Input, Output and Storage Flashcards
What is an input and output device
Input Device - a device which can be used to put data and information into a computer
Output Device - a device which can be used to send information from the computer
Give three examples of input devices
Three from:
- Keyboard
- Webcam
- Magnetic stripe reader
- Barcode reader
- Touchpad
- Microphone
- Mouse
Give three examples of output devices
Three from:
- Speaker
- Printer
- Projector
- Monitor
- Headphones
Give two examples of devices that are used for input and output
- Touchscreen
- Gaming Controller
What are the Three Types of Secondary Storage Devices
- Optical
- Magnetic
- Solid State
How does Optical Storage work
Optical devices are read from and written to using lasers. Binary information is represented by the pits and lands which either reflect or scatter the laser light
How does Magnetic Storage work
- Magnetic storage represent binary information using two magnetic states: polarised and unpolarised.
- polarised, all magnetic poles align and can be read by a read/write head passing over the region. If unpolarised, magnetic poles are randomly scattered and produce a different reading on a read/write head.
- These two states can represent 1s and 0s
How does Solid State Storage work
- Solid State storage makes use of semiconductors forming the logic gates NAND and NOR to store electrical charge in one of two states: high or low.
- These two states represent the binary values True and False, which can be used to represent information.
- Information is stored in blocks, which are combined to form pages.
- Flash memory can also be erased and reprogrammed electronically
What is the difference between flash memory and RAM
RAM is volatile while flash memory is non-volatile
Describe Examples of Optical Storage
CDs
- Advantages - portable and able to small quantities of information
- Disadvantages - easily damaged by scratches, limited storage capacity and slow transfer speeds
DVDs
- Advantages- higher storage capacity and portable
- Disadvantages - require more storage space
Blu-Ray
- Advantages - more than five times as much storage than DVDs,making them useful for storing high-resolution films
- Disadvantages - require more storage space
Describe the two features on the surface of a CD
Pits - the areas on a CD’s surface which have been burned into grooves by a laser, this scatters light and represent 0s
Lands - the flat area on the surface which reflects lights and represents 1s
Describe Examples of Magnetic Storage
Hard Drive Disks
- Advantages - high storage capacity and most have have multiple platters stacked on top of each other to maximise storage capacity
- Disadvantages - slow data transfer speeds and can become damaged by movement (delicate)
Magnetic Tape
- Advantages - popular storage medium up to 1980s
- Disadvantages - bulky and superseded for more modern technology (ROM cartridges)
Floppy Disk -
- Advantages - incredibly portable and popular for exchanging small amounts of data
- Disadvantages - generally low storage capacity
In a hard disk drive what is mounted at the end of the actuating arm
Read/Write head
Describe An Example of Solid State Storage
Flash Drive
- Advantages - extremely portable, lightweight, high data transfer rates, no moving parts which makes them much more resistant to damage from movement
- Disadvantages - more expensive per gigabyte than opitical and magnetic and has a limited lifespan (Every time a page is written to, the voltage required to write to it increases)
What storage device has typical capacities in the range 500GB - 5TB
Hard Disk Drive
