CD/ DVD

Fall under the optical storage devices. They store data on a reflective surface so that it can be
read by a beam of laser light. A laser uses concentrated, narrow beam of light, focused and
directed with lenses, prisms and mirrors. The tight focus of the laser beam is made possible by
the fact that all the light is of the same wavelength.
a) CD.

Is a compact disk read only memory. Reads 0s and 1s from a spinning disk by focusing a laser on
the disk surface. Some areas of the disk reflect the laser light into a sensor, other areas scatter the
light. A spot that reflects the laser beam is interpreted as a 1 and the absence of a reflection is
interpreted as a 0. Data is laid out on a CD in a long, continuous spiral that starts at the outer
edge and winds inwards towards the centre. Data is stored in the form of lands which are flat
areas on the metals surface, and pits which are depressions or hollows A land reflects the laser
light into the sensor (a data bit of 1) and a pit scatters the light (a data bit of 0). On a full CD the
spiral of data stretches almost 3 miles long. A standard CD can store 650 MB of data or about 70
minutes of audio.
Speed: Quite slow compared to hard disk drives since the laser reads pits and lands one bit at a
time. For the drive to read each sector of the disk in the same amount of time, it must spin the
disk faster when reading the sectors near the middle and slower when reading sectors near the
edge. Changing the speed of rotation takes time enough to seriously impair the overall
performance.
Examples: compact disk read only memory (CD ROM), CD Recordable, Photo CD, CD
Rewritable (CD RW)
 b) DVD- ROM
Digital video (or versatile) disk read only memory, is a high-density medium capable of storing a
full-length movie on a single disk the size of a CD. Achieves such high storage capacities by
using both sides of the disk and special data compression technologies. The latest generation of
DVD-ROM use layers of data tracks; the laser beam reads data from the first layer and then
looks through it to read data from the second layer. Each side of a standard DVD-ROM can hold
up to 4.7 GB. Dual layer DVD-ROM can hold 17 GB of data.

APPLICATIONS
Used by companies to distribute products due to the high capacity and the ability to be
produced cheaply than a set of diskettes.
Popular medium for storing music.

FLASH

A small, portable flash memory that plugs into a computers USB port and functions as a portable
hard drive. A large chunk of memory can be erased at one time. Flash drives are available in sizes
such as 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 5GB, and 16GB and are an easy way to transfer and store
information. Flash memory technology is a mix of EPROM and EEPROM technologies. The flash
cell consists of one transistor with a floating gate, similar to an EPROM cell apart from the gate
oxide between the silicon and the floating gate which is thinner for flash technology. Flash memory
can be programmed and erased electrically.
Electrical functionality: electrons are trapped onto the floating gate using Fowler-Nordheim
tunneling (as with the EEPROM) or hot electron injection (as with the EPROM). which modify
the threshold voltage of the storage transistor. These electrons modify the threshold voltage of
the storage transistor.
Architecture: As with other semiconductors, the flash memory chip size is the major contributor
to the cost of the device. For this reason, designers have developed alternative memory array
architectures, yielding a trade-off between die size and speed. NOR, NAND, DINOR, and AND
are the main architectures developed for flash memories.

Applications
Flash memory is used for easy and fast information storage in such devices as digital
cameras and home video game consoles. Its used more as a hard drive than as a RAM.
The data retention can be as long as ten years.

Flash cell structure

BLUE-RAY

Optical disc format jointly developed by a group of leading consumer electronics and PC
companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). It uses blue lasers, which have
shorter wavelengths than traditional red lasers, it can store substantially more data in the
same amount of physical space as previous technologies such as DVD and CD. utilizes a
blue violet laser to read and write data. It was designed to supersede the DVD format i.e
it is capable of storing high definition (720p and 1080p) and ultra high-definition video
resolution.

Architecture: Consist of a plastic disk which is 120mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick,
the same size as DVDs and CDs. Convectional Blue-ray disks contain 25Gb per layer.

Application
Used as a medium for video material such as feature films and physical distribution of
video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
HARD DISK.

Hard disk is still the most common storage device for all computers. Like diskettes hard drives
store data in tracks divided into sectors. Physically however they look quite different to diskettes.
Includes one or more metal platters mounted on a central spindle, like a stack of rigid diskettes.
Each platter is covered with a metal coating and the entire unit is contained in a sealed chamber.
The hard disk and drive are a single unit which includes the hard disk, the motor that spins the
platters and a set of read/write heads. Because you cannot remove the disk from the drive the
terms hard disk and hard drive are used interchangeably. Hard drives have become the primary
storage devices for PCs because they are convenient and cost effective. They outperform
diskettes in both speed and capacity. Hard disks offer capacities from several hundred MB and
more. The rigidity of the disk and the high-speed rotation allows more data to be recorded on the
surface.
Electrical functionality and Architecture: Waving a magnet past an electric coil causes a
current to flow. The faster you wave the magnet and the closer the magnet is to the coil, the
larger the current generated in the coil. The disk that spins faster can use smaller magnetic
charge to make current flow to the read/write head. The drives heads can also use a lower density
current to record data on the disk. Not only do hard disks pack the data closer together they also
hold more data because they usually include multiple platters stacked one on top of each other.
This configuration means that the disk has more than 2 sides, in addition to side 0 and 1 there are
sides 2, 3, 4, and so on. Larger capacity disks may use 12 platters but both side of every platter
are not always used. The number of sides that the disk uses is specified by the number of
read/write heads. A particular disk may have 6 disks platters (12 sides) but only 11 heads one
side is not used to store data. Unused side is often the bottom one. The term cylinder is often
used to refer to the same track across all the disks. Track 0 (outermost track) on every disk is
cylinder 0. Hard disk generally store 512 bytes of data in a sector, but can have more sectors per
track 54, 63 or even more sectors per track are not uncommon.
SSD (SOLID STATE DISK)

Solid-state storage (SSS) is a method of data storage accomplished by using integrated circuit
devices to store data rather than moving magnetic or optical media. SSS is typically non-volatile
and may take various forms, such as a solid state drive, solid-state card or solid-state module.
Solid-state drives (SSDs) used in the enterprise are data storage devices that use non-moving
flash memory technology rather than rotating magnetic discs or optical media. SSDs are
compatible with traditional hard drive interfaces and have a familiar hard drive form factor, such
as 3.5-, 2.5- or 1.8-inch. Todays SSDs are different from hard drives when it comes to data
storage. SSDs are sophisticated storage devices that use non-moving memory chips, mostly non-
volatile NAND flash, instead of the rotating magnetic discs found in hard drives. Hard drives can
take the data directly from the host and write it to the rotating media. By contrast, SSDs cannot
write a single bit of information without first erasing and then rewriting very large blocks of data
at one time (also referred to as P/E). Because SSDs and hard drives have different strengths in
terms of efficiency, they complement each other and can co-exist. SSDs deliver ultra-fast
random data access (inputs-outputs per second), and has low power consumption. The Solid state
disk is able to use its controller to maximise the life of flash memory by a process called wear
leveling. This technique levels the wear across all blocks by distributing data writes across the
flash memory devices. NAND flash memory can only be written a certain number of times to
each block (or cell). Once a block (or cell) is written to its limit, the block starts to forget what is
stored and data corruption can occur. A SSD consists of semiconductor memory building blocks,
it contains no mechanical parts. The smallest unit of an SSD is a page, which is composed of
several memory cells, and is usually 4 KB in size. Several pages on the SSD are summarized to a
block. A block is the smallest unit of access on a SSD. Currently, 128 pages are mostly
combined into one block; therefore, a block contains 512 KB.
FLOPPY DISKS

Floppy disks are removable disks made of flexible polyester material with magnetic coating on
both sides.
Functionality and Architecture: The diskette drive includes a motor that rotates the disk on a
spindle and the read/write heads that can move to any spot on the surface of the disk as it spins.
This allows the heads to access data randomly rather than sequentially the heads can skip from
one spot to another without having to scan through all the data in between. Diskettes spin at
approx. 300 revolutions per minute. The longest it can take to position a point on the diskettes
under the read/write heads is the amount of time for one revolution 0.2 second. The farthest the
heads have to move is from the centre of the diskette to the outside edge (or vice versa). The
heads can do this in less time about 0.17 seconds. Because both operations occur at the same
time (spinning the disk and moving the heads over the surface), the maximum time to position
the heads over a given location on the diskette known as maximum access time remains the
greater of the two times, 0.2 second. The maximum access time for diskettes can be even longer,
however, because they do not spin when they are not being used. It can take about 0.5 second to
rotate the disk from a dead stop.
Types of Floppy disks: 5.25-inch diskettes (used mainly during the 1980s); 3.5-inch floppy
disks.
Capacities: Both types have evolved from lower to higher densities. The density is a measure of
the capacity of the surface of the disk, the higher the density the more closely the iron oxide
particles are packed and the more data a disk can store. Early versions of disks were double
density (DD). As diskette media improved storage capacity improved. DD diskettes have been
replaced by high density (HD) ones providing significantly more storage.
Applications
Moving files between computers
Loading new programs onto a system Large programs are usually delivered by CD-
ROM but many programs are still sold on diskette. You install it by copying the contents
of the disks onto the hard drive and then running a small program, which installs the files
automatically.
Backing up data or programs Primary copy of data or programs are stored on the hard
drive, Backing up is the process of creating a duplicate copy for safekeeping. To protect
against data loss it is wise to back up a hard disk. Due to the limited storage capacity
diskettes are used to back up small data files rather than programs or entire hard disks.