Secondary Storage Flashcards
What is Primary storage?
memory areas that the CPU can access quickly. It has the fastest read/write speeds and it is mostly volatile
Give Examples of forms of Primary Storage?
CPU registers, cache, ROM and RAM
What is Secondary Storage?
Non-volatile memory where all the data (OS, Apps & user files) are stored when not in use. Its read/write speeds much slower than primary storage.
Examples of forms of Secondary Storage?
Magnetic HDDs, SSDs, CDs, SD cards
What are HDDs?
Hard Disk Drives are High capacity, reliable storage used as internal storage in PCs and Laptops often call the Hard Drive
What are HDDs made of?
Made up of magnetised metal disks that spin 100 times a second
How do HDDs store, read and write data?
Store data magnetically in small areas of disc circular tracks. A moveable arm accesses these areas and reads/writes data
What are Advantages of using HDDs?
Despite moving parts they are long lasting and reliable
Cheaper than SSDs
Despite SSD having a high capacity HDDs have higher capacity
Haver a longer read/write life than SSDs
What are SSDs?
Solid State Drives are fast and reliable storage devices with no moving parts used for the same purpose as a HDDs. Have significantly faster read/write speeds times than HDD
What are the advantages of SSDs having faster read/write times?
They can give quicker times for booting up, opening programs ands files than HDD
What are Hybrid Drives?
Drives that use SSDs for OS and programs and HDDs for data
What are Portable HDDs and SSDs used for?
To back up and transport large amounts of data
What is flash storage?
Flash storage is any type of drive or system that uses flash memory to keep data for an extended period of time.
Examples of other types of Flash Storage?
USB pen drives, memory cards (SD cards)
Solid State Storage
What is Flash Storage used for?
To expand storage capacity of small devices like cameras, smartphones and tablets (which are too small for SSDs or HDDs)
Advantages of SSDs
SSDs faster than HDDs
SSDs don’t need defragmenting (putting files split into smaller blocks back together)
SSDs more shock-proof (resistant to damage) than HDDs which are can be damaged by large impacts
SSDs are silent while HDDs make nise
What is storage Media?
Storage media refers to the actual thing that holds data
What is a Storage Device?
A thing that reads, writes data to media
Give an Example of Storage Media?
HDDs or Optical Discs
What are Optical Discs?
Cheap and Robust Secondary Storage such as CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray discs.
How much data can CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray hold?
CDs- 700MB of Data
DVDs- 4.7GB of Data
Blue-rays- 25GB of Data
What are the three forms that Optical discs come in?
read only (CD-ROM,DVD-ROM,BD-ROM) write once(CD-R,DVD-R,BD-R) rewritable(CD-RW,DVD-RW,BD-RW)
Why are the use of optical discs declining
Because Internet speeds have increased and streaming services like Netflix, Spotify and Steam have removed the need for Optical Discs.
Modern Devices don’t have optical drives
They have low capacity per disc, very slow read/write speeds and poor reliability to flash devices
Advantages of Optical Drives?
Very cheap (per GB), portable, wont be damaged by water or shocks (although easily scratched)
What are Magnetic Tapes?
Plastic cassettes (reels of tape) Used by large organisations in achieve to store huge amounts of data. Cassettes require special tape drive for reading/writing.
How is a Magnetic Tape used?
Data is read sequentially, from beginning to end, or until stopped by computer which means it is very slow when finding specific data stored on it nut has fast read/write speed once in correct place to begin reading/writing
In which order are types of Secondary Storage are the fastest?
Optical Disc, Memory Card, Magnetic Tape, HDD, SSD
In which order are types of Secondary Storage are the Priciest?
Magnetic Tape. Optical Disc, HDD, Memory Card, SSD
In which order are types of Secondary Storage have the highest capacity?
Optical Disc, Memory Cards, SSD, HDD, Magnetic Tape
