Storage Devices and Media

Storage Media is anything you can use to

store files for a LONG time (as opposed to
RAM)

Storage Media can be changed easily by the
user. (as opposed to ROM)

Storage Media is Non-Volatile and holds data
NOT being used.

There are two ways of accessing data on
Storage Media
1) Serial/Sequential/Access
The computer starts at the beginning of the
storage media, moves in order until it founds
the correct data, and then reads that data in
order. Advantages: You can use magnetic
tape, which is reliable.
Disadvantage: It is slow

2) Direct/Random/Access
The computer has a map (file system) of
every piece of a file. It knows the location, and
finds each piece as needed. Advantage: It is
fast
Disadvantage: It is not reliable, easily
corrupted



Optical Drives
All optical drives use direct/random Access.
Optical Drives work by shining a laser onto a
disk. If there is a pit or a smudge (burn
mark) the light is reflected back to the
laser(this means a 0). A pit is a bowl in the
disk which acts like a mirror.
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM A high power
laser burns pits into a metal surface. This
never fades, and can be easily by all optical
drives
CD-R/DVD-R A low-powered laser
makes burn marks onto a plastic surface. This
fades(or sometimes does not burn well), and
can only be read by low powered laser