Secondary Storage

To overcome the limitations of primary storage, all computer systems use additional memory called
secondary storage or auxiliary storage. Secondary storage is non-volatile but is slower than primary
storage. Secondary storage is primarily used by computer systems to store large volume of data on
permanent basis. Data is transferred from secondary memory to primary memory whenever computer
needs to process data.

Over the years, computer systems have used several devices and media as secondary storage.
Secondary storage devices normally use two approaches for reading and writing data.

Sequential and direct-access Devices:-

There are two methods of accessing and storing information.

i. Sequential access or Serial access

ii. Direct access or Random access

A sequential access storage device in one in which arrival at a desired storage location is preceded by
sequencing through other locations so that access time varies according to location. We can retrieve
information from sequential storage device in the same sequence in which it is stored. For instance, we
cannot access data stored at the last few locations until we have traversed all preceding locations in the
sequence. This is analogous to a music tape cassette. If ten songs are recorded on the tape and if we
want to listen to the eight song, we must first listen to the seven songs coming before it. The player may
fast forward the tape quickly past the first seven songs.

Examples of sequential processing are monthly pay slips, monthly electricity bills etc.

A direct-access or random access storage device is one in which we can reach and access any storage
location at random and approximately equal access time is required for accessing each location. This is
analogous to a music CD. If we want to listen to 5 th song, we need to select the 5th track on the CD
Player.

Examples of direct or random storage devices are magnetic tape, magnetic disks and optical disks.

Magnetic Tapes:-

Magnetic tape is the most popular sequential storage device. Computer systems also use it as a backup
storage.

Magnetic tape is made of plastic ribbon usually ½ inch or ¼ inch wide. Its length varies from 50 feet to
2400 feet. Its surface is coated with iron oxide and it records data by magnetization. Data is recorded on
the surface as tiny magnetized and non-magnetized spots (representing 1 and 0’s). We can erase old
data and record new data on magnetic taps as well.

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Storage Organization:-

Magnetic tape consists of horizontal rows called channels or tracks and vertical columns called frames.
Magnetic tapes are usually available as 7 tracks and 9 tracks tapes. In 7 channel tape, the first 6 tracks
are used for storing data whereas the 7 th track stores parity information. Parity information enables
detection of errors.

The following diagram shows data storage mechanism of 7 channel magnetic tape. Which uses 6 bit BCD
coding scheme.

In the above diagram, letter A is stored on magnetic tape using BCD coding scheme. Where A= 1101 in
BCD coding scheme.

A magnetic tape is a continuous medium, which records data serially. Since there is no addressing in
magnetic tapes, in orderto identify different pieces of data it separates records by blank spaces called
inter-record gaps (IRG). Each IRG is about 0.5 inches. While reading data from a moving tape, a tape
drive stops tape movement when it encounters an IRG. The tape remains stationary until the record
processing is over and then moves again to read the next record.

Storage Capacity:-

Storage capacity of a tape = Data recording density x length

Magnetic Disks:-

Magnetic disks are the most popular direct-access secondary storage device. They are also the most
popular online secondary storage device.

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A magnetic disk is a thin circular plate of metal or plastic. Its surfaces on both sides have a coating of
iron oxide and data is recorded on the plate surface by magnetization. Data is recorded as magnetized
and non-magnetized spots (representing 1’s and 0’s).

Storage Organization:-

A magnetic disk surface is divided into invisible concentric circles called tracks. Tracks have numbers
consecutively from outermost to innermost starting from zero. Number of track varies; low-capacity
disks normally have 40 tracks whereas high-capacity disks having several thousand track.

A magnetic disk surface is further divided into pie-shaped segments called sectors. A sector can store
512 bytes. Disk drives can access a complete sector at a time.

Often multiple disks are stacked together as a disk pack to create large capacity disk-storage systems.
The disk pack is rotated by a motor. In order to read and write data to disk surfaces a moving arm
assembly is used which contains separate read/write heads for each surface. Normally, data is not
recorded on the upper surface of topmost disk and the lower surface of the bottommost disk because
surfaces get scratched easily. All access arms of an access arm assembly for all disk surfaces move
together.

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Storage Capacity:

Storage capacity of a disk system= Number of recording surfaces x number of tracks per surface

X number of sectors per track x number of bytes per sector

Types of hard disks:-

Hard disks are normally of three types:

i. Zip/ Bernoulli disk:-

It consists of a single hard disk platter encased in a plastic cartridge. Capacity of zip disk varies from 8 GB
to 500 GB or more. Its disk drive, called Zip drive, may be of portable or fixed type. The fixed type is part
of the computer system, connected to it permanently. Portable type can be connected with the
computer system for the duration of use. We can load and unload zip disk easily into a zip drive.

ii. Disk Pack:-

It consists of multiple (two or more) hard disk platters mounted on a single central shaft. It disk drive has
separate read / write head for each usable disk surface. The disk packs can be loaded and unloaded
whenever required. When not in use the user stores a disk pack off-line in a plastic case.

iii. Winchester disk:-

A Winchester disk consists of multiple hard disk platters mounted on a single central shaft. A Winchester
disk drive is of fixed type. That is, its hard disk platters and disk drive are sealed together in a
contamination free container and cannot be separated from each other. Winchester disks have large
storage capacity. Winchester disks were named after the 30-30 Winchester rifle because the early
Winchester disk systems had two 30 MB disks.

Optical Disks:-

An optical-disk storage system consists of a metallic or plastic disk coated with a highly reflective
material. It uses laser beam technology for reading/ writing of data from/to disk surface. Modern
computer systems use optical disks extensively as a random access medium.

Storage organization

Unlike magnetic disks having several concentric tracks an optical disk has one long track starting at the
outer edge and spiralling inward to the centre. Spiral track is ideal for reading large blocks of sequential
data such as audio or video. The drive slows down the disk’s rotation speed towards the edges of disk
whereas it speeds up the disk rotation towards the center of the disk.

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Access Mechanism

An optical disk drive uses laser beam technology for reading/writing of data to/ from an optical disk
surface. It has two laser beam sources. It uses one laser beam to write data by etching pits on disk
surface and another laser beam to read data from light-sensitive disk surface. To write data it turns the
laser beam ON and OFF at a varying rate due to which tiny pits are burnt into the metal coating of disk
surface. To read data it focuses the less powerful laser beam on disk surface. The reflected patterns are
converted into signals of binary 1’s and 0’s by a sensor.

Storage Capacity:-

Since optical disk has a single track so in order to calculate the storage capacity of an optical disk we can
use the formula:

Storage capacity of an optical disk = Number of sectors x Number of bytes per sector

Types of optical disks:-

All optical disks are round platters. They come in different sizes and capacities. Commonly used types of
optical disks are CD-ROM, WORM (CD-R), CD-RW and DVD. They are described below.

i. CD-ROM:-
CD-ROM stands for Compact Disk-Read-Only Memory. It works like audio CDs used in music
systems.
CD-ROM disk is a shiny, silver color metal disk usually of 12 cm in diameter. It is made of
polycarbonate plastic having thin layer of pure aluminum coating to make its surface reflective.
It has storage capacity of about 650 MB or 700 MB. These disks come pre-recorded and a user
cannot alter information stored on them.

ii. WORM Disk / CD-Recordable (CD-R) Disks:-

WORM stands for write-once, read-many. WORM disks allow users to create their own CD-ROM
disks by using a CD-Recordable drive attached to a computer. WORM disks are available blank in
market and a user can store data using CD-Recorder. As the name implies, we can write data
only once on a worm disk, but can read it many times. However, we can write all desired data on

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 a WORM disk in multiple recording sessions. The sessions after the first one are always additive
and cannot alter the etched information of earlier sessions. WORM disk storage mechanism
uses File Allocation Table to keep track of etched locations.
Worm disk is the preferred storage medium for archival applications.

iii. CD Read/Write(CD-RW) Disk

A CD read/write disk a very similar to a WORM disk with the exception that we can erase its
previous content and write on it multiple times. A CD-RW disk usually has a life time of 100 or
more erase/write cycle. CD-RW are little expensive than CD-R disks but offer greater cost saving
because of their erase and rewrite capability.
iv. Digital Video Disk( DVD)
DVD is a standard format for distribution and interchange of digital content in both computer-
based and consumer electronic products. The format enables the storage of various types of
large multimedia data on a new and improved version of CD. The pits are about 4 ½ times as
dense on a DVD as on a CD, and can store about seven times more data per side. The greater
density is due to more efficient data modulation scheme.