Storage devices

Storage devices

1. Magnetic

   • Storage of data on a magnetised medium. Uses different types of magnetisable material to store data. Data stored here is non-volatile.n
     • E.g Floppy disks and hard drives
   • Advantages
     • Can store very large amounts of data
     • Very fast access to data
     • Very cheap
   • Disdvantages
     • Magnetic disks like floppy disks can lose their charge overtime, which will lead to power loss
     • Regular crashes will lead to damage, this leads to data loss

2. Optical

   • Data is stored on an optical medium and read with a laser beam. Stores large quantities of data very inexpensively.
     • E.g CD, DVD, Blu-ray
     • Advantages
       • Small and cheap
       • Lightweight-therefore portable
       • Fairly fast to access the data
     • Disadvantages
       • If can get easily scratched- which makes it less likely to work
       • Smaller storage capacity compared to a hard drive
       • Slower access compared to hard disk

3. Flash

   • Electrical non-volatile computer storage medium which can be electronically erasable and reprogrammed (EEPROM).
     • E.g memory stick, SD card, solid state hard drive
   • Advantages
     • Very cheap and can store a large amount of data
     • Durable and won't break easily-for example a memory stick
     • Very reliable as it has no moving parts (unlike magnetic storage which does)
   • Disadvantages
     • Easily lost.
     • Metal part which is inserted into the USB port can get snapped off or damaged