CHAPTER 5

MEMORY UNIT
PART 2
1
 OUTLINE
5.5 External Memory
 Magnetic Disk
 Introduction
 Magnetic Read and Write Mechanisms

 Data Organization and Formatting

 Physical Characteristics

 Disk Performance Parameters

 Optical Memory
 Magnetic Tape
 Solid State Drives

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 5.5 EXTERNAL MEMORY
MAGNETIC DISK
INTRODUCTION
 A disk
 A circular platter constructed of nonmagnetic
material, called substrate, coated with a
magnetizable material (iron oxide--rust)
 Substrate used to be aluminium – now glass –
has the following advantages
 Improved surface uniformity
 Increases reliability
 Reduction in surface defects
 Reduced read/write errors
 Lower flight heights
 Better stiffness
 Reduce disk dynamics
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 Better shock/damage resistance
 MAGNETIC DISK
MAGNETIC READ AND WRITE MECHANISM
 Recording and retrieval via conductive coil(s) called head(s)
 May be single read/write head or separate ones
 During read/write, head is stationary while platter rotates
beneath head
 Write
 Current through coil produces magnetic field
 Pulses sent to head
 Magnetic pattern recorded on surface below

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 MAGNETIC DISK
MAGNETIC READ AND WRITE MECHANISM…
 Read (traditional)
 Magnetic field moving relative to coil produces current
 Analogous to a generator or alternator
 Coil can be the same for read and write
 Used with:
 Floppies
 Older hard drives

 Read (contemporary)
 Separate read head, close to write head
 Partially shielded magneto resistive (MR) sensor
 Electrical resistance depends on direction of magnetic field
 Passing current through it results in different voltage levels for
different resistances
 High frequency operation 5
 Higher storage density and speed
 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT
 Data is organized on the platter in set of concentric
rings called tracks
 Adjacent tracks are separated by gaps
 minimize error due to misalignment or EM interference
 Data are transferred to/from disk in sectors

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Concentric rings or tracks
 Thousands of tracks per platter surface
 Track is same width as head
 Gaps between tracks (intertrack gaps)
 protect data integrity
 Reduce gaps
 increase capacity
 possibly increase errors due to misalignment of head or
interference from other tracks

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Tracks divided into sectors
 Minimum block size is one sector
 may have more than one sector per block
 Typically hundreds of sectors per track
 May be fixed or variable in length
 Contemporary systems are fixed-length, typically 512 bytes
 Gaps between sectors (intratrack or intersector gaps)

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Disk velocity
 A bit near the center of a rotating disk passes a fixed
point (head) slower than a bit on the outside
 Bits are not read at the same rate

 Solutions
 Constant angular velocity (CAV)
 Multiple zone recording

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Disk velocity…
 Constant Angular Velocity (CAV)
 The disk is rotated at a fixed speed
 Information is scanned at the same rate by increasing the

spacing between bits of information recorded in segments of

the disk
 The disk is divided into a number of pie-shaped sectors and
into a series of concentric tracks
 Individual blocks of data can be directly addressed by
track and sector
 Draw back of CAV

 The amount of data that can be stored on the long outer

tracks is the only same as what can be stored on the
short inner tracks 10
 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Disk velocity…
 Multiple zone recording
 Divide disk into concentric zones – typical number is 16
 Each zone has fixed number of bits (and sectors) per track

 More bits per track in outer zones

 More complex circuitry to adjust for different data rates as

heads move farther out

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Disk Layout

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Formatting
 Must be able to identify start of track and sector
 Format disk
 Additional information not available to user --- control data
 Marks tracks and sectors

 Example: Winchester Disk Format

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DATA ORGANIZATION & FORMAT…
 Winchester Disk Format
 Each track contains 30 fixed-length sectors of 600
bytes each
 Each sector holds 512 bytes of data plus control
information
 ID field – unique identifier or address, locates sector
 SYNCH byte – delimits beginning of field
 Track number – identifies a track on a surface
 Head number – identifies a head (multiple surfaces)

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 MAGNETIC DISK
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
 Head Motion
 Disk Portability

 Sides

 Platters

 Head Mechanism

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 MAGNETIC DISK
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS…
 Head Motion
 Fixed head (old)
 One read-write head per track
 Heads mounted on fixed arm
 Movable head
 One read-write head per side
 Mounted on a movable arm
 Heads move radially across tracks

 Portability
 Removable disk
 Can be removed from drive and replaced with another disk
 Provides unlimited storage capacity
 Easy data transfer between systems
 Examples: floppy, ZIP
 Non-removable disk 16
 Permanently mounted in the drive
 MAGNETIC DISK
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS…
 Sides
 Single sided (old, cheap)
 Double sided

 Platters
 Single platter
 Multiple platter
 One head per platter surface
 Heads are joined and aligned

 Aligned tracks on each platter form cylinders

 Data is striped by cylinder

 Reduces head movement

 Increases speed (transfer rate)

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 MAGNETIC DISK
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS…
 Components of a Disk Drive

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 MAGNETIC DISK
DISK PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS
 Seek time
 Moving head to correct track
 Rotational delay (rotational latency)
 Time for beginning of data to reach the head
 Transfer time
 The actual time to transfer data

 Total average access time, Ta , is:

 = Seek time + Rotational delay + Transfer time
 = Ts + 1/2r + b/rN
 where
− Ts = average seek time
− b = number of bytes to transfer
− N = number of bytes on a track 19
− r = rotation speed in RPS
 OPTICAL MEMORY
 CD/CD ROM
 Originally for audio
 680 MB giving over 70 minutes audio
 Polycarbonate coated with highly reflective coat,
usually aluminium
 Data stored as a series of pits on the polycarbonate
surface
 Read by reflecting laser
 Constant packing density
 Constant linear velocity

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 OPTICAL MEMORY
CD ROM…
 Operation

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 OPTICAL MEMORY
CD ROM…
 Operation
 Information retrieved from a CD-ROM by a low-powered
laser housed in drive unit
 The laser shines through the clear polycarbonate while a
motor spins the disk past it
 The intensity of the reflected light of the laser changes as it
encounters a pit and land (area b/n pits)
 If the laser beam falls on a pit, which has a somewhat rough
surface, the light scatters and a low intensity is reflected back
to the source.
 If the laser beam falls on a land, which has a smooth surface, a
higher intensity light is reflected back to the source
 The change between pits and lands is detected by a photo
sensor and converted into a digital signal
 The sensor tests the surface at regular intervals. The beginning
or end of a pit represents a 1; when no change in elevation 22
occurs between intervals, a 0 is recorded.
 OPTICAL MEMORY
CD ROM…
 To achieve greater capacity, information
organized on the CD-ROM as a single spiral
track
 Beginning near the center and spiraling out to the
outer edge
 Sectors near the outside of the disk are the same
length as those near the inside
 Information is packed evenly across the disk in
segments of the same size
 Data read at the same rate by rotating the disk
at a variable speed --- at a constant linear
velocity (CLV)
 The disk rotates more slowly for accesses near the 23
outer edge than for those near the center
 OPTICAL MEMORY
CD ROM…
 CD-ROM Format
 Data organized as a sequence of blocks
 A typical block format shown below and contains the following
fields
 Sync – identifies the beginning of a block
 Header – contains block address and mode byte
 Data – user data
 Auxiliary – additional user data in mode 2
 Mode 0 = blank data field

 Mode 1 = 2048 byte data + error correction

 Mode 2 = 2336 byte data

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OPTICAL MEMORY
SUMMARY

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 MAGNETIC TAPE
 Serial access, slow, very cheap, backup and
archive
 Recording

 Parallel
 E.g. 9 tracks: 8 data bits + 1 bit parity
• Serial
• Data is written as sequence of bits along each track
• Typical – serpentine recording
• Follow one track until end of tape, then continue (back)
on next track

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 MAGNETIC TAPE
 Typical Magnetic Tape Features

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End of Chapter 5

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