FUNDAMENTALS OF

COMPUTERS & IT
Secondary Storage Devices
Limitations of Primary Storage

▪ Limited capacity because the cost per bit of storage is high

▪ Volatile - data stored in it is lost when the electric power
is turned off or interrupted
Secondary Storage

▪ Used in a computer system to overcome the limitations of

primary storage
▪ Has virtually unlimited capacity because the cost per bit of
storage is very low
▪ Has an operating speed far slower than that of the
primary storage
▪ Used to store large volumes of data on a permanent
basis
▪ Also known as auxiliary memory
Classification of Commonly Used Secondary Storage Devices
Sequential-access Storage Devices

▪ Arrival at the desired storage location may be preceded by

sequencing through other locations
▪ Data can only be retrieved in the same sequence in which it is
stored
▪ Access time varies according to the storage location of the
information being accessed
▪ Suitable for sequential processing applications where most, if not
all, of the data records need to be processed one after another
▪ Magnetic tape is a typical example of such a storage device
 Magnetic Tape
• It is a sequential access storage device.
• Plastic ribbon is coated with a magnetizable recording material such as iron-oxide or
chromium dioxide
• Data are recorded on the tape in the form of tiny invisible magnetized and non-
magnetized spots (representing 1s and 0s) on its coated surface
• Tape ribbon is stored in reels or a small cartridge or cassette
• Data is stored in the form of records.
• Records are separated by spaces called inter record gaps(IRG).
• If gaps after short records then tape gets wasted. So we group records in blocks and
separate blocks by inter-block gaps(IBG).
• Storage capacity of a tape = Data recording density x Length
• Data recording density is the amount of data that can be stored on a given length of
tape.
• Data Transfer Rate -refers to number of characters transmitted per second from tape
to primary memory.
• Tape Drive - It consists of read/write head to read/write from/to tape.
Advantages of Magnetic Tapes
• Storage capacity is virtually unlimited because as many tapes as required can be
used for storing very large data sets
• Cost per bit of storage is very low for magnetic tapes.
• High data recording density.
• Tape reels and cartridges are compact and light in weight
• Easy to handle and store.
• Very large amount of data can be stored in a small storage space
 Uses of Magnetic Tapes
• For applications that are based on sequential data processing
• Backing up of data for off-line storage
• Archiving of infrequently used data
• Transferring of data from one computer to another that are not linked together
Disadvantages of Magnetic Tapes
•Due to their sequential access nature, they are not suitable for storage of those data
that frequently require to be accessed randomly.
•Must be stored in a dust-free environment because specks of dust can cause tape-
reading errors.
•Tape ribbon may get twisted due to warping, resulting in loss of stored data Should be
properly labeled so that some useful data stored on a particular tape is not erased by
mistake.
Direct-access Storage Devices

▪ Devices where any storage location may be selected and

accessed at random
▪ Permits access to individual information in a more
direct or immediate manner
▪ Approximately equal access time is required for accessing
information from any storage location
▪ Suitable for direct processing applications such as on- line ticket
booking systems, on-line banking systems
▪ Magnetic, optical, and magneto-optical disks are
typical examples of such a storage device.
Magnetic Disk - Basics

▪ Commonly used direct-access secondary storage device.

▪ Physically, a magnetic disk is a thin, circular plate/platter made of
metal or plastic that is usually coated on both sides with a
magnetizable recording material such as iron-oxide
▪ Data are recorded on the disk in the form of tiny invisible
magnetized and non-magnetized spots (representing 1s and 0s)
on the coated surfaces of the disk
▪ The disk is stored in a specially designed protective envelope or
cartridge, or several of them are stacked together in a sealed,
contamination-free container
Magnetic Disk – Storage Organization
Illustrates the Concept of Tracks

200 Track 000

▪ A disk’s surface is divided into
Tracks
a number of invisible
concentric circles called tracks

▪ The tracks are numbered

consecutively from outermost
to innermost starting from
zero
▪ The number of tracks on a
… Track …
199 disk may be as few as 40 on
small, low-capacity disks, to
several thousand on large,
high-capacity disks
Magnetic Disk – Storage Organization Illustrates
the Concept of Sectors

A sector

▪ Each track of a disk is

subdivided into
sectors
▪ There are 8 or more
sectors per track
▪ A sector typically
contains 512 bytes
▪ Disk drives are
designed to
read/write only whole
sectors at a time
Magnetic Disk – Storage Capacity

Storage capacity of a disk system = Number of

recording surfaces
Number of tracks per surface
Number of sectors per track
Number of bytes per sector
Magnetic Disk – Access Time

▪ Disk access time is the interval between the instant a

computer makes a request for transfer of data from a disk
system to the primary storage and the instant this operation
is completed
▪ Disk access time depends on the following three parameters:
– Seek Time: It is the time required to position the
read/write head over the desired track, as soon as a
read/write command is received by the disk unit
– Rotational Latency: It is the time required to spin the
desired sector under the read/write head, once the
read/write head is positioned on the desired track
– Note: Average Rotational latency is mostly 1/2*(Rotational latency).
Magnetic Disk – Access Time

– Transfer Rate: It is the rate at which data are

read/written to the disk, once the read/write head
is positioned over the desired sector
▪ As the transfer rate is negligible as compared to
seek time and latency,
Average access time
= Average seek time + Average latency
Types of Magnetic Disks

Magnetic Disks

Floppy Disks Hard Disks

Zip/Bernoulli Disks Disk Packs Winchester

Disks
 2. Hard Disks

▪ Round, flat piece of rigid metal (frequently aluminium)

disks coated with magnetic oxide
▪ Come in many sizes, ranging from 1 to 14-inch diameter.
▪ Depending on how they are packaged, hard disks are of three
types:
▪ Zip/Bernoulli disks
▪ Disk packs
▪ Winchester disks
▪ Primary on-line secondary storagedevice for most
computer systems today
Zip/Bernoulli Disks

▪ Uses a single hard disk platter encased in a plastic

cartridge
▪ Disk drives may be portable or fixed type
▪ Fixed type is part of the computer system,
permanently connected to it
▪ Portable type can be carried to a computer system,
connected to it for the duration of use, and then
can be disconnected and taken away when the
work is done
▪ Zip disks can be easily inserted/removed from a zip
drive just as we insert/remove floppy disks in a
floppy disk drive
 Disk Packs

▪ Uses multiple (two or more) hard disk platters mounted

on a single central shaft
▪ Disk drives have a separate read/write head for each
usable disk surface (the upper surface of the top-most
disk and the lower surface of the bottom most disk is
not used)
▪ Disks are of removable/interchangeable type in the
sense that they have to be mounted on the disk drive
before they can be used, and can be removed and kept
off-line when not in use.
Advantages of Magnetic Disks

▪ More suitable than magnetic tapes for a wider range of

applications because they support direct access of data
▪ Random access property enables them to be used
simultaneously by multiple users as a shared device. A
tape is not suitable for such type of usage due to its
sequential-access property
▪ Suitable for both on-line and off-line storage of data
Limitations of Magnetic Disks

▪ Although used for both random processing and sequential

processing of data, for applications of the latter type, it may be
less efficient than magnetic tapes
▪ More difficult to maintain the security of information stored on
shared, on-line secondary storage devices, as compared to
magnetic tapes or other types of magnetic disks
Uses of Magnetic Disks

▪ For applications that are based on

processing random data
▪ As a shared on-line secondary storage device.

Winchester disks and disk packs are often

used for this purpose
▪ As a backup device for off-line storage of data. Floppy
disks, zip disks, and disk packs are often used for this
purpose
Optical Disk – Basics

▪ Consists of a circular disk, which is coated with a thin metal or some other
material that is highly reflective.
▪ Laser beam technology is used for recording/reading of data on the disk.
▪ Also known as laser disk / optical laser disk, due to the use of laser
beam technology.
▪ Proved to be a promising random access medium for high capacity
secondary storage because it can store extremely large amounts of data in
a limited space.
 Optical Disk – Storage Organization
▪ Has one long spiral track, which starts at the outer edge and spirals inward
to the center.
▪ Track is divided into equal size sectors.

(a) Track pattern on an optical disk (b) Track pattern on a magnetic disk

Difference in track patterns on optical and magnetic disks.

Examples of Optical Disks
Compact Disk
CDs or Compact Disks are optic readable media. The compact disc (CD) is
a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to
store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was
manufactured.
The main material of the CD is plastic. The shape of the plastic is circular and one side
of the circular plastic is coated with the reflecting metal coating, usually aluminum.

Data can be stored much more densely in optic media than in magnetic media, like
Hard disk. Optic media have a much longer life span. Millions of bits are burned into
this coating.
The hole is in the center of the CD, which diameter is 15mm. The area closest to the
hole is known as the clamping area, no data is stored in this area because there is no
metallic layer. This area is nearly equal to 26 mm to 33 mm in radius.
The radius of the usable area, that is where the data can be store is of 38mm.
 Optical Disk – Storage Capacity

Storage capacity of an optical disk

= Number of sectors
Number of bytes per sector

CDs can store many types of data, like audio, video, games, any documents, etc. The
data are scanned by a laser beam with a CD driver to visualize the data. The only
thing that is less in CD is storage capacity is very less compared to HDD or DVD and
the read-write speed is also very less.

The storage capacity of a CD is 700 MB only. Standard CDs have a diameter of 120
millimeters (4.7 in) and are designed to hold up to 74 minutes of
uncompressed stereo digital audio or about 650 MB to 700 MB of data.
Types of Compact Disks
The types of Compact disks in use today are:

1. CD-ROM
▪ Stands for Compact Disk-Read Only Memory.
▪ This disks are read once, after read it is use as a ROM, that is cannot be
updated later.
▪ Packaged as shiny, silver color metal disk of 5¼ inch (12cm) diameter,
having a storage capacity of about 650 Megabytes.
▪ Pre-stamped (pre-recorded) by their suppliers, by a process called
mastering.
▪ Provide an excellent medium to distribute large amounts of data in electronic
dorm at low cost.
▪ A single CD-ROM disk can hold a complete encyclopedia, or a dictionary, or a
world atlas, or biographies of great people, etc.
▪ Used for distribution of electronic version of conference proceedings, journals,
magazines, books, and multimedia applications such as video games.
▪ Used by software vendors for distribution of software to their customers.
2. WORM Disk / CD-Recordable (CD-R)
▪ Stands for Write Once Read Many. Data can be written only once on them,
but can be read many times.
▪ Same as CD-ROM and has same storage capacity.
▪ Allow users to create their own CD-ROM disks by using a CD-recordable (CD-
R) drive that can be attached to a computer as a regular peripheral device.
▪ Data to be recorded can be written on its surface in multiple recording
sessions.
▪ They are used for data archiving and for making a permanent record of
data. For example, many banks use them for storing their daily
transactions.
3. CD-Read/Write (CD-RW)

▪ Same as CD-R and has same storage capacity.

▪ This type of compact disc can be written multiple times and can be erased also,
like Pen drive.
▪ Data to be recorded can be written on its surface in multiple recording
sessions.
▪ Made of metallic alloy layer whose chemical properties are changed during
burn and erase.
Advantages Disadvantages
•Cost of CD is cheap. •Easy to scratch on CD.
•It can be carried out easily, •Storage capacity is lower than a hard
portable drive or DVD, nowadays CD is not used
•In that time, an entire software at all.
package can be stored on one CD, so •Read-write speed is slower.
its very reliable for the software •To burn CD we need software, so
industries in the days. burning is not much easy as hard disk
•In that days CD is only thing which or pen drive.
has much storage upto 700 MB than
other available storage devices.
•CD provides random data access.
•CD is durable for long time.
DVD
DVD stands for Digital versatile disk. DVD is a digital optical disc storage format.
DVDs can also be known as “Digital video disc”.

DVD technology allows for the storage of a large amount of data using digital
technology.

Looks same as CD-ROM but has capacity of 4.7 GB or 8.5 GB.

Designed primarily to store and distribute movies.

DVD-Video became the dominant form of home video distribution in Japan when it
first went on sale in 1995. It is a highly compact disc. This disc can store enough data
for about 17Gb.
Physical formats of DVD :
•DVD-video : It is a digital storage medium for a motion picture.
•DVD-audio : It is an audio only storage format, similar to CD-audio.
•DVD-R : Is similar to CD/R which offers a write once, read many storage format.
•DVD-ROM : Is a high capacity storage medium.
•DVD-RAM : Was first re-writable (erasable) disc

Characteristics
•DVD’s are used to hold very large files several Gb.
•DVD’s are portable.
•DVD’s have five to ten time’s the capacity compared to CD.
•Increased capacity.
•Better Interactivity.
•DVD are used by software companies for distributing software programs and data
Flash Memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile memory chip used for storage and for transferring
data between a personal computer (PC) and digital devices. It has the ability to be
electronically reprogrammed and erased. It is often found in USB flash drives, MP3
players, digital cameras and solid-state drives.

Flash memory is a type of electronically erasable programmable read only memory

(EEPROM), but may also be a standalone memory storage device such as a USB drive.
Flash Drive (Pen Drive)
▪ Relatively new secondary storage device based on flash memory, enabling
easy transport of data from one computer to another.
▪ Compact device of the size of a pen, comes in various shapes and stylish
designs and may have different added features.
▪ Plug-and-play device that simply plugs into a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port
of a computer, treated as removable drive.
▪ Available storage capacities are 8MB, 16MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB,
1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB.
Memory Card (SD-Secure Digital )
▪ Similar to Flash Drive but in card shape.
▪ Plug-and-play device that simply plugs into a port of a computer, treated
as removable drive.
▪ Useful in electronic devices like Camera, music player.
▪ Available storage capacities are 8MB, 16MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB,
512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB.