing the primary memory or RAM of the computer.

Gigabytes (GB) – A gigabyte is equivalent to 1024 MB or 1024 x 1024 KB or 1073741824 bytes.

However it is generally considered to be around 1 billion or 10 9 bytes. This is the unit used these
days for describing the secondary storage capacity in a computer.

Terabytes (TB) – A terabyte is equivalent to 1024 GB. However it is generally considered to be

around 1 trillion or 1012 bytes

COMPRESSION AND DECOMPRESSION

Since storage devices costs money, therefore it may not always be possible to buy new storage
devices. However certain techniques are available so as to increase the storage capacity of a
device. These can be used instead of buying a new storage device and therefore are called
storage economy tools.

Compression or data compression is a method of removing redundant elements from a file so

as to reduce the storage requirement of the file. The reduced size of the file requires less time
for communication. When the data is to be used again, it needs to be decompressed. The
technique of compression and decompression is often referred as ‘codec’ technique. Generally
the files to be used less frequently are compressed to free more storage space. The trade-off is
time since decompression consumes times, which results in delay in using the data.

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Digital image and speech are important components in modern multimedia applications. Due to
the extensive breadth of this field, it is impossible to list all of the currently available
compression techniques. We have listed out some techniques that are famous in the field.
However, the principal methods of data compression are:

 Lossless compression
 Lossy compression

Lossless compression technique compresses the data by avoiding repetition of data and still
preserving every bit of data that was input. This does not allow any error in the reconstructed
image, which means the output data is exactly same as input data. This is used in compressing
computer data, medical imaging, astronomical imaging, etc. In these applications computing
devices instead of human eyes processes the image. These techniques shrink a file to the
extent of 70% or more by removing irrelevant characters or spaces.

Lossy compression technique achieve greater compression of images by discarding some part
of data permanently. It means the image reconstructed will not be exactly similar to the original.
For example some shades of colour or some sound effects may be lost. Similar to lossless
image compression, lossy image compression also has many application areas such as digital
camera and personal World Wide Web (WWW) publications. These applications often require
less image fidelity in reconstructed image. Thus, they can afford some loss of information during
the coding process. Therefore, due to the human-based nature of lossy image compression
technique, its compression performance usually outperforms that of lossless compression. The
limitation of this technique is that it compresses only graphic files, which have been stored using
a resolution of 320x200.

Standards for Compression

There are a number of compression standards that exist for compression. These are required to
provide inter-operability of files created using different standards. Some of the popular
compression standards are:

JPEG (jaypeg): The Joint Photographic Experts Group of the International Standards
Organization is responsible for development of international standards for compression and
coding of continuous tone (gray scale and colour) still digital images. This is one of the most
popular standard for storing and transmitting still images. This scheme compresses an image
by discarding repetitive picture pixels in the image. It makes use of lossless compression
technique. The potential applications, which may use this standard, are information databases,
electronic mail, photo editing, colour facsimile, medical imaging, etc.

MPEG (empeg): Set up in 1988 by ISO, Moving Picture Experts Group is responsible for
evolving international standards for digitally coded motion video and its associated audio for:
diverse applications as education/training, games, entertainment, travel guidance, video mail,
videotext, desktop video publishing, video telephone, video conferencing, This group has
developed a number of standards for motion pictures or moving images such as MPEG-1,
MPEG-2, MPEG-4.

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MPEG-1 : It is the standard for compressed video for devices such as CDs, DATs, Winchester
Disk and optical drives since 1994.The compressed bit stream from MPEG-1 can give a quality
comparable to VHS tape. It is similar to JPEG.

MPEG-2: It is a higher standard for compressing high quality video for delivery over satellite
dishes, cable and CDs. This standard provides fast forward playback, fast reverse playback,
pause, slow motion and still pictures. It records just a few frames rather than all the frames and
then describes the adjacent frames using how they differ from the ones stored.

MPEG-3: has been skipped and was mainly intended to be a coding standard suitable for HDTV
but was incorporated into MPEG-2.

MPEG-4: The MPEG-4 standard is expected to be the major standard in the world of multimedia
communications. It is an ISO/IEC standard developed by MPEG for wireless video-
conferencing. In this arrangement two or more persons chat over a televised channel. This
requires ‘codec’ to be able to compress the image as it records and be able to decompress
(play back) immediately. One of the major aims of the MPEG-4 standard is to facilitate the
convergence of the Computing, Telecommunications and Media industries. It builds on the
efficient compression algorithms of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 and adds new functionalities, which
enable multimedia to be delivered across a variety of networks over a wide range of bit rates.

TYPES OF STORAGE DEVICES

A storage device is a device that holds data for an extended period of time. There are many
types of storage devices used today. Each type has different storage capacities. Storage
devices are considered both input and output hardware. The different types of secondary
storage devices currently in use are the following:
 Diskettes
 Hard Disks
 Optical Disks
 Magnetic Tapes
 Flash Memory Cards

DISKETTES

A diskette or floppy disk is the most popularly used removable storage media since the advent
of microcomputers. As compared to hard disks, the spinning speed, density, and storage
capacity of a floppy are lower. However the greatest advantage is that it is portable. In order to
read or write data or programs in a floppy disk, we make use of a ‘floppy drive’. Floppy disks are
made of a flexible mylar disk covered by a thin layer of magnetic material (magnetic oxide). The
data on the diskette is stored in the form of electromagnetic charge (magnetized spots). The
presence or absence of electro-magnetic charge represents the data. For example, the
presence of magnetism indicates 1 while absence of it indicates 0. This plastic sheet is
enclosed either in a hard plastic case or soft plastic square shape jacket to protect the
magnetized surface from the external effects. This plastic casing is soft for the 5¼” disks and
hard for the 3½" disks.

Characteristics of Diskettes

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The primary characteristics of diskettes are:

 Tracks and Sectors: The data recording on a diskette takes place in the form of concentric
circles or rings called tracks. The tracks are similar to what we find on a gramophone record,
however these are invisible to human eye. The density of these tracks determines the
capacity of the diskette. The tracks are divided into sectors. Sectors are invisible wedge-
shaped sections of track used for storage reference purposes. Generally there are 9 or 18
sectors per track. The data is stored in various sectors and can be located or referenced by
using the sector number and the track number

 Formatting: The diskettes may be either formatted or unformatted. In case of unformatted

diskettes, user is required to perform a task called “Formatting”. This is required as
unformatted diskettes are manufactured without any consideration as to which type of
computers they would be used upon. The process of formatting prepares the disk so that the
drive in the computer can use it. Formatting or Initializing is a process which defines the
sectors on a floppy disk so that the operating system can read or write information on it.
These days the new diskettes we buy are pre-formatted for use on IBM PC and therefore
can be directly used on an IBM compatible microcomputer. Formatting is done quickly by
using a few simple software commands. To do this, at the DOS prompt (the C:/ ) type
"format A:". That's "format", space, then A:. The diskette in the drive A will be formatted. In
Windows, we can do this through the menus in the File Manager or Windows Explorer. For
example, as shown in the screen below, if we right click on floppy drive A on the My
Computer screen, the format option appears on the screen. When it asks for a label, it wants
to know what you want to call the disk. Just type something, or leave it blank, it doesn't
matter.

 Write-protection: A diskette need to be protected from accidental writing which may destroy
the data already stored in it. To make it non-destructive i.e. non-writable, diskette has a
write-protect feature. This write-protect feature protects a diskette from being written to. The
protection mechanism is different in two types of disks. In case of a 5¼” disk, the write-
protect notch, a small square cutout on the side of the disk needs to be covered by a piece
of self adhesive tape or stocker in order to protect it. i.e. to keep it read only. In case of 3-
1/2” disk, the write protect hole, visible from backside of the disk and appears on the left
upper corner need to be uncovered (opposite to 5-1/4” floppy) by sliding the lever toward the
edge of the disk to make it write-protected.

 Data storage capacity: The amount of data that can be stored in a diskette depends on the
number of sides used for recording and the recording density. All diskettes are double sided
i.e. capable of storing data on both surfaces or sides. This capability requires that there
should be two read-write heads to read the data simultaneously. The recording density
refers to the number of bytes that can be recorded/stored onto the surface of the disk. The
diskette may be single-density, double-density or high-density. For example a double sided
high density 3-1/2” diskette can store around 1.44 MB of data.

How a diskette is organized

A diskette layout is divided into the system storage area and the data storage area. The system
storage area consists of the boot sector, the file allocation table, and the file directory. There will
only be one boot sector per diskette, regardless of the size, but the number of sectors required
for the remainder of the system area varies, depending on the diskette capacity.

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Sector layout numbering begins at Track 0, Side 0 and Sector 1. The sector number is
increased until the number of available sectors is reached. Then the Side is changed from 0 to 1
and the sector sequence repeat again. At the end of side 1 a cylinder is complete and we must
increase the track number to start the next one. This process continues until the last track is
reached.
Disk access time measures the speed at which data can be written or retrieved. There are four
factors that control disk access time for floppy disks:

1.  Seek Time--Time to position heads over proper track.

2.  Latency or Rotational Delay--Time it takes to revolve to the proper sector. A hard disk
rotates at 300 RPM. A floppy disk stops revolving when not in use, so it must also
reach operating speed of 300 RPM first.

3.  Placing read/write heads in contact with the disk.

4.  Data Transfer Rate--Time it takes to transfer the data from the disk. 
The data on disks are stored in files. Files are a way of organizing data so that they are easier
to find and manipulate by grouping related data and giving the collection a name. Data on
permanent storage must be read into memory before it can be processed.

There are two kinds of diskettes that are used on microcomputers:

 5.25" disks

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 These are the old diskette types. They are large in size and accept the big 5-1/4" disks.
The diskette is kept inside a flexible square-shaped plastic case (called floppy). This
case protects the diskette from dirt, dust, and other harmful materials. At the edge of a
disk there is a small square cut or hole. This is called the write protect notch. To prevent
writing to a disk, you can put a write protect tab (a small piece of silver tape that comes
with the box of diskettes) over the notch. When the notch is covered, you can only read
from the disk but cannot add new data or change anything already on the disk.

A double sided/double density (DSDD) diskette is formatted with 40 tracks per side and
9 sectors per track. Its total storage capacity is 360 KB. A double sided/high density
(DSHD) diskette is formatted to have 80 tracks per side and 15 sectors per track. The
storage capacity for a DSHD diskette is about 1.2 MB. For example: For a DSDD floppy,

Storage capacity of floppy = No. of Tracks/side x No. of sides x No. of sectors per track x
Sector size

= 40 x 2 x 9 x 512 bytes = 360 KB

 3.5" disks
Today almost all computers have 3.5" diskette drives. These drives accept little 3.5"
disks. These diskettes come in different densities. The old ones are single-density. They
only hold 720KB of data. The standard disks of today are high-density disks. They
usually hold about 1.44MB of data. The newest disks are called extended-capacity and
they hold 2.88MB. The diskette is fully enclosed in a rigid plastic case. The write protect
notch is a small square-shaped opening at the corner of the disk. To activate write
protection, you simply move the plastic tab at the back of the notch to open the hole. A
DSDD diskette formatted for DOS can store 720 KB, whereas a DSHD diskette has a
capacity of 1.44 MB. For example: For a DSHD floppy,
Storage capacity of floppy = No. of Tracks per side x No.of sides x No. of sectors per
track x Sector size

= 80 x 2 x 18 x 512 bytes = 1.44 MB

The following table summarizes the most commonly available diskette types:

Table 3.1: Diskette Sizes, Capacities and Sectors

  Size Tracks Sectors/Track Sides Capacity
360K 5.25 40 9 2 368,640
720K 3.50 80 9 2 737,280
1.2M 5.25 80 15 2 1,228,800
1.44M 3.50 80 18 2 1,474,560
1.68M 3.50 80 21 2 1,720,320
1.72M 3.50 82 21 2 1,763,328
2.88M 3.50 80 36 2 2,949,120

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Diskette Drive

Diskette drives are the little things on the front of computer system cabinet in which we insert
the disks in and copies files to or install programs from it. A diskette or a floppy drive is a device
that holds, spins, read data from and writes data to a floppy. Reading data means that the data
recorded in the form of electro magnetic charge (presence or absence) on the diskette need to
be translated into electronic signals (1s and 0s) and transmitted to the RAM of the computer.
The writing of data is the reverse of reading i.e. the processed electronic information need to be
converted into electro magnetic charge (magnetized spots) and recorded. Therefore reading is a
non-destructive process while writing is destructive as it over-writes or replaces the data already
recorded. A drive has a device called read/write (R/W) head that performs the functions of
reading and writing.

In order to use a diskette, we need to insert or push it into a slot called the drive door of the
diskette drive till the diskette automatically gets clamped. In case of 5-1/4” diskette drives, we
need to close the latch to clamp it on the spindle of the drive mechanism. The clamped disk is
rotated at a fast speed by a motor. The disk spins inside the jacket at about 300 rotations per
minutes (rpm). Whenever the diskette is accessed, the lighting LED on the drive indicates it.
After using the diskette, it can be taken out either by pressing an eject button beside the drive or
by opening the drive door.

Figure 3.2: 3-1/2 inch Floppy Diskette

The diskette drive’s ‘read/write head’ is the device by which the data on a disk is transferred or
read into the computer RAM and written from the computer RAM to the disk. The diskette spins
inside its jacket, and the read/write head moves back and forth over the data access area. The
data access area is an opening in the disk’s jacket through which data is read or written.

Diskette Handling Rules

The diskettes need to be taken care of as they store important data on the magnetized media.
They must be handled with care and a number of precautions are required to be taken in this
respect. These are some standard rules for handling them: 
 Don’t touch the recording surface with hands (disk access area)
 Don’t play with the metal shutter on a 3-1/2inch floppy.
 Don’t bend the floppy or press it against hard surface.
 Keep away from excessive temperatures and sunlight

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  Don’t take floppies near electrical devices, which generate magnetic fields.
 Do not use sharp objects on the disk 

There are other things that a user should not do with a disk, but these are dictated by common
sense. Despite best of precautions in handling the diskettes, sometimes the data in the diskette
is either lost or is not accessible due to numerous reasons such as “Data error”, “General
Failure”, or some other malfunctioning. It is therefore desirable that we must always keep a
duplicate copy or backup of the data on some other diskette or hard disk or some other storage
device. Backup is the name given to a diskette that is a duplicate or copy of another form of
storage.

Mass Storage Diskette Drives

The floppy drive provides only limited storage capacity (i.e. 1.44MB), which becomes insufficient
for storing the files containing pictures or graphical images. Even most of the times, a user finds
that taking backup of word-processing documents or spreadsheets or databases is difficult
despite using the compression techniques (zip). The need for high capacity diskette drive was
therefore felt because it provides portability of data. The two types of high capacity diskette
drives are:

ZIP drives: The Zip drives were developed first by Iomega. These drives make use of hard
shelled removable zip disks that are approximately 4 inches square and a quarter inch thick and
slightly larger than 3-1/2 inch floppies. Each Zip disk can store up to 100 megabytes of
information, which is about 70 times the capacity, at a speed about 20 times the conventional 3-
1/2 inch diskette. It weighs about 2 pounds. These capabilities makes Zip drives useful for
storing backup copies of programs and files and fast enough to run application and multimedia.

Figure 3.3: ZIP Drive

The popularity of ZIP drives proves that there is no such thing as too much storage. Today, with
the heavy use of computers, data storage and data safety is of the utmost importance. Although
priced much higher (about 10 times) than the popular removable storage devices, this provides
a good storage device with very low cost per unit of storage capacity.

EZ Drives: These are similar to Zip drives and uses hard shell disks. This drive was first
developed by SyQuest Technology and commonly refereed as EX135 drive. These are much
larger in size compared to zip disk and is about the size of two stacked VCR tapes, weighs
about 2 pounds but is almost double in speed to zip drives. The storage capacity of EZ disk is
higher than even zip disks and is about 135 MB. These are not backward compatible.

HARD DISKS

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Hard disk drives are another type of commonly used storage medium. In fact, hard drives are by
far the most popular secondary storage device for all personal computers. Hard drives, or hard
disks, offer faster access, larger storage capacity, higher reliability and now their low cost is
unbeatable.

The hard disks are packaged in vacuum sealed housings. Inside the housing are one or more
glass ceramic or aluminum disks, called platters. The platters are coated with a thin film of
magnetic material similar to the one in floppy disks. Therefore hard disks are one or more
platters sealed inside a hard disk drive that is built into the system unit and cannot be removed.
The drive is installed in a drive bay, a shelf or opening in the computer cabinet. A hard-disk
drive is not visible to a user but only can be felt through the LED, which glows when the disk is
accessed. Inside the hard disk, the platters are held on a drive spindle, read/write heads are
mounted on an actuator (access) arm that moves back and forth, and power connections and
circuitry to drive these systems. The operation of a hard disk drive is similar to that of a diskette
drive, with the read/write heads locating specific pieces of data according to track and sector.
This makes use of another concept for storage i.e. Cylinders. These terms are explained below:

Figure 3.4: Magnetic Hard Disk

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 Figure 3.5: Hard Disk: Data Organisation in Cylinders, Tracks and Sectors

Digital data is stored on the platter’s surface in the form of concentric circles called tracks. Track
is a concentric set of magnetic bits on the disk. Each track is divided into sectors, size of which
is usually 512 bytes. Sector is a part of each track defined with magnetic marking and an ID
number. Sectors have a sector header and an error correction code (ECC). In modern drives,
sectors are numbered sequentially. Cylinder is a group of tracks with the same radius is called a
cylinder (red tracks on the picture belong to one cylinder).

A read-write head is attached to a movable or access arm that can move back and forth. There
is a read-write head on each side of the platter since both the surfaces are used for storage.
The number of read-write heads in a hard disk pack depends on the number of platters in the
disk pack. For example, if there are 5 platters, then there will be 10 read-write heads in that
pack. All these read-write heads can move back and forth in unison. The read-write heads reads
information from and writes information on the platters in a cylindrical fashion as one unit for
speeding up performance The pair of tracks on the top and bottom of platter are referred to as
cylinder. In this mechanism all of the tracks directly above one another are written and read at
the same time. For example, if the drive has 4 platters, each cylinder will have 8 tracks (2 on
each side) and data will be written on these tracks of different surfaces one by one. This
recording mechanism speeds up performance since all the read-write heads will be on the same
track of different surfaces i.e. the data can be accessed from all these tracks together.

Hard disk performance

The reading or writing of data from/to a hard disk involves moving the read-write head to the
desired cylinder, wait for the desired sector to come under the disk head, and then start
transferring data to RAM. Disk Access Time is the interval of time between the instant when a
computer makes a request for a transfer of data from a secondary storage device and the
instant when this operation is completed.

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Hard disk performance can be determined by the following factors:

 Seek Time
 Latency Time
 Data Transfer Rate
 Cache Size

Disk Access Time = Seek Time + Latency Time + Transmission (Transfer) Time

1. Seek Time - This is the radial positioning time i.e. time to position heads over
appropriate track. Disks need to move their heads to the desired cylinder before it can
read data from their disk platters. It depends on where the heads are and where they will
go. If the heads are sitting right on the cylinder they want to go to, no moving is needed
at all. On the other hand, if the head is on the outer most cylinder and need to go to the
inner most cylinder, it takes long time. The access time is actually the average of the
heads moving time. It is the most important factor. Typical IDE hard disks have 10~16ms
access time while SCSI hard disks have 7~15ms.

2. Latency Time - It is the rotational delay time. This is the time taken for the appropriate
sector to be positioned under the read-write head or reach the beginning of block with
required data. A hard disk rotates at greater than 3600 RPM. Today's hard disk drives
can run as high as 10,000 RPM.  Hard disks are almost always running so time is not
wasted in getting the data.   When power management is used the hard disk will stop
spinning. Latency time is the average time that the desired sector is rotated to the head.
It depends on the disk platter rotation speed. Typical latency is as following:
3. Data Transfer Rate - It is the time taken to transfer the data from the disk to RAM. There
are two data transfer rates: burst and sustain. "Burst" is the maximum speed of the disk
subsystem. It usually depends on the speed of the interface your hard disks are hooked
on. "Sustain" is the transfer rate that a disk can keep transferring. It depends on the hard
disk's internal design instead of the interface of hard disk. The sustain transfer rate is
much lower than the burst transfer rate.
4. Cache size - To improve performance and increase data transfer rate, hard disk drives
utilize a small amount of fast solid-state memory to store the most frequently used data.
This memory is called 'cache' or 'buffer'. Modern hard disks have cache built in to
accelerate disk accesses. The larger the cache size, the higher the hit rate and so are
the performance. Larger hard disks usually have larger cache size. There are two types
of cache memory organization: look-ahead and write / read. Typical cache sizes are:

 Disk size 500MB: 32~128KB

 Disk size 1GB: 64~512KB

 Disk size 2GB and up: 256~1024KB

Advantages of Hard Disks

Hard disks can be considered both input and output hardware. They offer a number of
advantages over other storage devices.

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Faster Disk Access Time: The speed at which data can be read or written is measured by ‘Disk
Access Time’. The hard disk offers very low access times in comparison to diskettes. The
access of data from primary storage is at electronic speeds or approximately the speed of light.
The difference in disk access time between a hard disk and a floppy disk is that the heads on a
hard drive never touch the disk. They are suspended approximately 1/1000000th of an inch
from the recording surface of the platter, and they don't stop spinning when not in use unless
power management is being used.

Higher Storage Capacity: Hard disks offer high data storage capacity that is significantly greater
than that of the diskettes. The capacities in a PC these days are in the range of 20/40 GB.

Reduced Size: Over the years the hard disks have shrunk in size and the disks may be 5¼ or 3-
1/2 inches in diameter, although today they are available in even smaller sizes.

Disadvantages of Hard Disk

The principle disadvantage in a hard disk is that of “head crash”. In principle a hard disk is
quite a sensitive device. The read/write head does not actually touch the disk except when they
are parked. Flying or floating at about 7000 rpm on a cushion of air, the space between the
head and the disk is smaller than a piece of dust (about 0.000001 inch thick). With the disk
spinning at a high speed, all it would take is a small dust particle, a human hair, or a fingerprint
to cause a head crash which can prove to be quite damaging for the disk and for the data stored
on the disk, if not backed up. It is for this reason that the disk is sealed in an air-tight case free
from impurities within a container, and the whole device is manufactured under strict sterile
conditions.. A head crash is a situation that occurs when the read-write heads touches the
surface of the disk (normally they only float on the surface). There are firms that specialize in
recovery of data from crashed hard disks, of course for a hefty price. (Note: A 2.1-gigabyte hard
disk will spin at 7800 revolutions per minute).

Although head crashes are disastrous, it is useful to make the head fly closer and closer to the
disk’s surface. This allows data to be stored more densely. To handle such head crashes, the
predictive failure technique of IBM is quite useful. This technique constantly monitors head flying
height and whenever any change is noticed, a warning is issued to back up the data. This has
proved to be quite useful in preventing loss of data due to head crash.
 
Fragmentation & Defragmentation

In a completely brand-new hard disk, the computer stores the data in clusters that are
contiguous i.e. clusters that are adjacent. A cluster is the smallest storage unit the computer can
access, and it always refers to a number of sectors. The number of sectors that forms a cluster
depends on the type of computer. Thus, data would be stored on track 1 in sectors 1,2,3,4, and
so on. However, as data files vary in size and as they are expanded, updated or deleted, the
disk fills up, the operating system stores them in whatever free space is available. Thus, files
become scattered at various places or fragmented. The more file changes are carried out, the
higher is the resulting fragmentation. You can consider hard disk to be your store box. In this
store box when you store a file, the operating system tears it into pieces and throws them into
the box. When you need to use the file again, the operating system will look for each piece of
data, paste them together and then load to file for use. This process is time-consuming and
reduces the disk performance. Fragmentation means that a data file becomes spread out
across the hard disk in many noncontiguous clusters.

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Fragmented files cause the read/write head to go through extra movements to find data, thus
slowing access to the data. This means that the computer runs more slowly than it would if all
the data elements in each file were stored in contiguous locations. To speed up the disk access,
we need to defragment the disk. Defragmentation is a process that re-arranges and re-
assembles files on the hard disk. Defragmentation means that data on the hard disk is
reorganized so that data in each file is stored in contiguous clusters. Programs are available for
defragmenting on almost all the operating systems or as separate software utilities. These
utilities such as “Defrag” significantly reduce the file access times and increases system
performance.

Hard Disk Technology For Mass Storage

The large organizations normally have larger storage requirements. For example: data
processing organizations, multi-location, multi-product organizations. The databases used in
such organizations are quite high in size. For meeting the storage requirements of such
organizations, secondary storage technology offers a number of solutions. Some of these are:

 Disk Packs: A removable-disk pack contains a stack of disks (generally 6-20 hard
disks), of 10 ½ - or 14-inch diameter, aligned one above, the other in a protective plastic
cover that can be lifted onto or lifted off the disk drive. This disk pack allow the user to
remove and store disks easily i.e. multi hard disk packs can be mounted on the drive
and used. The removable hard-disk packs resemble a stack of phonograph records,
except that there is space between disks to allow access arms to move in and out. Each
access arm has two read / write head-one reading the disk surface below, the other the
disk surface above. Secondary-storage systems that use several hard disks are based
on what is known as the cylinder method. Because the access arms holding the
read/write heads all move together, the read/write heads are always over the same track
on each disk at the same time. All tracks with the same track number, lined up one
above the other, thus form a cylinder. The disk packs can store large databases that
cannot be stored on a single disk pack. These are mainly used in mainframe or super
computers.

Figure 3.6: Disk Pack

 Winchester Disk Drive: These are fixed-disk drives that contains a read-write head, an
access arm, and a disk in one sealed unit. These are high-speed, high-capacity disk
drives. Although not removable they generally have greater storage capacity and are
more reliable than removable disk packs. A single mainframe computer might have 20
to 100 such fixed-disk drives attached to it.

 RAID Storage Devices: RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. A
fixed-disk drive sends data to the computer along a single path while RAID sends data

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 along several parallel paths. This system link together a number of independent
inexpensive disk drives, similar to those used in PCs. A RAID has following features:

1. The users view the array of disk drives as one drive.

2. Data during storage is distributed across these drives in a pre-defined manner.
3. Disk mirroring or duplication protects data. It can be reconstructed in case the
disk fails.

A RAID storage system, which consists of over 100 5¼ - inch disk within a single
cabinet, sends data to the computer along several parallel paths simultaneously thereby
significantly improving the response time. The advantage of a RAID system is that it is
faster can store more data, less expensive and is more reliable than a fixed-disk drive
because if one drive fails, others can take over.

MAGNETIC TAPE STORAGE

Tape storage is another method of providing permanent storage of useful data. A magnetic tape
is a thin plastic tape which is coated with a substance that can be magnetized similar to the
audiocassette tape but of higher width. Data is stored on the tape by magnetized or non-
magnetized spots (presence of magnetization – 1 and absence – 0). A tape drive is a device
that holds the tape and allows the data to be read or written on the magnetic tape. A read-write
head on the tape drive performs the data recording/reading.

There are two recording scheme commonly used in tape storage. The first is 7-bit bytes per
character and second is 9-bit byte per character. The 9-bit scheme (8 bits for 1 byte and 9 th bit
representing parity bit for error checking) is more common. This means the magnetic tape
surface is divided into 9 tracks. A track is an area where data is stored on the tape and is
invisible to human eye. The tape drive records data onto the tape record by record. A record is a
group of related data items that describes some entity or transaction. For example, sales order
data, item issue data from store, personal details of an employee, etc. The records are

Figure 3.7: Magnetic Tape Unit

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separated by inter-record gap called (IRG). To economize the storage capacity of a tape, a
group of records are written or read as a block. A gap is left before and after each block (called
inter block gap IBG) to separate two blocks and so that the tape drive can stop without skipping
over any data. The data is recorded sequentially on the tape. To access any piece of data, we
have to skip the tape before reaching the location where the data is stored by moving forward or
backward sequentially. The transport mechanism moves the tape from one end to the other.
Reading and writing occurs as read-write head passes over the heads. The recording scheme
to be adopted is decided by the device manufacturers.

There are two principle forms of tape storage:

 Magnetic Tape Units (MTU) – traditionally used with mainframe computers.

 Cartridge Tape Units (CTU) – used on microcomputers

A magnetic tape drive is rated by its storage density and speed of tape movement under read-
write head. A reel of tape used in MTU is about ½ inch wide, 3600 feet long and can store data
with a density of 1600 to 20,000 bytes per inch (bpi). A tape with common tape density of 6250
bpi, moving under the read-write head at 300 inches per second can provide a transmission rate
of 1,875,000 bytes per second. The unit consists of read-write head and spindles for mounting
two tape reels: a supply reel and a take reel. The tape moves due to the vacuum created in the
MTU from supply to the tape reel sequentially until it reaches the end of tape marker. The
beginning and end of the tape file is identified with the help of a header label and a trailer label
respectively. The header label contains the name of file, its date of creation, block size, etc. The
trailer label written at the end by the computer records the number of records in the file. Large
organizations such as Delhi Vidyut Board, Telephone department often use reels of magnetic
tape for storing of vital data.

Cartridge tape units are useful because they provide a very high capacity portable backup
solution. CTUs also called as tape streamers are used to backup data from a hard disk onto a
cartridge tape. This is exactly similar to audiocassettes tape but slightly larger in size. These
cartridges used ¼ inch wide tape. These tapes could store up to 500 MB of data. The tape
drives fits into one of the computer’s drive bays. Generally the bay is just adjacent to the floppy
drive. A new form of cassette adopted from music industry is the digital audiotape (DAT)
standard which uses 2-or 3 inch cassettes and stores 2 gigabytes or more. HP is a major
manufacturer of DAT drives worldwide and is available both internal as well as external drives.

Figure 3.8: Cartridge Tape

Data tapes provide large capacity and inexpensive storage but are much slower than hard disk
storage. Since they are removable, like floppy disks or optical disks, they provide very large

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storage capacity. Magnetic tape is mainly used for reliable backup of data on hard disk for all
type of computers for a long time. One tape can hold as much as the average hard drives. For
example, IBM Magstar uses tapes that can store 10 gigabytes per reel or tape.

The major disadvantage of a magnetic tape is that it is very slow and is sequential in nature.
The data on tape has to be accessed linearly or sequentially and positioning the tape takes
some time and as such is suitable for backing up data from the hard disk. This process is called
a tape backup. 

OPTICAL STORAGE

Optical disk technology is one of the recent developments that have revolutionized the computer
industry. Optical storage is fast becoming popular method of storing data for use on a computer.
Optical disks are removable disks that use laser technology rather than magnetism to read and
write data. The data on disk are stored in a format readable by using beams of laser light.
During recording of data, a powerful laser beam makes a pit in the surface of the disk. The
presence of a laser pit indicates 1 and its absence indicates 0 in binary codes. For reading the
optical disk, a relatively weak laser beam scans the disk’s surface reading the patterns of laser
pits, which are interpreted as data and is transferred to the RAM.

Similar to magnetic devices, the information in optical devices is stored in circular tracks, formed
by cutting the metallic or plastic disk surface using laser beam. Since laser beam can be sharply
focused, the tracks can be packed more densely to provide higher storage capacities. A typical
optical disk contains more than 15000 tracks per inch.

The major advantage of optical disk over hard disks is that they are removable or portable and
offer very high storage capacity. However, a user is limited to writing data to the disk only once,
multiple times or not at all depending upon the device.

There are a variety of optical disks in the market available today and is enough reason so as to
confuse the users. Some of these can only be read, some can be recorded on, some can be
recorded many times, and some can be read but written only once. To simplify, the optical
storage can be of different types or forms:

 CD-ROM Disks

 CD-RW Disks

 WORM Disks

 Erasable optical disks

 DVD Disks

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 Figure 3.9: CD-ROM (COMPACT DISK – READ ONLY MEMORY)

For microcomputer users, the best-known type of optical disk is the CD-ROM. CD-ROM discs
are similar to audio discs (music CDs) and are read-only. Read-only means the disk cannot be
written or erased by the user. These discs can store up to 650 MB of pre-recorded text,
graphics, and sound data. They are rated by their access time and data transfer rates. Initially,
the CD-ROM drive was only a single-speed drive. Since many of their characteristics are fixed
by specifications that make them compatible with drives from variety of manufacturers, spinning
them at faster speed boosts their performance. The CD-drive spinning speed is indicated by 2X,
4X, etc. The faster the spinning speed, faster the access time and higher are the data transfer
rates. This means that a double-speed (2X) CD-drive spins the compact disk twice as fast as
the original single speed drive. A 52X CD-drive spins 52 times faster than the original drives. A
single-speed drive will access data at 150 kilobytes per second, a double-speed drive at 300
kilobytes per second and so on.

The major features of CD-ROM in terms of advantages and disadvantages are:

 It is an inexpensive way to store large amount of data and information

 CD discs are durable and easy to handle.
 Information can be stored on CDs for many years
 Information on CD-ROM cannot be destroyed accidentally or intentionally, as they are
read-only.
 CD-ROM discs can store pre-recorded motion, audio, video and high-resolution images
– essential features of multimedia applications.
 Editing of information is not possible and is a major disadvantage since they are read-
only.
 The CD-ROM disks are slower to access than hard disk drives.

CD-ROMs are good for storing large volumes of reference information such as database,
encyclopedias, financial reports, directories, and other archival information that would not need
to be altered. The major consumers are libraries, publishing houses, database service providers
and businesses. The other uses of CD-ROM are: Entertainment and Games, Music, Films,
Encyclopedias, Atlas, Catalogues, Education and Training, Edutainment, Books and Magazines,
etc. CD-ROMs are now an essential component with every new computer, as most applications
are distributed on CDs. For example, Windows, MS-Office, etc.. WORM disks, along with tape
backups are ideal for making backups of software. The optical storage devices are now
considered input hardware as well. 

The demand for CD-ROM storage is growing rapidly and is being used as a more reliable
backup media. The CD-ROM discs can be duplicated in a factory by methods similar to those
used for duplicated music CDs.

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CD-RW stands for CD- ReWritable. These discs are reusable and can be recorded, erased and
used several times like hard disk. These discs record data by changing a material from a well-
structured crystalline state to a less ordered amorphous state.

WORM stands for Write Once, Read Many. A WORM disk allows users to write or record
information to a disk just once and then can not be erased but can be read many times. These
disks have a thin layer of gold with a layer of green dye below. To record data, the laser beam
forms pits in the dye layer. In principle, WORM technology is similar to CD-Recordable (CD-R)
technology. CD-R is a CD format that allows you to write data onto a specially manufactured
disk and cannot be erased after this but can be read by a standard CD-ROM drive. However
WORM is a bit older and more expensive than CD-R technology. WORM or CD-R technology is
useful where security of data is essential i.e. in financial and legal documents. WORM disks are
mainly used for storing data for backup and archival purposes because it can store greater
volumes of data than other types of CD-ROMs and magnetic tape.

CD-Writers

In order to write or record data on a CD Disk, we need a device called CD-Writer or sometimes
called CD ReWriter. This device is used to generate CD’s to be usable on CD-Drives. The
process of recording data on a CD is called ‘burning’ as tracks are burnt using the laser beam
for recording the data. The CD Writer comes with a CD-RW drive and the software that will
control the writing process and the CD Burning software for creating tracks with the desired
information. The devices are available both as an external device and as an Internal device
similar to modems. These writers operate at different speeds for different operations. For
example, a CD Rewriter provides speed of 20X for writing, 10X for Rewrite and 40X for reading.

DVD Disks

"DVD" earlier was referred as Digital Video Disc and later was called Digital Versatile Disc and
today it just stands for DVD. DVD is a high-capacity optical disc technology that is expected
to displace current Digital Audio CDs for music, VHS videotape and laser discs for movies, and
CD-ROMs for text and multimedia computer data applications over the next several years.

DVD discs have the same form factor as the familiar compact disc: they are 12-cm(4.72-
inch)polycarbonate discs,1.2 mm thick, 25.57 grams(just under an ounce),and are designed
for use by a computer, set-top device, or sound system peripheral. The big difference is that,
compared to the CD’s capacity of 650 MB of computer data or 74 minutes of digital audio, DVD
can economically store up to 18 GB of data or 488 minutes of audio. The "smallest" type of DVD
has seven times the storage density of a CD-ROM. While DVD's increased storage capacity has
obvious cost advantages, equally important is the fact that this allows for storage of very high-
quality audio and video-much higher quality than any current format can deliver. The factors that
will determine when DVD gains substantial market acceptance and begins to displace CD-ROM
include:
 Hardware prices
 Software prices and availability
 Compatibility issues
 Performance/reliability issues

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 Figure 3.10: DVD Drive

Like a CD-ROM, the surface of DVD contains microscopic pits, which represent the 0s and 1s of
digital code that can be read by a laser. The pits on the DVD, however, are much smaller and
closer together than those on a CD, allowing far more information to be represented there. Also,
the technology uses a new generation of lasers, which allow a laser beam to focus on pits
roughly half the size of those on current audio CDs. Another important development is that the
DVD format allows for two layers of data-defining pits, not just one. DVD also incorporates
strong copy protection and anti-piracy security features.

As with the compact discs, DVD represents a whole family of related optical formats. The
computer version of the DVD is called the DVD-ROM disk. It represents a new generation of
high-density CD-ROM disk, with either write-once or rewritable capabilities. DVD drives look and
behaves much like a CD-ROM drive. DVD-ROM drives can run DVD-Video discs, but not the
other way around. DVD-ROM drives are also backward compatible with CD-ROM and CD-R.
The major characteristics of the DVD are:

 More storage capacity

 Faster data transfer
 Better audio
 Better video

ERASABLE OPTICAL STORAGE

The erasable optical storage combines the erasability and editing features of magnetic storage
devices with permanence, capacity and reliability of optical storage. Erasable optical disks are
even more reliable than the magnetic devices as they are not affected by harmful effects of
heat, sunlight and stray magnetic fields and are also immune to head crashes. Erasable optical
disks allow users to erase data so that the disk can be used over and over again. The most
common type of erasable and rewritable optical disk is probably the magneto-optical (MO) disk.
However, such drives cost about twice as much as a 2-gigabyte hard-disk drive.

Magneto-Optical Drives (MO Drives)

These are based on Magneto-optical technology and came into the market in the early 1980s.
These makes use of magnetic and optical technology (laser) to read and write data. MO drives
use magnetic media with a difference: a high Curie point, which means that for magnetic
particles to change polarity in order to store digital bits, the drive must raise the media
temperature to about 300 degrees Celsius. To write (or erase) data, an MO drive uses a tightly
focused laser beam to heat a tiny spot on the disk. Reading, however, requires only

21
conventional optical technology. This unique combination offers several advantages with MO
drives over other types of storage.

Table 3.2: Comparison of Compact Disk and Hard Disk

Performance Comparison of CD’s and Hard Disk Drives

Faster Access Times

Data access from a CD is much slower than that from a hard disk drive, a problem that is
compounded in a multi-user environment where concurrent access is required. The fastest
CD-ROM drives have an average access time of about 100ms, compared to less than 10ms
for hard disk drives.

Faster Data Transfer Rates

CD-ROM drives have achieved remarkable improvements in throughput performance over

time. The original CD-ROM drives had a data transfer rate of 150 kb/sec but since the
computer can handle data at ever higher speeds, manufacturers are now offering 4X, 24X, 40X
and higher speed drives. However, this is of little benefit when CD-ROMs are shared over a
network using a standard CD-ROM server or tower as data throughput from the CD-ROM
drives is let down by poor access times. With a hard disk based approach, higher sustainable
data throughput rates are achievable even when multiple accesses to the stored CD
information is required.

Lower cost storage

In today’s computer market, it is more economical to use magnetic storage for sharing CD-
ROM data rather than investing in multiple CD-ROM drives Although the costs of CD-ROM
drives have fallen dramatically, the cost per MB of magnetic storage is now significantly less
than CD-ROM storage.

Superior Reliability

Pure hard disk based solutions are recognized for providing higher levels of reliability than both
caching and optical solutions. Optical servers are prone to mechanical failure as CD-ROM
drives often jam or malfunction. Optical pick-ups are also easily affected by dust and other
airborne particles. By contrast, hard disk drives are far less likely to be affected by
environmental factors such as moisture, dust or vibration. Furthermore, once CD or DVD
images have been created on a server hard disk, the CDs can be locked away for safe keeping
avoiding damage, loss or theft. As there is no other way of writing data to the hard disk,
immunity from corruption or viruses is also assured.

High Capacity MO drive allows reasonably high-areal densities, hence good capacity. The
current 3.5-inch cartridges are rated at 640MB (about 599MB of useful storage on a single side
after formatting), while 5.25-inch media can store 2.6GB or even 4.6GB per cartridge. The
2.6GB and 4.6GB cartridges are double-sided and we have to eject and flip the disk media to

22
access the other side i.e. its full capacity, which after formatting equals roughly 1.1GB or 2.1GB
per side.

Performance Because the drives use magnetic technology to read data, transfer rates for MO
drives are comparable to those of a standard hard disk. Writing takes a little longer than on a
hard disk because of the laser technology, but performance is fine for primary or near-line
storage.

Durability Because the bits are written and erased optically, so it is not affected by normal
magnetic fields. Also, the disks are permanently fixed in rugged cartridge shells and are
therefore shock-tolerant. The useful life of data stored on a MO disk is rated in excess of 30
years.

Compatibility Most MO vendors have agreed to keep newer drives backward compatible within
at least two previous generations of MO capacity points. For example, a 3.5-inch 640MB MO
drive can accept the older 530MB, 230MB, and 128MB cartridges. Also, most capacity levels
follow ISO file-format standards, so cartridges can be exchanged between drives of different
manufacturers.

These strengths have given MO a foothold in several key markets such as medical imaging,
digital video editing and storage, near-line database storage, and more but high cost is just one
drawback that needs to be considered.

FLASH-MEMORY CARDS

One of the latest storage devices is called flash memory. This memory makes use of solid-state
chips similar to computers main memory or RAM. However the data recorded/stored in these
chips remain stored even when the power is turned off i.e. this is a non-volatile memory unlike
RAM. Flash-memory cards consist of circuitry on credit card size cards that can be inserted into
slots connecting to the motherboard. Each card can hold up to 100 megabytes of data. An
example of such memory has been the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association) cards, which could be plugged into slots in a notebook computer or a
PC. Due to their small size, these cards are often used with personal digital assistants (PDAs),
organizers, digital cameras, etc.

Flash-memory cards have no moving parts and hence are far more reliable as compared to all
other storage devices such as hard disk, floppies or even CDs, all of which involve moving parts
that are amenable to mechanical faults.. However, it doesn’t mean Flash-memory cards are
infallible. Their circuits wear out after repeated use, limiting their lifespan.

COMPARISON OF SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICES

There are a large number of secondary storage devices available in the market. These devices
differ from each other in a variety of ways. The various factors that can be used to distinguish
these devices, which can also form basis for comparison, are:

 Storage capacity of the device

 Data Access Speed offered by the device
 Data Transfer rate
 Price and
 Physical characteristics of the device such as size, weight, etc.

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Storage Capacity: The storage capacity of a device is a major factor considered by users while
selecting a secondary storage device. Higher capacity storage devices are desired these days
in view of the increasing file sizes due to multimedia effects. However, as storage capacity
increases, so does the cost of acquiring it. Therefore a judicious decision has to be taken to
balance the two factors. ‘Codec’ techniques are considered to be a solution for increased
storage needs. The diskettes offer low storage capacity while optical disks offer mass/huge
storage capacities. It is generally measured in terms of MB or GB.

Data Access Speed: The data access speed refers to the average time required to locate a
piece of data on a secondary storage device. Diskettes and hard disks are faster than optical
disks, which are a random device and magnetic tape, which is a sequential device. However the
slower the storage device, the cheaper it is. The data access speed of a device is generally
measured in terms of milliseconds (ms).

Data Transfer Rate: It refers to the speed at which data is transferred from storage device to
the primary memory or RAM. It is measured in terms of megabytes per second.

Price: The price or cost of the storage device has a direct relationship with its capacity, access
speed, data transfer rate and size.

Physical characteristics: The size of a storage device is important due to requirement of

compact storage devices. The portable devices are smaller in size to be carried in pocket or
hand. The weight is also considered while comparing various devices. The portability refers to
the transportation of a storage device from one place to another. For example to carry data from
one place to another or from one system to another is easier through diskettes and CDs.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the various measures of storage? How are they related?

2. What advantages secondary storage devices offer over primary storage?

3. How is information recorded in a hard disk?

4. What do you understand by the terms ‘Compression and Decompression’?

5. What is the meaning of JPEG and MPEG?

6. On what factors can we compare the secondary storage devices?

7. What do you mean by recording density?

8. How are optical storage devices different from magnetic storage devices?

9. Define the terms: Disk Access Time, Seek Time and Latency.

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10. Name some mass storage devices?

11. Compare the advantages offered by hard disk over other secondary storage devices.

12. What are RAID storage devices? How are they useful?

13. Distinguish between CD-ROM, WORM and DVD.

14. What is a Flash Memory Card?

Critical Thinking Questions/Projects

1. What secondary storage devices are being used in your institution? Prepare a list along with
their capacities.

2. Scan through various magazines or visit a computer store, make a list of mass storage
devices available along with their features like price, capacity, data transfer rate, etc. Make a
comparative chart.

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