Computer Architecture Unit 12

devices such as hard drives, diskette drives, and tape drive make use of the
same kind of medium. They make use of similar methods for either reading
or writing data. The exterior side of diskettes as well as magnetic tapes is
layered with a magnet based material like iron oxide. Here, polarization is
used to store the data. That is, every particle in magnetic material line up
itself in a particular direction. A magnet has one important advantage – Its
state can be maintained without providing electricity constantly.
The exterior side of disks are layered with numerous small particles of irons.
Thus you can store data on these types of disks. All particles work as a
magnet. Electromagnets are contained in the read/write heads of a disk
drive. When the head is passed over the disk, electromagnets produce
magnetic fields in iron. A chain of 1s and 0s is stored in read/write heads.
This is done by interchanging the path of current in the electromagnet.
Let’s discuss three types of magnetic storage viz., disks, hard drives and
tape drives as below:
Disks: Disks let the user store information from one computer session to
the next. Floppy disk was introduced by IBM. The first floppy disks used to
be 8-inch in diameter. As it got smaller and smaller gradually it started being
called diskette. Next smaller diskette was 5.25-inch in diameter.
Earlier, 3.5-inch diameter diskettes having 1.44 MB storage space were
most popular on microcomputers for storing data and programs. You can
easily calculate that as many as 400 pages of printed book can be stored on
a single floppy disk. Zip disks are similar in looks to floppy disks. They are
slightly bigger and thicker than floppy disks.
Hard drive: PC’s hard drive is a fast drive that is normally capable of storing
several hundred megabytes of data. To reduce chances of a disk-head
crash or disk damaging, never move PC while it is on. Each disk drive within
PC has a unique one-letter name.
The A: drive normally corresponds to floppy drive. Drive B: stands for
second floppy drive if there is any. Likewise, the C: drive is normally for hard
disk. If CD-ROM drive exists, the drive may be the D: OR E: drive,
depending on the system's configuration. When storing a file on disk, use
the drive name to select the drive onto which the user wants to record the
file’s contents. Unlike PC’s RAM that stores information electrically, disks

Manipal University of Jaipur B1648 Page No. 261

Computer Architecture Unit 12

record information magnetically, much like recording a television program

on a VHS tape or a song on a cassette tape. Within a disk drive, there is a
small device called a read/write head that can record (magnetise) or read
information on the disk’s surface. Within the drive, a disk spins rapidly past
the read/write head each as shown in figure 12.1. A floppy disk, for
example, may spin past the read/write head at 300 revolutions per minute
(RPMs), whereas a hard drive may spin at 3,600 to 10,000 RPMs.

Figure 12.1: Disks Head and Magnetic Surface

To better understand how the drive records information on disk, examine a

floppy disk. In the middle of the back of the floppy disk, a small metal
spindle opening can be seen. When someone inserts a floppy disk into a
drive, the drive uses this spindle opening to spin the disk.
The drive then opens the disk’s metal shutter, as shown in figure 12.2, to
access the disk’s surface. By gently sliding the shutter one can open to see
the disk media. Do not, however, touch the surface; doing so may damage
the disk and the information it contains.

Figure 12.2: Cross Section of Floppy Disk

Manipal University of Jaipur B1648 Page No. 262

Computer Architecture Unit 12

Because disks magnetise information to their surface, the information does

not require constant electricity, as does RAM. However, keep the disks
away from devices such as your phone, television, or even static electricity
that may result in a magnetic flux that changes the information recorded in
the disk. Within PC, one will normally have at least two disk drives: a high-
capacity fast hard drive and a floppy-disk drive that lets insert and remove
disks. Normally, PC’s hard drive resides within PC’s system unit.
Tape drive: The function of tape drive is to read as well as write the data to
tape surface. An audio cassette also functions in the same way. The only
dissimilarity is that a tape drive burns digital data. Tape storage generally
stores data which is not needed frequently. The example of such data is
backup copies related to the hard disk. Tape drive is required to write data
in a serial manner. This is due to the reason that a tape appears as a long
strip which is made up of magnetic material. Direct access offered by media
like disks appears to be faster as compared to the process of tape drive
which writes data serially.
When it is required to access the particular data on a tape, then the drive
starts scanning through the entire data. That is, the data which is not
required is also going through scanning. Thus, this has an effect in slow
access time. Access time differs according to the speed with which the drive
is accessing, position available on the tape in addition to the length of tape.
12.3.2 Optical storage
A kind of optical storage which is most extensively used is called as the CD
(compact disk). Compact disk is utilised in CDR, CDRW, CD-ROM, DVD-
ROM, in addition to Photo CD systems. Nowadays, systems with DVD-ROM
drives are preferred, rather than standard CD-ROM units. The devices
included in optical storage are used to store the data over reflective surface.
Additionally, a ray of laser light is used to read the data. A thin ray of light is
directed and concentrated by means of lenses, mirrors, and prisms. All the
light having same wavelength helps in creating laser beam focus.
CD-ROM: It symbolises compact disk read only memory. To read data from
CD-ROM, a laser beam is directed on the surface of a spinning disk. The
areas that reflect back the light are read as 1s, and the ones that scatter the
light and do not reflect back are read as 0s. This is shown in figure 12.3.

Manipal University of Jaipur B1648 Page No. 263

Computer Architecture Unit 12

Data on this device is stored in a long spiral starting from the disk edge.
Also it’s ending take place at the centre.

Figure 12.3: Working of Optical Storage

650 MB of data can be stored in a standard CD. Also, audio of almost 70

minutes can be stored in it.
DVD-ROM: It symbolises digital video (or versatile) disk read only memory.
It is defined as a medium having high-density which can store a complete
movie on a disk. High-storage capacity is achieved by storing the data on
both sides of the disk. The latest versions of the DVDs comprise of data
tracks layers. Firstly, a laser beam reads from 1st layer. After that, it moves
to the 2nd layer to read, and so on.
Photo CD, CD-R, CD-RW: Through CD-Recordable (CD-R), your individual
CD-ROM disks can be created. Any CDROM drive can read your CD-ROM
disks. You cannot change the information after it is written to CD.
By means of CD-RW (CD-Rewritable) drives, the data can be written as well
as overwritten to CDs by the user. Similar to a floppy disk, you can revise

Manipal University of Jaipur B1648 Page No. 264

Computer Architecture Unit 12

the data by using a CD-RW. Photo CD is a well-liked form of CD-R. It is

considered as a standard which is formulated by Kodak and is used to store
digitised photographic images on CD.
Self Assessment Questions
4. Physical components on which data is stored are called __________.
5. RPM is the acronym for ______________ .
6. To read data from ______________ , a laser beam is directed on the
surface of a spinning disk.

12.4 Connection of I/O Devices to CPU/Memory

It is essential for computer to have a system to get information from the
outside world and must be able to the communicate results to the external
world. As we know, it is required to enter programs as well as data into the
memory of a computer for processing. Also, it is required to record or
display the results (for the user) received from calculations. I/O interface
offers a technique which is used to transfer information among input-output
devices and internal memory. To interface computer peripherals with CPU,
special communication links are required. . You can consider peripheral as
an external device which offers input as well as output for computer. For
instance, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. This is done through I/O bus which
connects the peripheral devices to the CPU.
In figure 12.4, we have shown the communication link among various
peripherals and processor.

Figure 12.4: Connection of I/O Bus to Input-Output Devices

Manipal University of Jaipur B1648 Page No. 265