Inside the Ultimate
Machine
Storage device
• Computer needs a place to keep the data and program
files when they are not in use.
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• The hardware that writes data to or reads data from a
storage medium is called a
storage device.
• RAM is like a work table
and storage is like a file
cabinet.
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• Users often confuse storage
with memory.
Storage device
Distinction between storage and memory:
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• There is more room in storage than there is in memory.
• Contents are retained in storage when the computer is
turned off, whereas the programs or data you put into
memory disappear when you shut down the computer.
• Storage is much slower compared to memory, but also 3
much cheaper than memory.
Storage device
The two primary storage technologies are magnetic and
optical.
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The primary types of magnetic storage are:
• Diskettes (floppy disks)
• Hard disks
• High-capacity floppy disks
• Magnetic tape 4
Storage device
The two primary storage technologies are magnetic and
optical.
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The primary types of optical storage are:
• Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM)
• Digital Video Disk Read-Only Memory (DVD-ROM)
• CD-Recordable (CD-R)
• CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) 5
Magnetic Storage Device
How Magnetic Storage Works
• A magnetic disk's medium contains iron particles, which
can be polarized—given a magnetic charge—in one of
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two directions.
• Each particle's direction represents a 1 (on) or 0 (off),
representing each bit of data that the CPU can
recognize.
• A disk drive uses read/write heads containing 6
electromagnets to create magnetic charges on the
medium.
How Magnetic Storage Works
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How Magnetic Storage Works
• When the direction of the flow of electric current or
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polarity is reversed, the magnetic field’s polarity also is
reversed. (1819 by Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted)
• As the polarity of the magnetic field changes, so does the
direction of the electric current’s flow. (Michael Faraday in
1831)
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How Magnetic Storage Works
• When applied to magnetic storage devices, this two-way
operation of electromagnetism makes it possible to record
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data on a disk and read that data back later.
• When recording, the head changes electrical impulses to
magnetic fields, and when reading, the head changes
magnetic fields back into electrical impulses.
• Because electromagnetism works two ways, a motor can
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become a generator, and vice versa.
Magnetic Storage Devices –
Formatting
• Before a magnetic disk can be used, it must be
formatted—a process that maps the disk's surface and
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determines how data will be stored.
• During formatting, the drive creates circular tracks
around the disk's surface, then divides each track into
sectors.
• The OS organizes sectors into groups, called clusters, 10
then tracks each file's location according to the clusters it
occupies.
Magnetic Storage Devices –
Formatting
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Magnetic Storage Devices - How
OS finds Data
When a disk is formatted, the OS creates four areas on its surface:
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• Boot sector – stores the master boot record, a small program that
runs when you first start (boot) the computer
• File allocation table (FAT) – a log that records each file's location
and each sector's status
• Root folder – enables the user to store data on the disk in a logical
way
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• Data area – the portion of the disk that actually holds data
How OS finds Data
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Magnetic Storage Devices - Hard
Disks
• Hard disks use multiple platters, stacked on a
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spindle. Each platter has two read/write
heads, one for each side.
• Hard disks use higher-quality media and a
faster rotational speed than diskettes.
• Removable hard disks combine high
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Capacity with the convenience of diskettes.
Magnetic Storage Devices - Hard
Disks
• A hard drive will often have an "access time" listed in it's
specifications.
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• This is the time between first command and when the
data can finally be sent back to the computer.
• Access time is broken down further into "seek time," and
"settling time."
• Seek time is how long it takes for the heads to arrive in
the general vicinity of the requested data.
• The settling time is how long it takes for the heads to be
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still enough to read (or write) the data under the head.
Magnetic Storage Devices - Hard
Disks
To minimize settling time,
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• it requires careful computation of the momentum the
head/weight system will posses,
• as well as it's angular velocity,
• how much power will be required to bring it to a stop,
and
• when the application of that power should start.
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Hard Disks
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Hard Disks
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Optical Storage Devices –
How Optical Storage Works
• An optical disk is a high-capacity storage medium. An optical
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drive uses reflected light to read data.
• To store data, the disk's metal surface is covered with tiny dents
(pits) and flat spots (lands), which cause light to be reflected
differently.
• When an optical drive shines light into a pit, the light cannot be
reflected back. This represents a bit value of 0 (off). A land reflects
light back to its source, representing a bit value of 1 (on). 19
Optical Storage Devices –
CD-ROM
• In PCs, the most commonly used optical storage technology is
called Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM).
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• A standard CD-ROM disk can store up to 650 MB of data, or
about 70 minutes of audio.
• Once data is written to a standard CD-ROM disk, the data
cannot be altered or overwritten.
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Optical Storage Devices –
DVD-ROM
• A variation of CD-ROM is called Digital Video Disk Read-Only
Memory (DVD-ROM), and is being used in place of CD-ROM in
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many newer PCs.
• Standard DVD disks store up to 9.4 GB of data—enough to store
an entire movie. Dual-layer DVD disks can store up to 17 GB.
• DVD disks can store so much data because both sides of the disk
are used, along with sophisticated data compression technologies.
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