Secondary storage

Secondary storage

1. Optical storage

   • Advantages
     • Can contain a lot of storage so can hold movies like Blu-ray disks can hold between 25 and 100 GB (GigaBytes) of data.
     • They are easily portable as they are small and are kept in small cases.
     • They are very cost effective.
   • Disadvantages
     • Easily scratched or chipped.
   • CDs and DVDs are examples of optical storage.
     • CDs typically have 700MB (TeraBytes) of storage capacity.
     • DVDs can contain up to 9.4GB (GigaBytes) of storage.

2. Magnetic storage

   • Advantages
     • Can save more files than Solid State due to large storage capacity.
     • Cost effective.
     • Can hold a decent amount of data.
   • Disadvantages
     • Magnetic storage devices contain moving parts and therefore is easier to break and less durable than Solid State or optical.
   • Seagate is an example of magnetic storage.
     • Seagate contains 3TB (TeraBytes) of storage capacity.

3. Solid state (flash) storage

   • Advantages
     • They have no moving parts so therefore is very durable.
   • Disadvantages
     • Can be quite expensive.
   • SanDisks are examples of Solid State storage.
     • SanDisks can have quite a lot of storage capcity.

4. Secondary storage is non-volatile which means any data saved using secondary storage is permanent (until manually deleted).

   • Non-volatile -- Maintains stored data, even when turned off.