BTEC 2012

Unit 1 The Online World

Name: Holly Hanson

Lesson 11 Data Storage

Starter What is meant by data storage? Data storage is a general term for archiving data in
electromagnetic or other forms for use by a computer or device. Different types of data storage play
different roles in a computing environment. In addition to forms of hard data storage, there are now
new options for remote data storage, such as cloud computing, that can revolutionize the ways that
users access data.
1. What is a database structure made out of?
Field - this is a single piece of data such as name, date of birth or telephone number
Record - this is one complete set of fields, for example one pupil's school record
File - this is a collection of records, for example a school database

2. Explain what is meant be each of the following terms.

Table: The table allows you to see all of the records stored in the database.
Tables can store many records, from a few dozen for a small database up to millions for a large company
database.
Record: a rowalso called a record or tuplerepresents a single, implicitly structured data item in a table
Field: A record is made up of lots of individual pieces of information. Look at Wonder Woman's record: it stores
her first name, last name, address, city and age.
Each of these individual pieces of information in a record is called a 'field'.
Relationship: A relational database is a collection of data items organized as a set of formally-described tables
from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to reorganize the
database tables.
Data Type: Text, Date and time, number, Name
3. What is a primary key? A primary key, also called a primary keyword, is a key in a relational database that is
unique for each record. It is a unique identifier, such as a driver license number, telephone number (including
area code), or vehicle identification number (VIN). A relational database must always have one and only one
primary key.
4. What is a foreign key? In context of relational databases, a foreign key is a field (or collection of fields) in one
table that uniquely identifies a row of another table. In simpler words, the foreign key is defined in a second
table, but it refers to the primary key in the first table.
5. What kind of relationships can tables have between each other? 1. One-to-one relationships
2. One-to-many relationships
3. Many-to-many relationships
Online databases are databases which are accessible using a network, including the internet. They are
very different to local databases as they have to be accessed, and possibly updated, by millions of
users. Normally these databases will have thousands of rows of information. Usually information is
found in online databases by using a search engine.