Data Storage

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer

components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for
computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the
core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is one of the
fundamental components of all modern computers, and coupled with a central
processing unit, implements the basic functions of a computer.

In contemporary usage, memory usually refers to a form of semiconductor storage

known as random access memory (RAM) and sometimes other forms of fast but
temporary storage. Similarly, storage today more commonly refers to mass storage
- optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, and other types slower
than RAM, but of a more permanent nature. Historically, memory and storage were
respectively called primary storage and secondary storage.

The contemporary distinctions are helpful, because they are also fundamental to
the architecture of computers in general. As well, they reflect an important and
significant technical difference between memory and mass storage devices, which
has been blurred by the historical usage of the term storage.

Purpose of storage
Many different forms of storage, based on various natural phenomena, have been
invented. So far, no practical universal storage medium exists, and all forms of
storage have some drawbacks. Therefore a computer system usually contains
several kinds of storage, each with an individual purpose.

A digital computer represents data using the binary numeral system. Text,
numbers, pictures, audio, and nearly any other form of information can be
converted into a string of bits, or binary digits, each of which has a value of 1 or 0.
The most common unit of storage is the byte, equal to 8 bits. A piece of information
can be handled by any computer whose storage space is large enough to
accommodate the binary representation of the piece of information, or simply data.
For example, using eight million bits, or about one megabyte, a typical computer
could store a small novel.

In practice, almost all computers use a variety of memory types, organized in a

storage hierarchy around the CPU, as a tradeoff between performance and cost.
Generally, the lower a storage is in the hierarchy, the lesser its bandwidth and the
greater its access latency is from the CPU. This traditional division of storage to
primary, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage is also guided by cost per bit.

Hierarchy of storage
Various forms of storage are divided according to their distance from the central
processing unit and their primary function.

Primary storage

Primary storage, presently known as memory, is the only one directly accessible to
the CPU. The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there and executes them
as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored there in uniform manner. It
is nothing but random access memory (RAM). It is small-sized, light, but quite
expensive at the same time. (The particular types of RAM used for primary storage
are also volatile, i.e. they lose the information when not powered).
As shown in the diagram, traditionally there are two more sub-layers of the primary
storage, besides main large-capacity RAM:

* Processor registers are located inside the processor. Each register typically
holds a word of data (often 32 or 64 bits). CPU instructions instruct the arithmetic
and logic unit to perform various calculations or other operations on this data (or
with the help of it). Registers are technically among the fastest of all forms of
computer data storage.

* Processor cache is an intermediate stage between ultra-fast registers and much

slower main memory. It's introduced solely to increase performance of the
computer. Most actively used information in the main memory is just duplicated in
the cache memory, which is faster, but of much lesser capacity. On the other hand
it is much slower, but much larger than processor registers. Multi-level hierarchical
cache setup is also commonly used—primary cache being smallest, fastest and
located inside the processor; secondary cache being somewhat larger and slower.

Main memory is directly or indirectly connected

to the CPU via a memory bus, today sometimes
referred to as a front side bus. It is actually
comprised of two buses (not on the diagram): an
address bus and a data bus. The CPU firstly
sends a number through an address bus, a
number called memory address that indicates
the desired location of data. Then it reads or
writes the data itself using the data bus.
Additionally, a memory management unit (MMU) is a small device between CPU and
RAM recalculating the actual memory address, for example to provide an
abstraction of virtual memory or other tasks.

As the RAM types used for primary storage are volatile (cleared at start up), a
computer containing only such storage would not have a source to read instructions
from, in order to start the computer. Hence, non-volatile primary storage containing
a small startup program (BIOS) is used to bootstrap the computer, that is, to read a
larger program from non-volatile secondary storage to RAM and start to execute it.
A non-volatile technology used for this purpose is called ROM, for read-only memory
(the terminology may be somewhat confusing as most ROM types are also capable
of random access).

Recently, primary storage and secondary storage in some uses refer to what was
historically called, respectively, secondary storage and tertiary storage.
Secondary storage

Secondary storage, or storage in popular usage, differs from primary storage in that
it is not directly accessible by the CPU. The computer usually uses its input/output
channels to access secondary storage and transfers the desired data using
intermediate area in primary storage. Secondary storage does not lose the data
when the device is powered down—it is non-volatile. Per unit, it is typically also an
order of magnitude less expensive than primary storage. Consequently, modern
computer systems typically have an order of magnitude more secondary storage
than primary storage and data is kept for a longer time there.

In modern computers, hard disks are usually used as secondary storage. The time
taken to access a given byte of information stored on a hard disk is typically a few
thousandths of a second, or milliseconds. By contrast, the time taken to access a
given byte of information stored in random access memory is measured in billionths
of a second, or nanoseconds. This illustrates the very significant access-time
difference which distinguishes solid-state memory from rotating magnetic storage
devices: hard disks are typically about a million times slower than memory. Rotating
optical storage devices, such as CD and DVD drives, have even longer access times.

Some other examples of secondary storage

technologies are: flash memory (e.g. USB sticks
or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper
tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, and
Zip drives.

The secondary storage is often formatted

according to a file system format, which
provides the abstraction necessary to organize
data into files
and directories, providing also additional
information (called metadata) describing the
owner of a certain file, the access time, the access
permissions, and other information.

Most computer operating systems use the

concept of virtual memory, allowing utilization of
more primary storage capacity than is physically
available in the system. As the primary memory
fills up, the system moves the least-used chunks
(pages) to secondary storage devices (to a swap file or page file), retrieving them
later when they are needed. As more of these retrievals from slower secondary
storage are necessary, the more the overall system performance is degraded.

Tertiary storage
Tertiary storage or tertiary memory provides a third level of storage. Typically it
involves a robotic mechanism which will mount (insert) and dismount removable
mass storage media into a storage device according to the system's demands; this
data is often copied to secondary storage before use. It is primarily used for archival
of rarely accessed information since it is much slower than secondary storage (e.g.
5-60 seconds vs. 1-10 milliseconds). This is primarily useful for extraordinarily large
data stores, accessed without human operators. Typical examples include tape
libraries and optical jukeboxes.

When a computer needs to read information from the tertiary storage, it will first
consult a catalog database to determine which tape or disc contains the
information. Next, the computer will instruct a robotic arm to fetch the medium and
place it in a drive. When the computer has finished reading the information, the
robotic arm will return the medium to its place in the library.

Off-line storage

Off-line storage, also known as disconnected storage, is a computer data storage on

a medium or a device that is not under the control of a processing unit. The medium
is recorded, usually in a secondary or tertiary storage device, and then physically
removed or disconnected. It must be inserted or connected by a human operator
before a computer can access it again. Unlike tertiary storage, it cannot be
accessed without human interaction.

Off-line storage is used to transfer information, since the detached medium can be
easily physically transported. Additionally in case a disaster, for example a fire,
destroys the original data, a medium in a remote location will be probably
unaffected, enabling disaster recovery. Off-line storage increases a general
information security, since it is physically inaccessible from a computer, and data
confidentiality or integrity cannot be affected by computer-based attack techniques.
Also, if the information stored for archival purposes is accessed seldom or never,
off-line storage is less expensive than tertiary storage.

In modern personal computers, most secondary and tertiary storage media are also
used for off-line storage. Optical discs and flash memory devices are most popular,
and to much lesser extent removable hard disk drives. In enterprise uses, magnetic
tape is predominant. Older examples are floppy disks, Zip disks, or punched cards.

Dynamic memory

A form of volatile memory which also requires the stored information to be

periodically re-read and re-written, or refreshed, otherwise it would vanish.

Static memory

A form of volatile memory similar to DRAM with the exception that it does not
refresh on occasions.

Mutability

Read/write storage or mutable storage allows information to be overwritten at any

time. A computer without some amount of read/write storage for primary storage
purposes would be useless for many tasks. Modern computers typically use
read/write storage also for secondary storage.

Read only storage

Retains the information stored at the time of manufacture, and write once
storage (Write Once Read Many) allows the information to be written only once at
some point after manufacture. These are called immutable storage. Immutable
storage is used for tertiary and off-line storage. Examples include CD-ROM and CD-
R.

Slow write, fast read storage

Read/write storage which allows information to be overwritten multiple times, but

with the write operation being much slower than the read operation. Examples
include CD-RW.
Accessibility

Random access

Any location in storage can be accessed at any moment in approximately the

same amount of time. Such characteristic is well suited for primary and secondary
storage.

Sequential access

The accessing of pieces of information will be in a serial order, one after the
other; therefore the time to access a particular piece of information depends upon
which piece of information was last accessed. Such characteristic is typical of off-
line storage.

Addressability

Location-addressable

Each individually accessible unit of information in storage is selected with its

numerical memory address. In modern computers, location-addressable storage
usually limits to primary storage, accessed internally by computer programs, since
location-addressability is very efficient, but burdensome for humans.

File addressable

Information is divided into files of variable length, and a particular file is selected
with human-readable directory and file names. The underlying device is still
location-addressable, but the operating system of a computer provides the file
system abstraction to make the operation more understandable. In modern
computers, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage use file systems.

Content-addressable

Each individually accessible unit of information is selected with a hash value, or a

short identifier with a number pertaining to the memory address the information is
stored on. Content-addressable storage can be implemented using software
(computer program) or hardware (computer device), with hardware being faster but
more expensive option.

Capacity

Raw capacity

The total amount of stored information that a storage device or medium can hold.
It is expressed as a quantity of bits or bytes (e.g. 10.4 megabytes).

Density

The compactness of stored information. It is the storage capacity of a medium

divided with a unit of length, area or volume (e.g. 1.2 megabytes per square inch).

Fundamental storage technologies

As of 2008, the most commonly used data storage technologies are semiconductor,
magnetic, and optical, while paper still sees some limited usage. Some other
fundamental storage technologies have also been used in the past or are proposed
for development.

Semiconductor

Semiconductor memory uses semiconductor-

based integrated circuits to store information. A
semiconductor memory chip may contain
millions of tiny transistors or capacitors. Both
volatile and non-volatile forms of semiconductor
memory exist. In modern computers, primary
storage almost exclusively consists of dynamic
volatile semiconductor memory or dynamic
random access memory. Since the turn of the
century, a type of non-volatile semiconductor
memory known as flash memory has steadily
gained share as off-line storage for home
computers. Non-volatile semiconductor memory is also used for secondary storage
in various advanced electronic devices and specialized computers.

Magnetic

Magnetic storage media:

Wire (1898) • Tape (1928) • Drum (1932) • Ferrite core (1949) • Hard disk (1956) •
Stripe card (1956) • MICR (1956) • Thin film (1962) • CRAM (1962) • Twistor
(~1968) • Floppy disk (1969) • Bubble (~1970) • MRAM (1995) • Racetrack (2008)

Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization on a magnetically coated

surface to store information. Magnetic storage is non-volatile. The information is
accessed using one or more read/write heads which may contain one or more
recording transducers. A read/write head only covers a part of the surface so that
the head or medium or both must be moved relative to another in order to access
data. In modern computers, magnetic storage will take these forms:

* Magnetic disk

Floppy disk, used for off-line storage

Hard disk, used for secondary storage

* Magnetic tape data storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage

Optical

Optical storage, the typical Optical disc, stores information in deformities on the
surface of a circular disc and reads this information by illuminating the surface with
a laser diode and observing the reflection. Optical disc storage is non-volatile. The
deformities may be permanent (read only media), formed once (write once media)
or reversible (recordable or read/write media). The following forms are currently in
common use:
 * CD, CD-ROM, DVD, BD-ROM: Read only storage, used for mass distribution of
digital information (music, video, computer programs)

* CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R BD-R: Write once storage, used for tertiary and off-line
storage

* CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-RE: Slow write, fast read storage,
used for tertiary and off-line storage

* Ultra Density Optical or UDO is similar in capacity to BD-R or BD-RE and is slow
write, fast read storage used for tertiary and off-line storage.