Computer Storage Devices

A discussion on 6 sub topics under the Computer Storage Devices.

01) Definition of Computer Storage Devices ~

Why is storage needed in a computer? It is because, without a storage device on the computer, it would be unable to store or hold any data or settings and be considered as dumb terminal. Even a task, such as browsing the Internet, requires information to be stored on your computer.

So, What Does the Term “Storage Device” actually imply? Any sort of computational hardware component that is primarily utilized to perform some important tasks of a modern computer, which is basically storing, transferring, or extracting data files and objects is referred to as a storage device.

Information can be held and stored in storage devices either momentarily or permanently. These storage devices can be found both within and outside of a computer, server, or any computing device, available in a variety of forms, depending on the requirement and functions. A storage device may also be known as a storage medium or storage media depending on whether it is seen as discrete in nature (for example, “a hard drive” versus “some hard drive space.”)

Different types of storage devices

02) The Usage of Storage Devices ~

Why do we really use storage devices?

A computer without a storage device is considered a dumb terminal because it cannot save or recall any settings or information. The main purpose we’re using storage devices is data files and objects can be stored, ported, or extracted with these. The human brain is a marvel in and of itself. Regardless of how large its memory is, we be needing artificial memory for computer devices to manage our day-to-day work as technology advances innovating.

For an individual or organization to preserve data and information in a reliable and lasting manner, computer storage devices are required. Needed files will be safe on alternative storage devices even if the PC crashes (which can happen at any time).

Computer storage systems are used to permanently store massive volumes of data and information. These devices are sometimes called as supplementary storage/permanent storage. Backing up or archiving your vital data is one of the functions of storage devices. In the business sector, there is a pressing need for data to be stored in a secure manner so that it does not become lost or fall into the wrong hands. Fortunately for them, these storage devices play an important role in that, which is another usage of this.

The following are some other most common usages of storage devices:

· It supports in the synchronization of all vital records while also providing a high level of data security.

· The usage of storage facilitates data conversion and security.

· It also aids in the protection of the user’s personal data.

· It can assist in demonstrating the creative proposals/ideas to other business partners.

· It also aids in refocusing attention on more vital activities by allowing data to be stored convenient and secure.

· When in need of upgrading our device with a lot performance, storage devices play a big role as well.

03) Types of Storage ~

Computer storage types can be devided into 4 parts as, primary storage, secondary storage, tertiery storage and off-line storage. Let’s talk about each of these 4 categories seperately.

Primary Storage

• Primary storage, also called a prime memory, main memory or internal memory, is often referred to as memory.
• A memory bus connects the main memory to the central processor unit, either directly or indirectly. The CPU examines the instructions stored there on a regular basis and executes them as needed.
• This is generally located on the motherboard and smaller in size. As a result, data from primary storage can easily be read and written very accurately. This allows the CPU to quickly access the data and instructions stored in the primary storage.
• Primary storage is comparatively limited in size, especially when compared with secondary storage.
• Primary Storage can be divided into 3. They are,

· Random Access Memory (RAM)

· Read Only Memory (ROM)

· Cache Memory

now we’ll talk more on these 3~

Random Access Memory (RAM):

• The memory used to store computer program data white it is being executed. RAM is a volatile memory which loses its contents, when there’s no power. Because any data in RAM can be accessed just as quickly as any other data, it’s called Random Access Memory, in other way.
• RAM is a type of memory that is used to store data and instructions that are actively in use. This can have its contents altered at any time by overwriting it with new data and instructions. The larger a computer’s RAM is, the more data and program instructions it can hold at once. Unlike other types of primary storage, RAM can be easily upgraded in size.

random access memory

RAM can also be divided into 2. They are,

· SRAM (Static Random Access Memory)

· DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)

differences between SRAM & DRAM

Read Only Memory (ROM):

• ROM is a non-volatile memory that keeps its contents, even when the power is gone. Hence, data in ROM can only be read but not write back and modify, it’s called the Read Only Memory, in other way.
• The BIOS, which tells the computer how to start, and key applications, such as the firmware of specific devices, are stored in ROM and do not need to be changed.

read only memory

There are 3 types of ROM. They are,

· PROM (Programmable read-only memory)

· EPROM (Erasable programmable read-only memory)

· EEPROM (Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory)

How PROM, EPROM, EEPROM differ from each other

Cache Memory:

• Cache memory is a sort of processor-based high-speed volatile random access memory (RAM).
• Data can be transferred to and from cache memory more quickly than from RAM. As a result, cache memory is used to temporarily hold data and instructions that the processor is likely to reuse.
• The faster a computer runs, the more cache memory it has. Cache memory, on the other hand, is more expensive to manufacture than RAM because of its high-speed capabilities. As a result, cache memory usually tends to be smaller in size.

• L1, L2 and L3 are 3 general levels of cache.

Secondary Storage

• Secondary storage, also referred to as external memory or auxiliary storage, is only able to access the CPU indirectly. This is a more permanent, non-volatile type of storage.
• A computer’s input/output channels are typically used to access secondary storage, and the needed data is sent through primary storage’s intermediate area.
• When compared to primary storage devices, they have a large storage capacity.
• Secondary storage devices are frequently removable, allowing you to upgrade or replace your computer’s storage or move your storage drive to another computer

In a computer system, there are 3 types of secondary storage:

· Magnetic Media Devices — Hard Disk, Floppy Disk, Magnetic Tape etc.

· Optical Media Devices — CD, DVD, Blu-ray

· Solid State/Flash memory Devices — USB, Memory card

More under these categories of secondary storage will be discussed later.

Tertiary Storage

• Tertiary storage, often known as tertiary memory, is the next level of storage after secondary storage that is used primarily for storing rarely accessed data.
• It usually entails a robotic mechanism that mounts and dismounts removable mass storage media into a storage device in accordance with the system’s requirements. Such data is frequently duplicated to secondary storage before usage. This storage is significantly slower than secondary storage.
• Generally, tertiary storage is built using removable media.
• Tertiary storage is typically used for extremely massive data storage, such as tape libraries or optical jukeboxes that may be accessed without the aid of a human. As a result, nearline storage is another name for tertiary storage.
• Bandwidth and latency are two factors of speed in tertiary storage.
• Bytes per second is the unit of measurement for bandwidth.

• Few examples for tertiary storage are, -Magnetic tape, magnetic cards, and CD/DVDs.

Off-line Storage

• Offline storage refers to any storage medium that must be physically inserted into a system every time a user wants to access or edit data. Offline storage can be any type of internal or external storage that can easily be removed from the computer.
• These storage materials are lightweight and adaptable to a variety of systems. Backups can also be created using offline storage.
• The key advantage of off-line storage is that if there is a disaster, e.g. a fire, that destroys the computer, the off-line storage will be unaffected if it is held in a remote location. It is also a relatively cheap medium for archiving information that is rarely used.

• Offline storage devices include portable hard discs, CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray disks, USB flash drives, and SD cards, etc.

04) Types of Computer Storage Devices~

Magnetic Storage Devices

• This is one of the most frequent types of storage. Any method of data storage that uses a magnetized medium is referred to as this. To store data, magnetic storage medium uses varied patterns of magnetization on a magnetically coated surface. Binary data, which is data in the form of zeros and ones, makes up digital data. Magnetic polarities are divided into two categories, each of which represents either zero or one.
• Magnetic storage is a form of non-volatile storage. This means that the data is not lost when the storage device is not powered.
• Magnetic storage is read and write, which allows to reuse the storage space by removing older data stored. A moving read/write head traverses the disk, writing and reading data.
• It also has a big storage capacity, making it ideal for storing enormous amounts of data. This is also commonly used because it is relatively affordable.

Some of the magnetic storage devices are listed below.

· Floppy diskette - A floppy disk is a type of disk storage that consists of a thin, flexible disk of a magnetic storage media enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic casing lined with a fabric that keeps dust particles from getting into the spinning disk.

· Hard Disk Drive - A hard disk drive is an electro-mechanical device which uses magnetic storage and one or more rigid quickly rotating platters coated with magnetic material to store and retrieve digital data.

· Magnetic tape - Magnetic tape is a long, narrow strip of plastic film with a thin, magnetically soft coating on it that is used for magnetic recording.

· Super disk - This 120 is a high-capacity, high-speed replacement to the 1.44 MB 90 mm (3.5 in) floppy disk.

· Zip diskette -A zip disk is a removable computer storage device that may hold more data than a floppy disk. The Zip disk has a 1 megabyte per second read and write speed (mbps).

Optical Storage Devices

• Optical storage, also known as “Optical Memory,” or “Optical Medium,” permits all read and write operations using a laser beam.
• In Optical Memory, all recording information is stored at an optical disk. As per the opinions of data scientist that compact space is most useful for huge data storage. Their big advantages are not more costly, light weight, and easy to transport because it is removable device unlike hard drive.

• There are multiple number of optical storage devices. Some of them are listed down below.

· CD-ROM-These discs are capable of storing about 800 MB of digital data. These data can’t be thrown away by accident.

· DVD-ROM — DVD-ROM discs can hold up to 4.7 GB of data, while the storage capacity of a Dual Layer DVD device is double that. These discs are used to store high-definition video.

· Blu-ray disk - These discs can carry up to 50 GB of data and have a double layer. Double data can be stored on Blue Ray CDs. Blue Ray CDs are used to store HD (High Definition) videos because of its large storage capacity.

· CD-R and CD-RW disc - A recordable disc (CD-R) can only be written to once, whereas a rewritable disc (CD-RW) can be written to several times.

· DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW disc - DVD-R and DVD+R discs can only be written to once, whereas DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs can be written to several times. The formatting and compatibility differences between the + and — are significant.

· HD DVD - These devices can store up to 15 GB of data (Dual Layer HD DVDS have storage capacity double). HD Videos are also stored on high-density DVD discs.

Flash Memory Devices

• It functions similarly to random access memory in that it can be written to and erased. Nevertheless, unlike RAM, flash memory is non-volatile, which means that its contents are retained even if the computer is turned off and it can be read from and written to.
• This is a long lasting storage chip that is commonly used in embedded systems. Flash memory was developed from EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read-only memory).
• Flash memory is quite affordable and portable. Most magnetic and optical media have been replaced by flash memory devices as a more dependable and effective option.

Flash memory can be divided into 2 groups based upon the technology used.

· NOR Flash memory

• All programs and instructions are saved in NOR flash memory, and these programs are run using NOR flash without accessing any copied data into Main Memory.
• Although NOR flash memory has a faster reading speed than NAND flash memory, it has a slower write and erase performance. It has a good cost-effectiveness in the 1–4 MB capacity range.

· NAND Flash memory

• NAND flash memory provides a larger data store capacity.
• It provides higher tech density and expands capacity at a low cost.
• It can perform faster erases, consecutive writes, and sequential reads.

As per user requirements, we can divide flash memory into 4 types again.!

· Traditional flash storage: Traditional flash storage employs HDD storage techniques; this technique provides the most cost-effective capacity, allowing customers to scale the system as needed.

· Server flash storage: The cache storage capacity is preferred by server Flash Memory because it allows users to access data at a faster rate while having a smaller storage capacity.

· The all flash array: It functions as solid state storage because numerous flash memory drivers can be used instead of rotating hard disk drives.

· Hybrid array: This is known as the Intelligent Caching Solution, and it uses HHD storage capacity to provide sub-millisecond access to cached data.

Flash memory devices

Few examples for flash memory devices are given below.

• UBS Flash Drive -A USB flash drive, often known as a pen drive, thumb drive, data stick, or keychain drive, is a portable storage device used for data storage.
• Memory Card -This is a storage medium for various forms of data such as photos, video, or text that is largely utilized in multiple devices such as digital camcorders, game consoles, handheld computers, printers, and digital cameras, etc.
• SD Card - SD card, often known as “Secure Digital Memory Card,” is a type of flash memory that is commonly used with electronics that are meant to provide high-capacity memory in a tiny package.
• SSD - SSD stands for “Solid-State Drive,” and it is a non-volatile memory that can store and access many sorts of data.
• SDHC Card - SDHC stands for “Secure Digital High Capacity Card,” and it is a higher-capacity variant of the SD card that can hold up to 32 GB of data.

Online Cloud Storage Devices

• Cloud storage is a cloud computing approach in which data is stored on the Internet and managed and operated by a cloud computing provider.
• When you send files and data to the cloud, they are delivered to a server that is connected to the internet. Uploading files to a folder system and downloading them as needed is possible.
• Cloud storage can offer increased accessibility and reliability, as well as quick deployment and strong data backup, archive, and disaster recovery protection.

How does this works?

• Cloud storage is purchased from a third party cloud vendor who owns and operates data storage capacity and delivers it over the Internet in a pay-as-you-go model. These cloud storage vendors manage capacity, security and durability to make data accessible to your applications all around the world.

What are the benefits of Cloud Storage?

· Total cost of ownership.

· Time to deployment.

· Information Management.

• Examples: Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, OneDrive

05) Most Used Storage Devices ~

There are tons of storage devices out there in the modern world. Out of them here are 5 out of some of the most commonly used devices.

• USB flash drives: A USB flash drive is an often used, small external device that plugs into your laptop, camera, or phone in order to save digital data. Most flash drives offer between 2GB (gigabytes) and 64GB of storage space, depending on which model you buy. Flash drives feature an electrical signaling power source known as a transistor semiconductor to save your data. This includes source, floating gate, control gate, drain.
• Hard disks: A hard disk, often known as a disk drive or hard drive, is a magnetic disk used to store data on computers. It stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage, which consists of one or more rigid, quickly spinning discs coated with magnetic material. Magnetic heads read and write data to the platter surfaces, and the platters are associated with them.
• CD, DVD, Blu-ray disks: CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disks all serve the same purpose, but the technology used to create them differs. A compact disc (CD) is a tiny plastic disc that stores music or other digital data in the form of a pattern of metal-coated pits that can be read with laser light reflected off the disc. A DVD is a disc that can store far more data than a regular compact disc. Blu-ray Disc is meant to take the place of DVDs, and it’s capable of holding several hours of high-definition video (HDTV 720p and 1080p).
• Memory card: A memory card, sometimes known as a memory cartridge, is an electronic data storage device that uses flash memory to store digital data. Digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, tablets, PDAs, and portable media players are all examples of portable electronic devices that utilize them.
• Floppy disk: Although these are not commonly used in modern world, there were one of the most used storage devices back then. A floppy disk is a form of disk storage that consists of a thin, flexible disk of a magnetic storage media enclosed in a square or nearly square plastic casing lined with a fabric that keeps dust particles from getting into the spinning disk.

06) Characteristics of Computer Storage Devices ~

• Speed - Access time is the amount of time (speed) it takes for one complete read or write a bit, byte or larger amount of data on a storage device. Unless otherwise noted, the access time for reading and writing is presumed to be the same. As the device’s speed improves, so does the cost.
• Volatility - Volatility is in 2 types as volatile and non-volatile memory.

· Volatile memory - This is known as the temporary memory, and it requires constant power to keep recorded information from being wiped when the power is turned off.

· Non-volatile memory - Data is retained even when the power is turned off, thus it is suitable for long-term data storage.

potable devices

• Portability - With the devices being light weighted and tiny, the ability to readily remove and reinstall the storage media from the device is present.

Accessibility

• Accessibility -Serial/sequencial or parallel processing are 2 all possibilities. The cheapest option is serial and parallel access costs more than non-parallel access.

• Capacity - The volume of data that can be kept on a device is referred to as capacity. In some situations, having a huge capacity is essential.

more on types of mutability

• Mutability - Referred to as immutable storage, this writes once storage (WORM) permits information to be written only once after manufacture and retains the information contained at the time of manufacture.

3 types of mutability are, mutable storage (read/write), read only, and fast read slow write.

• Addressability - Location, File, and Content addressability are the three categories of addressability.

· Location: Each individually accessible unit of information in storage is chosen based on its numerical memory address in a location addressed system.

· File: Information is divided into files of variable lengths, with human-readable directory and file names used to select a specific file.

· Each individually accessible unit of information is chosen based on (part of) the material stored there.

Thank You for the time you took to read my article!

References I used:

What is Cloud Storage? | AWS

Flash Memory: Definition, Types, Examples, Devices, Advantage, Disadvantage

Optical Storage Devices: Examples, Types, Advantages, Disadvantages

Primary storage - Memory - Eduqas - GCSE Computer Science Revision - Eduqas - BBC Bitesize

Spotlight on: Off-line Storage

Computer Storage Devices: Types & Examples and Usage

What is a Storage Device?

What is a storage device - javatpoint

Tertiary Storage Devices - ppt video online download

Definition of offline storage

What is a Flash Drive & How Does it Work?

Flash Memory

What is a Storage Device? - Definition from Techopedia

What is Offline Storage? - Definition from Techopedia

https://study.com/academy/lesson/magnetic-storage-definition-devices-examples.html