UNIT 5: Storing and

Retrieving Information

Why secondary storage?

Advantages & limitations of Main memory (Primary
storage) versus Backing Store (Secondary storage)
Backups = crucial :Need mass storage/backing
store media
Main benefit: The magnetic medium can easily
erased and rewritten, and it will "remember" the
magnetic flux patterns stored onto the medium for
many years.
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Storing and Retrieving Information

Mass Storage
Magnetic
Disk
Tape

Optical laser

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Access
Random or direct access
Computer can go directly to the desired
information (magnetic disk/optical laser
disc)

Sequential access data in front of

the desired data must be read first
(magnetic tape)

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Sequential Data access

Data in front of the desired data must be
read first.
With a magnetic tape, you have to fastforward or reverse to get to any particular
point on the tape. This can take several
minutes with a long tape.

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Magnetic tape storage

Primarily used for the following:
routine information processing
archival storage of information
backup for disk storage

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Type of Magnetic Disks
Interchangeable can be moved from
computer to computer
Fixed stays with one computer

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Storing and Retrieving Information

The Hard Disk
Portable hard disk connects to a
computer through USB or FireWire port
Drive Interfaces
IDE
PATA
EIDE
SATA
eSATA

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Interchangeable Disks
Floppy disk 1.44 MB
SuperDisk 120 MB
Zip disk 100,250,700 MB

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Storing and Retrieving Information

The Hard Disk
Read/write head accesses or places
data on the disk
Access arms where the read/write
heads are mounted

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Hard Disk : read-write heads

There are two read-write heads for each
platter, one to read the top surface and
one to read the bottom
A hard drive that has five platters (for e.g.)
has ten separate read-write heads.

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The Hard Disk(Fixed Disk)

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Hard drive
1.
2.
3.
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Actuator (compact electric motor

that moves the read-write arm).
Read-write arm swings readwrite head back and forth across
platter.
Central spindle allows platter to
rotate at high speed.
Magnetic platter /Disk surface
stores information in binary form.
Plug connections link hard drive
to circuit board
Read-write head is a tiny magnet
on the end of the read-write arm.
Circuit board on underside
controls the flow of data to and
from the platter.
Flexible connector carries data
from circuit board to read-write
head and platter.
Small spindle allows read-write
arm to swing across platter.
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How data is stored on Hard drive?

There's a platter, divided into billions of
tiny areas. Each one of those areas can
be independently magnetized (to store a
1) or demagnetized (to store a 0).

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Disk Organization
Tracks
Concentric circles on the disk where data
is stored
Track density tracks per inch (TPI)
Recording density megabits per inch

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Disk Organization
Sectors
Sector organization
Sector pie-shaped area
Clusters adjacent sectors

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Hard disk explain how it works & its

components

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Hard Disk uses file Storage, Tracks,

Cylinders and Sectors
Data is stored on the surface
of a platter in sectors and
tracks.
Track : concentric circle on
the surface of the platter.
Each track can hold
thousands of bytes of data in
sectors which are a part of
tracks. Tracks form a circle
and are two-dimensional.
At least one head is required
to read a single track. All
information stored on the hard
disk is recorded in tracks

A typical track is
shown in yellow.

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Hard Disk
A typical sector is shown in
blue.
A Sector: pie-shaped wedge
on a track. Tracks are
subdivided into a number of
sections/sectors. A sector is
the smallest storage units on a
hard drive. A sector will hold a
fixed number of bytes of
information, for e.g. 512 .
Clusters adjacent sectors.
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Hard Disk
Cylinders
A cylinder comprises
the same track number
but spans all such
tracks across each
platter surface that is
able to store data
(without regard to
whether or not the track
is "bad"). It is a threedimensional object.
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Storing and Retrieving Information

File Allocation Table
Virtual File Allocation Table (VFAT)
keeps track of where each cluster can
be found on the disk

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Maintaining the Disk
ScanDisk searches the disk for lost clusters
Defragmentation reorganizes the disk
Disk
Cleanup

Ckeckdisk
Defragment
Backup

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Care of Interchangeable Disks
Avoid extreme temperatures
Avoid direct sunlight and magnetic fields
Only remove disks when drive light is off
Never force a disk into a drive
Do not touch the surface of the disk

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Preparing the Disk for Use
Formatting sets up disk for use on a
particular operating system
Creates sectors and tracks
Creates an area for the VFAT

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Disk Speed
Access time the interval between
when a computer makes a request for
data to be transferred and when the
operation is completed

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Optical laser disc technology

Why optical discs over hard disks?
Less sensitive to environmental fluctuations
Speed and Storage - Provide more directaccess storage than hard disks
Cost cheaper than the magnetic disk
alternative.
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CD vs. Hard Disk Storage

Media
CD-ROMs store data in a single track that
spirals from the center to the outside
edge.
Eg. of analogy.
Magnetic disks store data in concentric
tracks, each of which is divided into
sectors. The sectors on the inside tracks
hold the same amount of information as
those on the outside tracks, even though
the sectors on the outside tracks take up

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Storing and Retrieving Information

CD-ROM
CD (compact disc) originally used
for recording music
CD-ROM (compact disc read-only
memory) user may read, but
cant change information
CD-ROM holds up to 650 MB

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Storing and Retrieving Information

DVD-ROM
DVD (digital video disc)
Stores 7 to 14 times as much as a CD
DVD drives are backward compatible
they will read CDs and CD-ROMs

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Rewritable Optical Laser Disc
Options
CD-R (compact disc-recordable)
user may record data, but cant change
it
CD-RW (compact disc-rewritable)
user may record data and change it as
needed
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Storing and Retrieving Information

Optical Discs in Your PC
DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination
drive
DVD+RW/CD-RW combination
drive allows for recording of
original videos to DVD

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Other Storage Options
Flash memory low-cost, solid-state
memory
Mini USB drive
Plugs into a computers USB port
About the size of your thumb

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Storing and Retrieving Information

Other Storage Options
SD Card
Capacities: 512MB, 1GB, 2GB
Special Purpose SD Cards:
Capacity: 64 MB up to 32 GB

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Wrap Up
Whats the Best Mix of Storage Options?

When choosing the combination of

technologies to include in a personal
computer, there is:
storage capacity,
cost, and
speed
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Storage
Lesson Summary

Understand the various types of magnetic disk

storage
Understand the various types of optical laser
disc storage

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