Revie
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Storage and Data
Measurement
Storage Devices and
Media
Let’s start with the definition
Storage
media are devices that
store application and user
information. The
primary storage media for
a computer is usually the
internal hard drive. Most
external drives enable
flexible data transfer from
one computer to another.
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Types of Storage Devices
There are two different types of
storage devices:
Primary Storage Secondary Storage
Device Device
Size Smaller Larger
Data Retention Temporary Permanent
Location Internal Internal / External
Examples RAM Hard disk, Compact
Disk Drive, USB
storage device
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Examples
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Internal/External Hard Disk
✘ Hard drive – An internal hard drive
is the main storage device in a
computer. An external hard drive is
also known as removable hard
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Magnetic backing storage
media
✘ Magnetic storage media and devices
store data in the form of
tiny magnetised dots. These dots are
created, read and erased using
magnetic fields created by very
tiny electromagnets.
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Fixed Hard Drive
✘ A hard-drive built into the case of a
computer is known as ‘fixed’. Almost
every computer has a fixed hard-drive.
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Advantages
Disadvantages
✘ High Access ✘ Cannot be
Speed transferred
✘ High Transfer between
Rate computers
✘ High Storage ✘ Cannot be taken
Capacity out of the
computer and
locked away for
security purposes
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Portable Hard Drive
✘ A portable hard-drive is one that is
placed into a small case along with
some electronics that allow the hard-
drive to be accessed using a USB or
similar connection.
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Magnetic Tape
✘ Magnetic tape is a large
capacity, serial access medium.
Because it is a serial access medium,
accessing individual files on a tape
is slow
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Advantages
Disadvantages
✘ Large storage ✘ Not suitable for
capacity an application
✘ Less expensive that requires fast
✘ Data transfer rate access
is high
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CD, DVD, Blue-ray disk
CD-ROM DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW Blu-ray disc
disc and DVD+RW A digital
An optical DVD-R and DVD+R are optical storage
storage recordable discs that can be device which
device that written to once, while DVD-RW was intended
is read-only and DVD+RW are rewritable to replace the
or cannot be discs that can be written to DVD format.
modified nor multiple times. The difference
deleted. between the + and – is in the
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Flash Memory
✘ Flash memory is a type of
Electronically-Erasable Programmable
Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). Flash
memory is non-volatile (like ROM) but
the data stored in it can also
be erased or changed (like RAM).
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Memory Card
✘ Memory card – An electronic
flash memory device used to
store digital information and
commonly used 16
in mobile
What is a Backup?
✘ A backup simply means making one or more
copies of your data.
For example, if you have a folder of photos
stored on the hard-drive of your laptop, you
might back them up by copying them to a CD-R
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Online File Storage
Online and Cloud – is now
becoming widespread as
people access data from
different –devices.
Cloud storage Data is
managed remotely and
made available over a
network. Basic features are
free to use but upgraded
version is paid monthly as a
per consumption rate.
Connections and Ports
✘ In computer hardware, a port serves as an
interface between the computer and other
computers or peripheral devices. In
computer terms, a port generally refers to
the part of a computing
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device available for
