Computer storage devices

9 min readOct 18, 2021

Computer storage devices are the main component in any computing devices.it main purpose is used for storing, porting or extracting data files and object.it can hold and store information both temporarily and permanently. Those may be internal or external to a computer, server or computing device. A storage device is may also be known as a storage medium or storage media depending on whether it is seen as a discrete in nature. storage devices are the computer hardware used to remember or store data.

· The usage of computer storage devices

Computer storage devices are used to store data.it can hold and store information both temporaraly and permenatly. ther are two types to store data in computer storage devices.

1. Primary storage device

Ex: RAM,cache memory etc.

2. Secondary storage device.

Ex:USB drive, floppy disk etc.

· Primary storage device data is stored temporary.

· Secondary storage device data is stored permanent.

Volataile and non-volataile another way of storing data in a computer storage devices.

· Volatile memory — RAM

Non-volatile memory — ROM,Hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic tape

· Types of storage.

Secondary storage

Primary storage is the of the computer componet that holds data programs and instructions that are currently at use. we can called it is main memory.

It is located in motherboad.as a result data can be raed from and written to primary

Storage extremely quickly.it can gives the procesor fast access to the instrouction that the primary storage holds.

We can identify 4 types of primary storage.

§ Read only memory(rom)

§ Random access memory(ram)

§ Flash memory

§ Cache memory

We can identify two types of primary storage.they are read only memory (ROM) it is non — volatile memory and random access memory (RAM) it is volatile memory.

FLash memory is non — volatile memory and it can be read from and written to. It is not as fast as RAM but it is fast to read from and write to. Flash memory is also used as external secondary storage.

Flash memory in use of floating-gates transistors to stored data. Flash is similar to the standard of MOFSET, except the transistor has two gates instead of one.

cache memory is a type of a high speed volatile memory random access memory and it is built into the processor.it is used to temporarily hold data and instruction. If Computer has more cache memory it is fast run. Therefor cache memory more expensive built than RAM.

Furthermore Also cache memory is used to reduce the average time to access data from the main memory

secondary storage

Alternatively referred as to external memory secondary memory and auxiliary storage a secondary storage is a non — volatile device that holds data until it is deleted or over written. Secondary storage is magnitude than primary storage. Therefore a hard drive or an additional slower SSD used as secondary storage. This image shows three types of storage.

Example of secondary storage:

· Hard drive

· Solid state drive

· USB thumb drive

· SD card

· CD

· DVD

· Tape drive

Secondary storage devices are non — volatile. Secondary storage allow user to permanently store data on them.it allow data for the storage data ranging from a few megabytes to petabytes.

Tertiary storage

Main purpose of tertiary storage is provide huge storage capacity at low cost.it provides a third level of storage. Some types of storage are available to be used at the tertiary storage level in hierarchical storage systems (HSS).they are magnetic tape, optical disks, optical tapes these storage devices are composed of fixed storage drives and removable media units. These storage device are fixed to computer system. That removable media unit can be removed from the drives so that the storage capacity can be expanded with more media units.

Offline storage

Offline storage is storage that must be physically connected or inserted into a computer system every time we want to use it. This storage is not build into system. It is a convenient way of talking your data with you but widespread distributed storage in the form of could computing is expected to reduce the appeal offline storage.

Examples of offline storage devices

· Portable hard disks

· CD

· DVD

· USB flash drive

· SD card

This storage medium are portable and compatible with a range of a system. Offline storage can also be used create backups.

· Types of storage devices.

Magnetic storage devices

Magnetic storage also called as “magnetic media” or magnetic medium or “magnetic memory”. In this storage devices, all data are stored with using magnetized medium and those types of data saved in that medium in the binary from like as 0 and 1.magnetic storage is non — volatile. Today’s most people preferred to magnetic medium because on this storage device can be performed read/write activities very easily. Magnetic storage device have huge capacity for storing data but their data accessing power is slow. Furthermore this magnetic also to be used in the RAM that have good data accessing power to other.

Examples of magnetic storage devices — Hard drive, floppy disk, magnetic tape, magnetic drum, MRAM.

Hard drive

Hard drive is also called Hard disk drive. This storage device area, where stored your all data (files and folders) in magnetic with from with physically. Hard drive is capable to store data more than 2000gb.it contains the stack of disks which are mounted internally with solid encasement and all data is stored on that disk. This disks move very higher speed (5500 or 7500PRM) so any data can be retrieved immediately from any area in the hard darive.in this drive all data dose not discard after getting to discontinue power supply.

Floppy disk

It was introduce by IBM, in 1969.floppy disk called “floppy diskette”. Floppy disk is a hard ware data storage medium that is use in the personal computer.it is a plastic cartridge measuring 3.5 inches square and about 2 millimeters thick, and it is secured with a protective casing.in the this disk, iron oxide was used to cot internally for storing data in, magnetic from , just similar to hard disk. Now these disks are completely obsolete

Magnetic tape

It was introduced by “Fritz pfleumer” in 1928, and primary objective of magnetic tape using for recording voice. It is traditional technology. But this technology is replaced by CD, DVD.

Optical storage devices

Optical storage is also called “optical media” or “optical medium” or “optical memory” and it allows all read and write activities which are performed by laser beam.in this memory all recording information is stored at an Optical disk. That compact space is most useful for huge data storage and all data is saved like as pattern of dots which can be easily read with using of light. The data is read while bouncing laser became on surface of storage medium and laser became creates the all dots while reading process, but it is used with high power mode to mark the surface of storage device, and make a dot. This process is also known as to the burning data onto disc.

Examples of optical storage device.

CD-ROM

CD-ROM is also known as compact disk read only memory and it also comes in the “random access” category’s devices. This type of disk can capable to store more 800MB of digital data. This data can’t discard by mistaken.

DVD-ROM

DVD-ROM is also known digital versatile disk — read only memory.it also comes “random access” category devices. This disks can store data up to 4.7GB, but dual layer DVD device ‘storage capacity double. This type of DVD has ultra-quality video.

BLU-RAY

These disks are totally replaced by DVD. Because BLU-RAY disks are capable to hold data up to 20–25GB and double layer BLU RAY disk can store double data. HD videos are used for BLU-RAY disks.it is used for HD videos data stored in BLU-RAY disks.

Flash memory devices

It was introduced by dr. Fujio Masuoka in 1980.flash memory is also called as electronic erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), because which piece of code like as programming can be write and erased by electrically

It is also uses for the storing data to computers as well as electronic devices such as USB flash drives, MP3 players, digital cameras and solid-state drives. This memory non-volatile in nature because all data are persisted in the memory when power is turn-off.

Online cloud storage devices

It allows us to save data and files in an off-site location that you access either through the public internet or dedicated private network connection. Like on premise storage networks, could storage use servers to save data. Most of the severe we use are virtual machines host on physical server.as we need to increase, the provider creates new virtual severs to meet demand

· Most used storage devices

Storage device has become popular because they can store on a large amount of a data. The most commonly used storage devices are hard disk, solid state drive, RAM, ROM and the USB flash memory. The reasons for this are shown in the table below.

· Characteristics of computer storage devices.

1) This device save data securely as it has volatile memory.

2) This is readable, editable and re-editable allowing easy replacement of data.

3) It is easily accessible and very convenient to use by anyone.

4) This capacity is increasing with the time that is a big advantage

5) It allow easy transfer of data from one device to another.

In additional to these facts, these can also be mention,

1. Durability.

2. Portability.

3. Available storage speed.

Data access performance.

Durability

Very durable, computer storage can last for years if treated carefully.it can be damage being drop.

Portability

Flash drive can be identified as a portability device from computer storage device.in addition CD, DVD can also be detected. This is due to the small size of these devices. How easy to move this storage device from one computer to another.

Available storage speed

Computer storage device has high speed and huge capacity. How quickly data can be access. Access speed are measure in