ICT IGCSE Aysha Eiman Akmal

3- Storage Devices & Media

As mentioned before, there are three types of external hardware: input devices, output devices and secondary storage devices.
In this section, the secondary storage devices part is going to be covered
BACKING UP DATA
Why is data backed up?
Data is backed up to avoid the loss of data in case the original data is accidentally copied over, or deleted. The original storage
device has had been damaged. Hackers could access our data, and delete it.

TYPES OF ACCESS
Field 1 - Key field (unique field) Field 2 Field 3
Student ID Student Name Stage Record 1
XX YY 00 Student 1 10 Record 2 FILE
YY XX 00 Student 2 10 Record 3

There are two methods of accessing data: serial access and direct access.
1 - Serial Access
Data is accessed by starting at the beginning, and then searched through in order, until the required information is found. This
type of access is used in old magnetic tapes.. When the original magnetic tape (master file) needed to be updated, a transaction
file - an additional file - is required, and it contains all the new data that has to be updated. The updated file is referred to as the
new master file.
2 - Direct Access
Data is accessed by the computer calculating where the data is exactly stored, and goes straight to it (also referred to as
instant access). This type of access is used in CDs, DVDs and HDDs.

SECONDARY STORAGE MEDIA

Where non volatile data is stored.

1 - Magnetic Storage Media

The magnetic material is coated on the surface of the disk/tape, in a way to represent a 1 or 0.

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ICT IGCSE Aysha Eiman Akmal

2 - Optical Storage Media

Data is read/written using laser light. Both the CDs and the DVDs use a thin layer of metal alloy or a light-sensitive organic dye
to store data.
CD/DVD ROMs are read-only memory, meaning that the the data can only be read.
CD/DVD Rs are read-only memory, meaning that the the data can be recorded only once, and after the data being recorded,
the CD/DVD becomes ROM
CD/DVD RWs are rewritable media, meaning that the the data can be written over various times.
DVD RAMs are random access memory.
Blu-ray discs use a blue laser instead of a red laser to read or write data.

3 - Solid State Storage Media

Data is stored in solid state storage devices.
SSD (Solid State Drives) have no moving parts.
Pen drives usually connect to the computer through the USB port.
Memory cards use EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable read only memory.

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