Storage media

• Magnetic storage (generic)

  Large capacity and cheaper per gigabyte than solid state

  not durable and not very portable when powered on because moving it can damage the device

  Relatively quick access speed than solid state
• Magnetic storage magnetic tape

  High storage capacity but data has to be assessed in order so usually only used by companies to back up or archive large amounts of data
• Optical storage

  Types- CD , DVD, Blu-ray

  • Low capacity, 700mb cd, 4.7GB (DVD), 25GB, blue ray
  • not durable as they are very fragile and can break or scratch very easily
  • Disks are thin and very portable
  • Optical discs have slowest access speed
  • Cheap
• Solid state storage

  General characteristics

  • High capacity but more expensive per gb than magnetic
  • Usually durable
  • Small size of usb sticks and memory cards mean they are very portable
  • Fastest access speed as they contain no moving parts
• Solid state storage (memory cars)

  • very portable as they are very small in size
• Ssd hard drive

  Replacing hdd because they are quieter faster and use less power, they can also be external
• Paper storage

  Included printed or hand written documents notes etc

  • Low capacity as each page can only hold a certain amount
  • Poor durability as yhey can easily tear
  • Portability varies as a single sheet can easily be folded and placed in a pocket however large stacks can be difficult and expensive to transport
  • Papers access speed in terms of searching for a specific item is slow
• expansion cards

  • dedicated circuit boards with a specific purpose that are attached to the motherboard
• graphics card is a piece of hardware in a computer that’s responsible for creating and displaying images on your screen.
• sound card

  • converts analogue sound waves into digital data (binary) when inputting audio through a microphone
  • converts digital digital data (binaryh) to analogue sound waves to output audi throught speakers or headphones.
• fibre channel card

  • transfers data between servers accross a network. quickly.
• storage controller card

  required for the computer to manage and use any attached storage devices.
• port

  • interface betrween externla devices and the computer.
  • allow data to be transferred from and to these devices
  • usb ports, ethernet port, sd port