Computers: Tools for an Information Age

Chapter 6 Storage and Multimedia: The Facts and More

Objectives
List the benefits of secondary storage Identify and describe storage media that are available for personal computers Differentiate among the principal types of secondary storage Describe how data is stored on a disk Discuss the benefits of multimedia Explain how data is organized, accessed, and processed

Secondary Storage
Separate from the computer itself Software and data stored on a semipermanent basis

Unlike memory, not lost when power is lost

Benefits

Benefits of Secondary Storage

Space Reliability Convenience Economy

Return
4

Space

Store a roomful of data on disks smaller than the size of a breadbox

Diskette contains equivalent of 500 printed pages Optical disk can hold equivalent of 500 books

Return
5

Reliability

Data in secondary storage is relatively safe

Secondary storage is highly reliable More difficult for untrained people to tamper with data stored on disk

Return
6

Convenience

Authorized users can easily and quickly locate data stored on the computer

Return
7

Economy

Several factors create significant savings in storage costs

Less expensive to store data on disks than to buy and house filing cabinets Reliable and safe data is less expensive to maintain Greater speed and convenience in filing and retrieving data
Return
8

Magnetic Disk Storage

Data represented as magnetized spots on surface of spinning disk

Spots on disk converted to electrical impulses

Primary types
Diskettes Hard Disks

Diskettes

Made of flexible Mylar and coated with iron oxide Has protection of rigid plastic jacket 3 diskette holds 1.44 MB of data High-capacity variations
Sonys HiFD holds 200 MB Imations SuperDisk available in 120 and 240 MB versions Iomegas Zip drive available in 100, 250, and 750 MB versions Return
10

Hard Disks

Rigid platter coated with magnetic oxide

Several can be combined into a disk pack

Disk drive - a device that allows data to be read from or written to a disk
Disk drive for personal computers contained within computer housing Large computer systems may have several external disk drives
Return
11

Reading/Writing Data

Access arm moves read/write head over particular location Read/write head hovers a few millionths of an inch above platter
If head touches platter, a head crash occurs and data is destroyed Data can be destroyed if head touches miniscule foreign matter on surface of disk

12

Disk Packs
Each platter has its own access arm with read/write head Most disk packs combine platters, access arms, and read/write head

13

Hard Disks for Personal Computers

Sealed modules that mount in a 3 bay Capacity in gigabytes Accessing files much faster than accessing files on diskettes Some contain removable cartridges

Iomegas Jaz drive is very popular

14

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)

A group of disks that work together as one

Raid level 0 spreads data from a single file over several drives
Called data striping Increases performance

Raid level 1 duplicates data on several drives

Called disk mirroring Increases fault tolerance

15

How Data Is Organized

Track Sector Cluster Cylinder

16

Track

The circular portion of the disk surface that passes under the read/write head
Floppy diskette has 80 tracks on each surface Hard disk may have 1,000 or more tracks on each surface of each platter

Return
17

Sector

Each track is divided into sectors that hold a fixed number of bytes
Typically 512 bytes per sector

Zone recording assigns more sectors to tracks in outer zones than those in inner zones
Uses storage space more fully
Return
18

Cluster

A fixed number of adjacent sectors that are treated as a unit of storage

Typically two to eight sectors, depending on the operating system

Return
19

Cylinder

The track on each surface that is beneath the read/write head at a given position of the read/write heads
When file is larger than the capacity of a single track, operating system will store it in tracks within the same cylinder

Return
20

Disk Access Speed

Access time - the time needed to access data on disk Three factors

Seek time Head switching Rotational delay

Once data found, next step is data transfer

21

Seek Time

The time it takes the access arm to get into position over a particular track
All access arms move as a unit All simultaneously in position over a set of tracks that make up a cylinder

Return
22

Head Switching

The activation of a particular read/write head over a particular track

All access arms move together, but only one read/write head can operate at any one time

Return
23

Rotational Delay

The time it takes for the desired data on the track to rotate underneath the read/write head
On average, half the time for a complete revolution of the disk

Return
24

Data Transfer
The process of transferring data between its location on the disk track and memory Measures of performance

Average access time

About 10 milliseconds (10 thousands of a second) Can be improved by disk caching

Data transfer rate - how fast data can be transferred once it has been found
Stated in terms of megabytes per second
Return
25

Disk Caching

Disk cache - a special area of memory

When disk drive reads data from disk, it reads adjacent data and stores it in memory When next read instruction is issued, drive checks first to see if desired data is in disk cache

Similar to memory caching discussed in Chapter 4

Return
26

Optical Disk Storage

Provides inexpensive and compact storage with greater capacity Laser scans disk and picks up light reflections from disk surface Categorized by read/write capability

Read-only media - user can read from, but not write to disk Write-once, read-many (WORM) - user can write to disk once Magneto-optical - combines magnetic and optical capabilities

27

Compact Disks

CD-ROM - drive can only read data from CDs

CD-ROM stores up to 700 MB per disk Primary medium for software distribution

CD-R - drive can write to disk once

Disk can be read by CD-ROM or CD-R drive

CD-RW - drive can erase and record over data multiple times
Some compatibility problems trying to read CD-RW disks on CD-ROM drives

28

Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

Short wavelength laser can read densely packed spots

DVD drive can read CD-ROMs Capacity up to 17GB Allows for full-length movies Sound is better than on audio CDs

Several versions of writable and rewritable DVDs exist

29

Multimedia
Presents information with text, illustrations, photos, narration, music, animation, and film clips Not practical until the advent of the optical disk Requirements Applications

30

Requirements
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive Sound card or sound chip Speakers

For high-quality sound, get good speakers and powered subwoofer

Equipped to handle MPEG

Standards for compressing video
Return
31

Applications

Education
Go on virtual tours Study musical scores Study a foreign language

Other
Prepare taxes with video clips from IRS experts Play games
Return
32

Magnetic Tape Storage

Tape similar to tape used in music cassettes Categorized in terms of density

Number of bits per inch stored on tape

Used primarily for backup of data stored on disk systems

33

Backup Systems

Imperative to have copies of important data stored away from the computer
Disks occasionally fail Software installation can cause computer to crash Users make mistakes entering data

Tape is ideal backup medium

Can copy entire hard disk to single tape in minutes Backup can be scheduled when you are not going to use the system
34

Organizing and Accessing Stored Data

Character Field Record File Database

35

Character

A letter, digit, or special character

Return
36

Field
A set of related characters Describes one characteristic of a person, place, or thing

For a university, a students first name would be stored in a field

Key field - a unique identifier for a record

Return
37

Record

A collection of related fields

For the university, all of the fields for one student constitute one record

Return
38

File

A collection of related records

For university, all the student records compose a file

Return
39

Database

A collection of related files stored with minimum redundancy (duplication)

For university, student file, alumni file, faculty/staff file, courses file, financial file, etc. would make up a database

Organized to make retrieving data easier

Return
40

File Plan Overview

Must devise a plan for placing data on a storage unit Key factors

Whether users must access data directly (immediately) How data must be organized on disk Type of processing that will take place

41

File Organization

Three major methods of organizing data files in secondary storage

Sequential Direct Indexed

42

Sequential File Organization

Records are stored in order according to a key field

If a particular record is desired, all prior records must be read first To update a record, a new sequential file must be created, with changed and unchanged records

Tape storage uses sequential organization

Return
43

Direct File Organization

Also called random access Go directly to desired record by using a key

Computer does not have to read all prior records Hashing algorithm used to determine address of given key

Requires disk storage

Return
44

Hashing Algorithm

Applies mathematical formula to key to determine disk address of given record

Collision occurs when hashing algorithm produces same disk address for two different keys

Return
45

Indexed File Organization

Combines elements of sequential and direct methods

Records stored sequentially, but file also contains an index Index stored sequentially, contains record key Data accessed by record key

Return
46

Processing Stored Data

Transactions processed to update a master file

Transactions - a business event such as a sale Master file - data that is updated when a transaction occurs, such as a sales file or inventory file

Two main methods of processing data

Batch processing Transaction processing

47

Batch Processing

Transactions collected into groups or batches

Batch processed and master file updated when the computer has few users online

Very efficient use of computer resources Master file current only immediately after processing

Return
48

Transaction Processing

Processing transactions as they occur

Also called real-time processing and online processing Terminals must be connected directly to the computer

Offers immediate updating of master file

Return
49