Management

INTRODUCTION

This chapter established the different ways to storing data, and gives us an idea of which it’s better for our situation.

This chapter also established the categorizing of the storage devices that are two main categorizes: the magnetic storage and the optical storage, and also it’s included another category that is the solid-state devices. The first category divides intodiskette drives, hard disks drives, high capacity floppy disk drives and tape drives, they functions are explained in the chapter, these functions goes from give you the opportunity to store 1,474,560 bytes to the possibility to have multipliable disks in one, that is the case of the hard disk.

In the second category you can found the CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-Rewritable, PhotoCD, and other devices thatallow you to create you own DVDs with audio, music, video, etc or just to store whatever you want with more capacity.

You also are going to see the solid-state devices that classified in: fast memory, smart cards and solid-state disks.

Another important thing that you are going to see in this chapter is about the speed in these devices that is a major factor because measure the performance ofthese computer’s disk drives operations. So what are you waiting for? Check it now!

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
Lesson 6A: “TYPES OF STORAGE DATA”

Assignment # 6
Review Questions Pag.246

1) List the four types of magnetic storage media commonly used with PCs.
• Diskette drives
• Hard disk drives
• High-capacity floppy disk drives
• Tape drives

2) List seventypes of optical storage devices that can be used with PCs
• CD-ROM
• DVD-ROM
• CD-Recordable
• CD-Rewritable (CD-RW)
• PhotoCD
• DVD-Recordable (DVD-R)
• DVD-RAM

3) Name the three types of solid-state storage devices
• Flash memory
• Smart Cards
• Solid-State disks

4) Why a hard disk is called a random access storage device?
- Becausethe hard disk’s high rotational speed allows more data to be recorded on the disk’s surface, this is because a faster-spinning disk can use smaller magnetic charges to make current flow through the read/write head.

5) Describe how a magnetic disk drive’s read/write head can pass data to and from the surface of a disk.
- The read/write head passes over the disk or tape while no current isflowing thorough the electromagnet, the head possesses no charge, but the storage medium is covered with magnetic fields, which represent bits of data. The storage medium charges the magnet in the head, which causes a small current to flow through the head in one direction or the order, depending on the field’s polarity.

6) What is the purpose of formatting a magnetic disk?
- To prepare toused the disk, because you deleted all the existing files that are in the disk.

7) What is the storage capacity of a standard floppy disk?
- 1,474,560 bytes

8) Although magnetic tape can store a large quantity of data, it has one drawback when compared to other storage media such as hard disks. Describe that drawback.
- The locate data much more slowly that the other device , thisbecause the tape is a long strip of magnetic material, the tape drive has to write data one byte by byte, and to find a piece of data, the drive must scan through all the sequence, so this make the process very slow.

9) Describe the function of lands and pits on the surface of a compact disc
- The land reflects the laser light into the sensor and a pit scatters the light.

10) How does asolid-state disk store data
- By using the memory chip: synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) that is faster than the standard RAM. These chips may be a free-standing unit that connects to a server computer or a card that plugs into one of the server’s expansion slots.

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
Lesson 6B: “MEASURING AND IMPROVING DRIVE PERFORMANCE”

Assignment # 6
Review Questions Pag.259...