Storage And File Structure

Why do we need to know about storage/file structure

Many database technologies are developed to utilize the
Storage architecture/hierarchy
Data in the database needs to be organized
and stored/retrieved efficiently

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Storage Hierarchy

Volatile Cache
primary
Memory unit price
storage

Secondary Flash Memory

storage
Magnetic Disk
Non-volatile speed

Tertiar Optical Disk

y
storage Magnetic
Tape
 Primary Storage (Volatile)

Cache
Speed: 7 to 20 ns (1 nanosecond = 10–9 seconds)
Capacity:
A typical PC level 2 cache 64KB-2 MB.
Within processors, level 1 cache usually
ranges in size from 8
KB to 64 KB.
Main memory
Speed: 10s to 100s of
nanoseconds; Capacity:
Up to a few Gigabytes widely used
currently
per-byte costs have decreased roughly factor of 2 every 2
3 years)
Secondary Storage (Non-
volatile)
Flash memory
Speed: Read speed similar to main memory, write is much slower
Capacity: 32M to 512M currently
Forms: SmartMedia, memory stick, secure digital, BIOS
Cost: roughly same as main memory
Magnetic-disk
Capacities: up to roughly 100 GB currently Growing constantly
and rapidly with technology improvements.
Tertiary Storage (Non-
volatile)

Optical storage
⚫ CD-ROM (640 MB) and DVD (4.7 to 17 GB) most popular
forms
⚫ CD-RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM
⚫ Reads and writes are slower than with magnetic disk
⚫ Juke-box systems, with large numbers of removable disks,
a few drives, and a mechanism for automatic
loading/unloading of disks available for storing large
volumes of data

Yan Huang - CSCI5330 Database Implementation –

1/14/2005 Storage and File Structure
Summary
 The data storage in DBMS is done in the form of a file. Tables are
used to store data in RDBMS. In DBMS, the data is stored in a
navigational format or using a hierarchical arrangement. The tables
which are used by RDBMS stores the data in the form of rows and
columns.

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References
1. Database System Concepts by Sudarshan, Korth (McGraw-Hill
Education)

2. Fundamentals of Database System By Elmasari &Navathe- Pearson

Education

School of Allied Sciences, DMIHER (DU)