Summary
Secondary storage, sometimes called auxiliary storage, is storage that is separate
from the computer itself and is where software and data can be stored on a
semipermanent basis. Secondary storage is necessary because memory, or primary
storage, can be used only temporarily.
The benefits of secondary storage are space, reliability, convenience, and economy.
Floppy disks and hard disks are magnetic media, based on a technology of
representing data as magnetized spots on the disk.
Floppy disks are made of flexible Mylar. Advantages of floppy disks, compared with
hard disks, are portability and backup. The 3.5-inch floppy disk standard may be
challenged by Sony’s HiFD or Imation’s SuperDisk, new higher-capacity disks
whose drives can handle both the new disks and the traditional 3.5-inch disk or
perhaps by Iomega’s Zip drive, with a disk that is high capacity but not compatible
with 3.5-inch floppy disks.
A hard disk is a rigid platter coated with magnetic oxide that can be magnetized to
represent data. Several platters can be assembled into a disk pack.
A disk drive is a device that allows data to be read from a disk or written to a disk.
A disk pack is mounted on a disk drive that is a separate unit connected to the
computer. The disk access arm moves a read/write headinto position over a
particular track, where the read/write head hovers above the track. A head
crash occurs when a read/write head touches the disk surface and causes data to be
destroyed.
A redundant array of independent disks, or simply RAID, uses a group of small
hard disks that work together as a unit. RAID level 0, data striping, spreads the
data across several disks in the array, increasing performance. RAID level
1duplicates data on separate disk drives, a concept called disk mirroring, which
provides fault tolerance. Higher levels of RAID use both techniques to achieve both
increased performance and fault tolerance.
A track is the circular portion of the disk surface that passes under the read/write
head as the disk rotates.
Each track is divided into sectors that hold a fixed number of bytes. Data on the
track is accessed by referring to the surface number, track number, and sector
number where the data is stored. Zone recording involves dividing a disk into
zones to take maximum advantage of the storage available by assigning more
sectors to tracks in outer zones than to those in inner zones.
A cluster is a fixed number of adjacent sectors that are treated as a unit of storage
by the operating system; it consists of two to eight sectors, depending on the
operating system.
On a hard disk that has multiple platters, a cylinder consists of the track on each
surface that is beneath the read/write head at a given position of the read/write
arms.
Three factors determine access time, the time needed to access data directly on
disk: seek time, the time it takes to get the access arm into position over a
particular track; head switching, the activation of a particular read/write head over
a particular track on a particular surface; and rotational delay, the brief wait until
the desired data on the track rotates under the read/write head. Once data has been
found, data transfer, the transfer of data between memory and the place on the
disk track, occurs.
Access time is usually measured in milliseconds (ms). The data transfer rate,
which tells how fast data can be transferred once it has been found, is usually stated
in terms of megabytes of data per second.
Disk caching uses an area of memory called disk cache to temporarily store data
from disk that the program might need soon. If desired data is found in the disk
cache, time is saved because no actual read is necessary.
Optical disk technology uses a laser beam to enter data as spots on the disk
surface. To read the data, the laser scans the disk, and a lens picks up different light
reflections from the various spots. Read-only media are recorded on by the
manufacturer and can be read from but not written to by the user. Write-once,
read-many media, also called WORM media, may be written to once. A hybrid
type of disk, called magneto-optical (MO), has the large capacity of an optical disk
but can be rewritten like a magnetic disk. CD-ROM, for compact disk read-only
memory drive, which has a disk format identical to that of audio compact disks, can
hold up to 700 megabytes per disk. CD-R (compact disc-recordable) technology
permits writing on optical disks. CD-RW (compact disk-rewritable) technology is
more flexible, allowing you to erase and record over data multiple times.
DVD-ROM, for digital versatile disk, has a large storage capacity, up to 17GB if
both layers and both sides are used. Three standards exist for writable DVDs: DVD-
RAM, DVD-R, and DVD+R. ; there are two standards for rewritable DVDs: DVD-
RW and DVD+RW.
Multimedia software typically presents information with text, illustrations, photos,
narration, music, animation, and film clips. This is possible because of the large
capacity of optical disks. MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) is a set of widely
accepted video compression standards.
Magnetic tape stores data as extremely small magnetic spots on tape similar to
that used in music cassettes. Tape capacity is expressed in terms of density, which
is the number of characters per inch (cpi) or bytes per inch (bpi) that can be
stored on the tape.
A magnetic tape drive reads and writes data using a read/write head; when the
computer is writing on the tape, the erase head first erases any data that was
previously recorded. Magnetic tape is used primarily as a backup medium.
A backup system is a way of storing data in more than one place to protect it from
damage and loss. Most backup systems use tape, but CD-R or CD-RW media can
also be used.
A character is a letter, digit, or special character (such as $, ?, or *).
A field contains a set of related characters. A record is a collection of related fields.
A file is a collection of related records. A database is a collection of interrelated files
stored together with minimum redundancy; specific data items can be retrieved for
various applications. A key field uniquely identifies each record.
Sequential file organization means that records are stored in order according to
the key field. If a particular record in a sequential file is wanted, then all the prior
records in the file must be read before the desired record is reached. Tape storage is
limited to sequential file organization.
Direct file organization (also called random file organization), allows direct
(random) access, the ability to go directly to the desired record by using a record
key. Direct processing requires disk storage; a disk device is called a direct-access
storage device (DASD). Besides instant access to any record, an added benefit of
direct-access organization is the ability to read, change, and return a record to its
same place on the disk; this is calledupdating in place. The hashing,
or randomizing, algorithm is the mathematical operation that is applied to a key
to yield a number that represents the address. A hashing algorithm may produce the
same disk address, called a synonym, for two different records; such an occurrence
is called a collision.
Indexed file organization stores records in the file in sequential order, but the file
also contains an index of keys; the address associated with the key can be used to
locate the record on the disk.
A transaction is a business event that requires the business’s records to be
updated. A master file contains data that must be updated as transactions occur.
Batch processing is a technique in which transactions are collected into groups, or
batches, to be processed at a time when the computer has few online users and
therefore is more accessible. A transaction file, sorted by key, contains all changes
to be made to the master file: additions, deletions, and revisions. The master file
isupdated with the changes that are called for in the transaction file.
Transaction processing is a technique of processing transactions in any order, as
they occur. Real-time processing means that a transaction is processed fast
enough for the result to come back and be acted upon right away. Online processing
means that the terminals must be connected directly to the computer.
http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_capron_computers_8/9/2482/635492.cw/index.html
http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_capron_computers_8/9/2482/635492.cw/index.html-downloaded chap 6
prentice hall
