Difference between internal

Storage Devices and Media memory & backing storage

 Internal memory is the memory that is occupied by the current

 Objectives data and instruction being dealt with.
 Understand the difference between  Its contents are lost when the computer is turned off.
internal memory & backing storage
 Backing storage is the additional memory which is used to
 Be able to identify different types of store data & instructions that we may need to use again.
storage devices & media 

Hard Disk & Drive
Floppy Disk & Drive
 Identify the uses, advantages &  Optical Disk Drive
 USB Storage Devices
disadvantages of different types of  Magnetic Tape
storage devices & media
 Its contents are NOT lost when the computer is turned off.

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Difference between internal How do we measure the size

memory & backing storage of memory?

 Internal memory, also known as Immediate  Storing an individual character such as a

Access Storage (IAS) is: letter, number or other character needs a
 Small set amount of space called a - Byte
 Fast  To store 1024 characters we need 1024
Volatile
Bytes or 1Kilobyte (1Kb)

 1 million bytes (or 1000Kb) is called I
 Backing storage is: Megabyte (Mb)
 Large
 1000 Mb is called 1 Gigabyte (1Gb)
 Non –Volatile
 Not very fast to read from.

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Hard disk drives Hard disk drives

 The Hard Drive is the DEVICE which reads & writes  Uses
to the Hard Disk  Stores software
 Stores your data files
 The Hard Disk is the STORAGE MEDIA  Advantages
 It’s Magnetic media  Large storage capacity
 Stored items are not lost when the computer is
 Data is stored magnetically onto tracks on the disk switched off.
 Disk rotates at high speed – passing under the  Usually fixed inside the computer, so can’t get lost.
read/write heads  Disadvantages
 Slower than IAS
 Read/write heads READ the data into main memory  If the hard disk crashes the computer will not work &
and WRITE data back to the disk after it has been you have lost your work!!!
dealt with

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 Floppy disks & drives Zip Drives

 Uses  Zip drives are similar to

 To keep personal data floppy drives because the
 Keep extra copies of data individual disks are
 Advantages removable and portable but
 Can be carried with you they hold much larger
amounts of data
 Disadvantages
 Limited capacity (typically 1.44Mb)  Typically between 100 MB
 Unlikely to store your ICT coursework on one
and 2 GB.
disk

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Optical disk drives Optical disk drives

 CD Rom
 Compact Disk Read Only Memory  DVD
 Digital Versatile Disk
 Known as WORM devices Write Once Read Many times.
 Uses
 Uses
 Storing high quality audio & video
 Storing software
 Reference material (multimedia)  Advantages
 Data cannot be erased
 Advantages  Portable
 Data cannot be erased  Much larger capacity than floppy disks and CD Rom (about 4.7 Gb)
 Portable
 Much larger capacity than floppy disks (about 650Mb)
 Disadvantages
 Disadvantages  Can get lost
 Can get lost  Can’t write data to a standard DVD
 Can’t write data to a CD Rom
 Data access can be slower than a hard drive.
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Optical disk drives Optical disk drives

 CD Rewriter  DVD Rewriter
 Uses  Uses
 Back up software & data files  Back up software & data files
 Copy music files  Copy video files
 Advantages  Advantages
 Portable  Portable
 Can store much larger files than floppy disks  Can store much larger files than CD R’s

 Disadvantages  Disadvantages
 Can get lost  Can get lost
 Can’t always be read in some Optical drives  Can’t always be read in some Optical drives or DVD players

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 Comparing storage device
USB storage devices capacity:

 1 CD-ROM (650 MB) = 451 Floppy

 Recent development disks (1.44 MB)
 Fits on a key ring  1 DVD (4.7 GB) = 7 CD-ROM's (650
 Smallest storage capacity is about MB)
32Mb = about 22 floppy disks  Access speed
 1Gb versions now available  Hard drive - 1000 KB/s
 Is this the end of the floppy disk?  CD-ROM - 100 KB/s
 Floppy disk - 36 KB/s

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Storage used for back-ups Direct and serial access

 Magnetic tape
 Comes in two forms; tape reels, and cassettes or
cartridges.
 Large tape reels are used to make backup copies of
programs and data on large mainframe computers.
 Cartridges are used to make backup copies of the
programs and data on personal computers and
networks.
The main advantage of using magnetic tape as backing

storage is that it is relatively cheap and can store large
amounts of data.
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 Floppy disks, hard disks CDs and USB
storage devices all allow direct access to
data.
 Direct access means that the required data
can be found straight away without having to
read through all the data on the disk.
 Magnetic tape allows only serial access to
data. To locate data on a magnetic tape it
has to be searched from the beginning until
the required data is found.
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File compression
 File compression software can be used to make
files smaller so that more data can be stored in the
same amount of space on backing store.
 When a compressed file on backing store needs to
be used it must be decompressed.
 This can be done using decompression software
or by setting files up to be self-extracting which
means that they can automatically decompress
themselves.
 Winzip is an example of software that can be used
to compress and decompress files.

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