JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE & TECHNOLOGY CBD CAMPUS.

COURSE: Bachelor of Business Information Technology UNIT CODE: BBT 2101 TITTLE: Fundamentals of computer systems SUBJECT: Assignment II NAME: REG. NO

BILALI HAMISI 0797/2011

HD232-C005-

PRESENTED TO: MR. TOM

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 28th April, 2012.

STORAGE DEVICES A storage device is necessary for recording data. One of the most important tasks performed by computers is storing data. Different types of devices are used to store data. The data stored is stores in digital forms. Storage devices are categorised into;
1. Magnetic storage devices (Primary storage devices) 2. Optical storage devices (Secondary storage devices) 3. Electronic storage devices (Tertiary storage devices)

1) Magnetic storage Magnetic storage and magnetic recording are terms from engineering referring to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization in a magnetisable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads. Magnetic storage media, primarily hard disks, are widely used to store computer data as well as audio and video signals. In the field of computing, the term magnetic storage is preferred and in the field of audio and video production, the term magnetic recording is more commonly used. Their access time can be defined as the average time needed to gain access to stored records. Examples of magnetic storage devices include Diskettes (floppy disks), Hard disks, High-capacity floppy disks, Disk cartridges, Magnetic tape. a. Hard Disk The hard disk is also called fixed disk. It consists of one or more metal plates. The plates are fixed in the drive. Metal plates are coated with magnetic material to store data. A motor rotates disks. There is also an access arm and read / write heads to read and write data on disks. The characteristics of hard disk are; i. ii. iii. The storage capacity of hard disk is much greater than floppy disk. Hard disk is covered in a hard jacket and there are less chances of disk damage due to dust and mishandling. Now days Operating system and application programs are installed on hard disk.

b. Floppy Diskette It is a small removable, portable storage device that is made of polyester film coated with a metal oxide compound. Its enclosed in a jacket square in shape. It is readable by a computer with a floppy disk drive. 2) Optical disk

A storage medium from which data is read and to which it is written by lasers. Optical disks can store much more data up to 6 gigabytes than most portable magnetic media, such as floppies. There are three basic types of optical disks: Types of Optical Disk Although there are many different types of optical disks, they can be grouped into three main categories. a. Read-only memory (ROM) disks, like the audio CD, are used for the distribution of standard program and data files. These are mass-produced by mechanical pressing from a master die. The information is actually stored as physical indentations on the surface of the CD. Recently low-cost equipment has been introduced in the market to make one-off CD-ROMs, putting them into the next category. b. Write-once read-many (WORM) disks: Some optical disks can be recorded once. The information stored on the disk cannot be changed or erased. Generally the disk has a thin reflective film deposited on the surface. A strong laser beam is focused on selected spots on the surface and pulsed. The energy melts the film at that point, producing a non-reflective void. In the read mode, a low power laser is directed at the disk. and the bit information is recovered by sensing the presence or absence of a reflected beam from the disk. c. Re-writeable, write-many read-many (WMRM) disks, just like the magnetic storage disks, allow information to be recorded and erased many times. Usually, there is a separate erase cycle although this may be transparent to the user. Some modern devices have this accomplished with one over-write cycle. These devices are also called direct-read-after-write (DRAW) disks
3) Electronic Discs Electronic data storage is the third data storage out of the three types of data storage. The tertiary devices include the storage devices that are connected to the computer in the form of removable mass storage devices. Electronic storage is often used to store those files that are rarely accessed by the computer user. Examples are flash drives, flash memory cards, Pen Drive.

a. USB Flash Drives USB flash drives are connected to the computer via the USB port of the computer cabinet and use the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to store information. They are rewritable and have in-built flash memory inside them. Flash Memory Cards Same technology as for memory sticks but packaged as cards of varying sizes and types.Common in cameras, handheld computers and modern mobile phones. They are usually Very small and so more easily lost. Very compact so more suitable for smaller devices than memory sticks.

 These three technologies are not compatible with one another; each requires a different type of disk drive and disk.

References
1. DeBloois, Michael L., ed. Videodisc/Microcomputer Courseware Design. Englewood

Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications, 1982.

2. Harvey M. Deitel & Paul J. Deitel, C How to Program, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall,

2004.
3. Stefano Ceri, Dino Mandrioli & Licia Sbattella, The Art and Craft of Computing

Addison-Wesley, 1998.
4. Mike Banahan, Declan Brady & Mark Doran, The C Book, Second Edition, Addison

Wesley, 1991, online version at http://publications.gbdirect.co.uk/c_book/