Jump drive

1. Alternatively referred to as a USB flash

drive, data stick, pen drive and thumb drive, ajump
drive is a portable drive that is often the size of your thumb
that connects to the computer USB port. Today, flash drives
are available in various sizes including but not limited to
256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 5GB, 16GB, and beyond and are
widely used as an easy and small way
to transfer AND store information from their computer.
In the picture to the right, is an example of
the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB flash drive and a good
example of what many flash drives look like. As can be seen
in this picture the drive has a small casing that stores the
flash memory connected to a USB connection that is
plugged into the USB port on your computer.








Hard drive
Alternatively referred to as a hard disk drive and
abbreviated as HD or HDD, the hard drive is
the computer'smain storage media device that permanently
stores all data on the computer. The hard drive was first
introduced on September 13, 1956 and consists of one or
more hard disk platters inside of air sealed casing. Most
computer hard drives are in an internal drive bay at the
front of the computer and connect to themotherboard using
either ATA, SCSI, or a SATA cable and power cable. Below,
is an illustration of what the inside of a hard disk drive looks
like for a desktop and laptop hard disk drive.

As can be seen in the above picture, the desktop hard drive
has six components: the head actuator, read/write actuator
arm, read/write head, spindle, and platter. On the back of a
hard disk drive you'll find a circuit board called the disk
controller.
How is data read and stored on a hard drive?
Data sent to and from the hard disk drive is interpreted
by the disk controller, which tells the hard disk drive
what to do and how to move the components within the
drive. When the operating system needs to read or
write information, it examines the hard drives File
Allocation Table (FAT) to determine file location and
available areas. Once this has been determined, the
disk controller instructs the actuator to move the
read/write arm and align the read/write head. Because
files are often scattered throughout the platter, the
head will often need to move to several different
locations to access all information.
All information stored on a traditional hard disk drive,
like the above example, is done magnetically. After
completing the above steps, if the computer needs to
read information from the hard disk drive it would read
the magnetic polarities on the platter. One side of the
magnetic polarity is 0 and the other is 1, reading this
as binary data the computer can understand what the
data is on the platter. For the computer to write
information to the platter, the read/write head aligns
the magnetic polarities, writing 0's and 1's that can be
read later.
External and Internal hard drives
Although most hard disk drives are internal hard disk
drives, many users also use external hard disk
drives to backup data on their computer and expand
the total amount of space available to them. External
drives are often stored in an enclosure that helps
protect the drive and allow it to interface with the
computer, usually over USB or eSATA. A great example
of a backup external device that supports multiple hard
disk drives is the Drobo.
External hard drives come in many shapes and sizes.
Some are large, about the size of a book, while others
are about the size of a cell phone. External hard drives
can be very useful for backing up important data and
taking with you on the go. They can store a lot of
information, including music and movies.

Recordable DVD drives
Alternatively referred to as a DVD writer, recordable DVD
drives are disc drives capable of creating DVD discs.
Unfortunately, unlike recordable CD drives, there are many
different competing standards for creating DVD discs. For
example, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL
(DVD+R9), and DVD-RAM are all different competing
standards. Below is a brief explanation of each of these
standards and related links to each of these standards.
DVD-R
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable, DVD-R is
similar to the idea behind CD-R, where the drive is
capable or recording once to a disc and then read many
times after it has been created. DVD-R is an approved
standard by DVD Forum and the drives are capable of
recording to DVD-R discs, also known asDVD-
5 and DVD-10 discs.
Note: DVD-R discs are compatible with most stand
alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD-RW (DVD-R/W)
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Read/Write, DVD-RW is
an approved standard by DVD Forum and, much like
CD-RW, is a technology that enables a user to read and
write to a DVD-RW or DVD-R disc several times. DVD-
RW drives are capable of recording to DVD-R and DVD-
RW discs, also known as DVD-5 and DVD-10discs.
Note: DVD-RW discs are compatible with most stand-
alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD+R
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable, DVD+R is an
approved standard by the DVD+RW Alliance and, much
like CD-R and DVD-R, is a technology that enables a
user to read and write to a DVD+RW or DVD+R disc
several times. DVD+RW drives are capable of
recording DVD+R discs, also known as DVD-5 and DVD-
10 discs.
Note: DVD+R discs are compatible with most stand-
alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD+RW
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Read/Write, DVD+R is an
approved standard by the DVD+RW Alliance and, much
like CD-RW and DVD-RW, is a technology that enables a
user to read and write to a DVD+RW or DVD+R disc
several times. DVD+RW drives are capable of
recording DVD+R and DVD+RW discs, also known
as DVD-5 and DVD-10 discs.
Note: DVD+RW discs are compatible with most stand-
alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD+R DL (DVD+R9)
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable Dual Layer,
DVD+R DL is an approved standard by the DVD+RW
Alliance and almost doubles the capacity of a DVD when
compared with the DVD+R or DVD+RW discs, also
known as DVD-9 and DVD-18 discs.
Note: DVD+R DL discs are compatible with most stand-
alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.
DVD-RAM
Short for Digital Versatile Disc-Random Access Memory,
DVD-RAM drives are an approved standard by
theDVD+RW Alliance and are similar to CD-RW in that
they enable users to read and write to a disc several
times.
Note: Unlike competing standards of DVD recordable
discs, DVD-RAM discs cannot be read in the majority of
stand-alone DVD players and computer DVD-ROM
drives.
CD-R
Alternatively referred to as CD-WO (Write once)
or WORM (Write Once Read Many) drive. CD-R is short
forCD-Recordable and is a writable disc and drive that is
capable of having information written to the disc once and
then having that disc read many times after that. If the data
is not written to the disc properly, has errors, or has the
incorrect information that disc or portions of that disc cannot
be erased and is often jokingly referred to as a coaster.
A CD-R disc is coated with a photosensitive organic dye that
allows a user to record information. Once the CD-R disk is
placed within the computer, the recording process begins.
The laser inside the drive heats the dye to reveal the areas
to diffuse light just as a traditional CD pit would. The CD-R
drive does not actually create pits on the CD; instead the
burner creates reflective sections on the CD causing the
computer's CD-ROM laser to interpret it as a pit. Once a CD-
R disk is finished recording, the CD will be able to be used in
any standard CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD drive.
Although in the past there were issues with reading CD-R
disks in the first revision of DVD drives.
CD-Rs are a low cost solution for backing up software. Each
CD-R often only costs a few cents (as of 2010 around 17-
cents a disc) and are capable of holding up to 650 MB (74
minutes of music) or 700MB (80 minutes of music).
Although these are still a very popular solution for backing
up data more users are turning to USB thumb drives to
backup and transfer data.






CD-ROM
Short for Compact Disc-Read Only Memory, CD-
ROM drives or optical drives are CD players inside
computers that can have speeds in the range from 1x and
beyond, and have the capability of playing audio CDs and
computer data CDs. Below is a picture of the front and back
of a standard CD-ROM drive.











Data storage device
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Many different consumer electronic devices can store data.


Edison cylinder phonograph ca. 1899. The Phonograph cylinder is a storage medium. The phonograph may
or may not be considered a storage device.


A reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630). The magnetic tape is a data storage medium. The recorder is
data storage equipment using a portable medium (tape reel) to store the data.


Crafting tools such as paint brushes can be used as data storage equipment. The paint and canvas can be
used as data storage media.


RNA might be the oldest data storage medium,
[1]
.
A data storage device is a device for recording (storing) information (data). Recording can be
done using virtually any form of energy, spanning from manual muscle power in handwriting, to
acoustic vibrations in phonographic recording, to electromagnetic energy modulating magnetic
tape and optical discs.
A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds
information is a recording medium. Devices that process information (data storage equipment)
may either access a separate portable (removable) recording medium or a permanent component
to store and retrieve information.
Electronic data storage is storage which requires electrical power to store and retrieve that data.
Most storage devices that do not require vision and a brain to read data fall into this category.
Electromagnetic data may be stored in either an analog or digital format on a variety of media. This
type of data is considered to be electronically encoded data, whether or not it is electronically
stored in a semiconductor device, for it is certain that a semiconductor device was used to record it
on its medium. Most electronically processed data storage media (including some forms
of computer data storage) are considered permanent (non-volatile) storage, that is, the data will
remain stored when power is removed from the device. In contrast, most electronically
stored information within most types of semiconductor (computer chips) microcircuits are volatile
memory, for it vanishes if power is removed.
With the exception of barcodes and OCR data, electronic data storage is easier to revise and may
be more cost effective than alternative methods due to smaller physical space requirements and
the ease of replacing (rewriting) data on the same medium. However, the durability of methods
such as printed data is still superior to that of most electronic storage media. The durability
limitations may be overcome with the ease of duplicating (backing-up) electronic data.