INTRODUCTION TO SECONDARY
STORAGE
MICROSOFT WORD ACTIVITY 3 

 
   

MAY 16, 2020 
SHAFIKA SHUBARUDDIN 
2018636358 

  
 
 MICROSOFT WORD ACTIVITY 3 
Table of contents 

Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1 
 
2.0 SECONDARY STORAGE RECOMMENDED FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENT .............................................. 2 
2.1 INTERNAL SOLID‐STATE DRIVE (SSD) .............................................................................. 2 
2.2 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE DISK (HDD) ................................................................................ 2 
2.3 CLOUD STORAGE ............................................................................................................. 3 
 
3.0 CLOUD STORAGE ............................................................................................................................... 4 
 
References .............................................................................................................................................. 5 

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Body of Assignment 
 

1.0 INTRODUCTION
For a university student, a laptop is more beneficial and easier and portable to carry
them around. However, the components inside the computer are a vital complement
criterion that needs to be valued by the students. Different student requires a distinct
need for their laptop performance, assisting them in their daily life.

Therefore, one of the aspects differences that can be made is the difference in
secondary storage equipped in the laptop. Secondary storage is the same concept as
storage that store the data, information and instructions. Still, it acts as an external
memory that is non-volatile and more stable that hold the data until it is deleted or
overwritten (Computer Hope, 2017).

The rationale of secondary storage is due to primary storage memory is volatile and
might undergo data loss affecting the students during critical times. For example, the
student experiences data loss of a case report that need to be submitted. However,
the availability of secondary storage data that store and hold the memory of the case
report data until the owner delete them will be a lifesaver and a backup file for the
students.

There are thousands of secondary storage recommendation out there; however,

finding the best secondary storage for a specific type of students might be tedious
work. On that account, there are listed three secondary storage that recommended for
the university students. We will also discuss the five aspect and specifications of these
three devices that make them perfect and complementary for each other.

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2.0 SECONDARY STORAGE RECOMMENDED FOR UNIVERSITY
STUDENT
The secondary storage is non-volatile. Non-volatile is where the laptop switched off;
the programs and data written inside the secondary storage will not lose or affected.
There are three main types of secondary storage, a solid-state storage device, an
optical storage device and a magnetic storage device (BBC.UK, 2020).

2.1 INTERNAL SOLID-STATE DRIVE (SSD)

A solid-state drive (SSD) exist in external and internal. For the best laptop
performance, it is better to install an internal SSD. Firstly, SSD is faster and reliable
than hard disk drive (HDD) due to its smoothness running programs and retrieving
information. By the reduced waiting time, the student will able to do work faster and
efficiently (Devine, 2020). However, the downside of the fast is a shorter lifespan.
Although the HDD can be overwritten many times till eternity, the program will be slow,
the SSD provides a faster service but has limited times of overwritten (Nuncic, 2018).
Next, are the size of SSD are smaller, take less space and more compact than HDD
(Devine, 2020). On the other hand, it smaller in size but the resulting fast cost of more
price than HDD. For example, a 256GigaByte(GB) price is equal to 1TeraByte(TB)
HDD. This lack of memory, though, can be replaced by another secondary storage
listed next if you are only looking for capacity. The accessibility of internal SSD is pretty
much easy to access as all the wires are attached inside the laptop, and the security
of a hacker hacking into your file folder via SSD is low.

2.2 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE DISK (HDD)

Hard disk drive (HDD) same as SSD exists in internal and external. However, an
external HDD is a better option than SSD. SSD provides speed and reliability, but since
this hard disk is outside the laptop, it will not affect much of how laptop efficiency.
Therefore, it is better focusing on capacity (Beuzeval, 2018). Since HDD is more known
for its capacity, the rate of transferring file is, however, much slower than external SSD
(Beuzeval, 2018). However, do beware that this external HDD is for storage and
moving the external file, so it did not heavy down your laptop performance. But, to
make an HDD as your laptop backup is quite risky due to its mechanical part is quite
fragile (Safford & Webster, 2020). In conclusion, this large capacity HDD have a long-
lasting lifespan but is in a fragile state as an internal component can be broken and

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require time to transfer a file. The portability of HDD is also easy and small size, but it
might heavier than SSD (Beuzeval, 2018). But the external HDD is more affordable
and offer larger storage as 1TB HDD is the same price as 256GB SSD. The
accessibility of external though, it requires an additional wire to transfer from hard disk
drive to computer and the security for external HDD is absolute unless someone stole
your hard disk and able to lift the file from you.

2.3 CLOUD STORAGE

Cloud storage is different from SSD and HDD. Cloud storage has no physical form,
and everything is on the web. Since it has no bodily and cover around the web, the
storage it offers is vaster up to Petabytes (PB) (Candrlic, 2013) than HDD and will not
burden your laptop and making it work at a normal state. Unless you install an SSD,
the performance then will be a top-notch and nvmeSSD will perfectly well-loading
images and instructions for a gaming computer. However, the student might only need
a small amount of storage instead of PB, where the cloud storage is easily obtained
only by using email. By creating several email accounts, the cloud storage obtainable
can reach up into 50GB. And all of these is done without a single penny, just creating
an account that gives the cloud storage. However, if you prefer to store every folder in
one place, the addition of cloud storage needs to be pay. This data or memory stored
inside cloud storage will not be overwritten unless deleted, or the company of cloud
storage you keep have their system down which is rarely happen and data stored is
still in the company backup folder and retainable. Pretty much like SSD but without the
physical and it more long-lasting due to no physical device operating it. Cloud storage
is also portables, and its accessibility is pretty much easy. Portable is you do not carry
a device with you, only requiring the internet and the accessibility requires no wire only
your password and id. The speed for cloud storage is also promising as the different
cloud storage brand has shown a different cloud storage speed, and you can choose
the student budget to match the capacity and speed of uploading you want (Joe,
2020). Ergo, the most downfall for cloud storage other than internet requirement is the
security of this file access. The file access is more prone for hackers around the web
to sneak peek, and eventually, a confidential file or important file might lose. With the
memory on the web instead of being store somewhere with only you drive, it will be
resulting in less access. But to transfer those files, it will be easy, having it available
with you across the devices..

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3.0 COMPARISON TABLE
Comparison on 3 types secondary storage discussed previously can be compared based on
5 aspects. They are:

Type
Internal SSD External HDD Cloud Storage
Criteria/ Aspect

Capacity Size Large Larger Largest

Long Lasting Few Year Few Years Long-Lasting

Faster depend on
Speed Fastest Fast
the internet

Security Secure Secure Less Secure

Available in Free
Price High Low or Buy Additional
Storage in Low Price

 
 
 
 
 

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Reference 

References
BBC.UK. (19 May, 2020). Bitesize. Retrieved from BBC: 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zfssv9q/revision/4 

Beuzeval, A. (21 November, 2018). SSD vs HDD: Which Do You Need? Retrieved from MyMemory © 
2018: https://www.mymemory.co.uk/blog/ssd‐vs‐hdd‐which‐do‐you‐need/ 

Candrlic, G. (3 April, 2013). How Much Is Stored in the Cloud? Retrieved from GlobalDots: 
https://www.globaldots.com/blog/how‐much‐is‐stored‐in‐the‐cloud 

cnet. (29 December, 2019). Best SSDs for 2020. Retrieved from cnet: 
https://www.cnet.com/topics/storage/best‐hard‐drives‐and‐storage/ssd/ 

Computer Hope. (29 December, 2017). Computer Hope. Retrieved from Computer Hope 

Devine, R. (18 February, 2020). SSD vs HDD: Which should I have in my PC? Retrieved from Windows 
Central: https://www.windowscentral.com/ssd‐vs‐hdd‐which‐should‐i‐have‐my‐pc 

Joe. (21 May, 2020). The 4 Fastest Cloud Storage Services. Retrieved from GoodCloudStorage.net: 
https://www.goodcloudstorage.net/cloud‐research/4‐fastest‐cloud‐storage/ 

Nuncic, M. (7 February, 2018). Ontrack. Retrieved from the Data Recovery Blog: 
https://www.ontrack.com/blog/2018/02/07/how‐long‐do‐ssds‐really‐last/ 

Philips, N. (23 February, 2018). healthline. Retrieved from healthline: 
https://www.healthline.com/health/polycystic‐kidney‐disease 

Safford, M., & Webster, S. (14 May, 2020). The Best External Hard Drives and Portable SSDs of 2020. 
Retrieved from Future US, Inc.: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best‐external‐
hard‐drive‐ssd,5987.html 

US, O. (23 January, 2018). Otsuka US. Retrieved from youtube: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3NLoiXhsQ 

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