Secondary Storage

Secondary Storage

1. Magnetic (HDD)

   • Magnetic drives have more storage capacity.
     • Magnetic drives are cost effective in comparison to solid state but not optical.
   • They are used in desktop pc's and servers.

2. Solid state (SSD)

   • Solid state drives have no moving parts, can be much more portable than optical and magnetic drives as they have no moving parts, this means that they can be condensed much further (ie. USB)
   • Solid state drives are used in mobile devices as it is more durable than others and has a faster transfer speed.
   • This storage type has the same functionality as traditional magnetic hard drives only with a lower capacity and a smaller actual size

3. Optical (CD DVD Blu-Ray)

   • Less commonly used as it is an external storage method from the system
   • They are used when temporary data needs to be accessed. ie. watching a film
   • Optical devices are much more portable than the other secondary storage devices.
     • A laser is used to read the drives