Scribd
Upload
30 views

Computer Storage Devices Comparison

Magnetic tape uses a plastic ribbon with iron oxide coating for data storage. It has sequential access and is portable but bulky. Magnetic disks store data in concentric circles on a coated disk and allow direct access for faster retrieval. Optical disks like CDs and DVDs use high-capacity laser technology for high-density storage of software, media, and archives on lightweight, portable disks.

Uploaded by

Nadia Imran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
30 views

Computer Storage Devices Comparison

Magnetic tape uses a plastic ribbon with iron oxide coating for data storage. It has sequential access and is portable but bulky. Magnetic disks store data in concentric circles on a coated disk and allow direct access for faster retrieval. Optical disks like CDs and DVDs use high-capacity laser technology for high-density storage of software, media, and archives on lightweight, portable disks.

Uploaded by

Nadia Imran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Magnetic Tape Magnetic Disk Optical Disk

Material and techniques Plastic Ribbon Thin circular plastic/metal disk/plate Plastic Disk
½ to ¼ inch wide and 50 to 2400 feet
long

Coating Iron oxide coating Iron oxide coating Thin metal coating
Chromium oxide Magnetized invisible dots record data Highly reflective material coating
Magnetized invisible dots record data
Access mode Sequential Access Direct Access Direct Access
Casing Cartridge or cassettes Cartridge or sealed container
Reading and Writing Tape drive Disk Drive Laser Beam Technology
Read write heads Read write heads
Access arms
Organization Vertical lines of frames Concentric circles=tracks One large spiral
Horizontal sections= tracks One circle divided into sectors Divided into equal sized sectors
IRG 8,9 and 10 sectors per track
IBG 200 tracks
File Header Label Sector 512bytes
File Trailer Label
BOT
EOT

Capacity High capacity


Large volumes of data

Number of surfaces*number of tracks Number of sectors* number of bytes


Data recording density*length of tape per surface*number of sectors per per sector
track*number of bytes of sector
Actions Tape controller Disk Formatting (File allocation Optical disk drive
Read (one file/one block),write, table)FAT, bad sectors Use laser beam to read write
forward, rewind, remove, unload Disk Controller (read, write)

advantages Light weight Direct access Long Data Storage life = 30 years
Portable Multiple user support Cost per bit is low= cheap
Easy to transfer data to and fro Online/offline storage More reliable as crashes less coz read
Fast data transfer write heads are not involved
Portable Light weight

limitations Sequential access Sequential and direct access both Usually read only
Dust, temperature and humidity Dust Data reading speed is less
management Need labeling Need complicated drive
It gets twisted
Need proper labeling of data
Types DAT Floppy CD ROM
Streamer Tape Hard disk CD R
½ tape reel Zip disk WROM Disk
½ tape cartridge Disk pack CD RW
Winchester disk DVD

uses Offline storage Online For distribution of software, music,


For Sequential and huge volume of Direct storage data etc
data Taking Backup Maintenance of archives

You might also like