LO1 - 1.2 Types Of Information Storage Media

Question 1

Give examples of paper storage media

Answer 1

Forms
Handwritten notes
Maps
,telephone directories

Question 2

Advantages of paper storage media

Answer 2

Easily accessible - computer not required
Technology not required
Can be edited or notated to update

Question 3

Disadvantages of paper storage media

Answer 3

Easily damaged
Can be lost
Costs a lot to transport
Hard to keep very secure

Question 4

Optical media examples

Answer 4

CD
DVD

Question 5

Advantages of optical media

Answer 5

Inexpensive
Portable

Question 6

Disadvantages of optical media

Answer 6

Damage
Storage limitations - cd = 750mb dvd = 8gb
Cd/dvd drives are not always available
Read only

Question 7

Magnetic media examples

Answer 7

Magnetic hard drive
Magnetic tape

Question 8

Advantages of magnetic media

Answer 8

High capacity
Readily available HDD
Read/write access
HDD cheaper than SDD
Tape = effective backup overnight
Can be taken offsite if used for backups

Question 9

Disadvantages of magnetic media

Answer 9

Easily damaged - spinning parts
Magnet can wipe
Tape slow to access to data - reads from beginning to end

Question 10

Solid state media examples

Answer 10

SSD hard drives
Memory cards

Question 11

Advantages of solid state media

Answer 11

Speed
Information stored in circuitry - air cooling not required
Read/write access
Robust
Can be taken offsite if used for backups

Question 12

Disadvantages of solid state media

Answer 12

Small cards can be lost
Corruption
SSD more expensive than HDD

Question 13

Key characteristics

Answer 13

Mutability = ability to change content of a storage medium
Robustness = how device can cope if dropped
Access to data = how data is found on the device
Cost = storing and transferring data
Storage capacity = how much data device can store