WEEK 9: External Memories, Magnetic Disk, RAID, Optical Memory, Magnetic Tape

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson the learner will be able to:
Define external memories
Identify the types of magnetic disk
Understand RAID
Identify the types of optical memory
Define magnetic tape

EXTERNAL MEMORIES

External memory can mean many things but what most people think of
is portable storage. Portable storage can range from a portable flash drive, hard drive
or a memory card that is used in a device such as a camera. Using external memory is a
good way to keep files such as pictures, videos and other types of files in a safe place.

External Hard Drives

One type of device that can be used for external memory is an external hard drive.
Most external hard drives connect to a computer through a USB port. The drive will
automatically be detected by the system and is available immediately to use to store
data.

Flash Drives

The typical type of external memory that most people use and are familiar with are
portable Flash drives. Portable Flash drives store data using non-volatile memory
which means data will stay on the drive when it is not connected to a computer.

Memory Cards

Memory cards are used in devices such as cameras, GPS systems and and call phones.
These memory cards are typically types such as microSD or Secure Digital, but there

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are other varieties available as well. They work in the same way as a Flash drive in that
they retain data when they are removed from a device.

Copying Data

Copying data from these external memory sources is done the same way as copying
data to and from the existing hard drive. A memory card that is used with an external
device however will need to have an adapter to connect to a computer. Adapters can
be found at many places online such as Buy,com and Amazon.

Storage Solutions

These external devices are great storage solutions that can be taken anywhere when a
person is on the go. With the proper cables that are needed to connect to a computer
they can be used on nearly any type of computer system. External memory is generally
cheaper than installing a separate CD or DVD writer to an existing computer.

MAGNETIC DISK

A magnetic disk is a storage device that uses a magnetization process to write, rewrite
and access data. It is covered with a magnetic coating and stores data in the form of
tracks, spots and sectors. Hard disks, zip disks and floppy disks are common examples
of magnetic disks.

A magnetic disk primarily consists of a rotating magnetic surface and a mechanical

arm that moves over it. The mechanical arm is used to read from and write to the disk.
The data on a magnetic disk is read and written using a magnetization process. Data is
organized on the disk in the form of tracks and sectors, where tracks are the circular
divisions of the disk. Tracks are further divided into sectors that contain blocks of data.
All read and write operations on the magnetic disk are performed on the sectors.

Magnetic disks have traditionally been used as primary storage in computers. With the
advent of solid-state drives (SSDs), magnetic disks are no longer considered the only
option, but are still commonly used.

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REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT DISK (RAID)

(Redundant Array of Independent Disks) A disk or solid state drive (SSD) subsystem
that increases performance or provides fault tolerance or both. RAID uses two or more
physical drives and a RAID controller, which is plugged into motherboards that do not
have RAID circuits. Today, most motherboards have built-in RAID but not necessarily
every RAID configuration (see below). In the past, RAID was also accomplished by
software only but was much slower. In the late 1980s, the "I" in RAID stood for
"inexpensive" but was later changed to "independent."

In large storage area networks (SANs), floor-standing RAID units are common with
terabytes of storage and huge amounts of cache memory. RAID is also used in desktop
computers by gamers for speed and by business users for reliability. Following are the
various RAID configurations. See NAS and SAN.

RAID 0 - Striping for Performance (Popular)

Widely used for gaming, striping interleaves data across multiple drives for
performance. However, there are no safeguards against failure. See RAID 0.

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RAID 1 - Mirroring for Fault Tolerance (Popular)

Widely used, RAID 1 writes two drives at the same time. It provides the highest
reliability but doubles the number of drives needed.

RAID 10 combines RAID 1 mirroring with RAID 0 striping for both safety and
performance. See RAID 1 and RAID 10.

RAID 3 - Speed and Fault Tolerance

Data are striped across three or more drives for performance, and parity is computed
for safety. Similar to RAID 3, RAID 4 uses block level striping but is not as popular.
See RAID 3 and RAID parity.

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RAID 5 - Speed and Fault Tolerance (Popular)

Data are striped across three or more drives for performance, and parity is computed
for safety. RAID 5 is similar to RAID 3, except that the parity is distributed to all
drives. RAID 6 offers more reliability than RAID 5 by performing more parity
computations. For more details, see RAID 5.

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Big RAID

EMC has been a leader in high-end RAID systems for years with systems storing
multiple terabytes of data. (Image courtesy of EMC Corporation.)

Little RAID

Arco was first to provide RAID 1 on IDE disk drives rather than SCSI. This two-drive
unit connected to the motherboard with one cable like a single drive. (Image courtesy of
Arco Computer Products, Inc., www.arcoide.com)

Early RAID

This RAID prototype was built by University of Berkeley graduate students in 1992.
Housing 36 320MB disk drives, total storage was 11GB. (Image courtesy of The Computer
History Museum, www.computerhistory.org)
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USB RAID

Super Talent's USB 3.0 RAID drives provide RAID 0 storage that is faster than an
internal hard drive.

OPTICAL MEMORY

Optical storage refers to recording data using light. Typically, that's done using a drive
that can contain a removable disk and a system based on lasers that can read or write
to the disk. If you've ever used a DVD player to watch a movie, put a CD in a player to
listen to music or used similar disks in your desktop or laptop computer, you've used
optical storage.

Compared to other types of storage such as magnetic hard drives, the disks used in
optical storage can be quite inexpensive and lightweight, making them easy to ship
and transport. They also have the advantage of being removable, unlike disks in
typical hard drive, and they're able to store much more information than previous
types of removable media such as floppy disks.

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One downside of optical disks is that they can become scratched, giving some drives
difficulty writing them, although drives and the software they work with do include
error-correction systems designed to prevent data loss in such circumstances.

Types of Optical Storage Devices

Among the most familiar types of optical storage devices are the CD, DVD and Blu-ray
disc drives commonly found in computers. Initially, many of these drives were read-
only, meaning they could only access data on already created disks and couldn't write
new content to existing or blank disks. Still, the read-only devices called CD-ROM
drives revolutionized home and business computing in the 1990s, making it possible to
distribute multimedia material like graphically rich games, encyclopedias and video
material that anyone could access on a computer. Now, most drives can both read and
write the types of optical disks they are compatible with.

Types of Optica l Sto rage Device s

Optical storage devices store and read data using light, often recording information on
what's called an optical disk. The most common types of optical storage devices are
drives that read and write CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Scientists continue to research
ways to pack more data onto discs that can fit into a compact space.

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Types of Optical Storage Devices

Optical Storage Definition

Optical storage refers to recording data using light. Typically, that's done using a drive
that can contain a removable disk and a system based on lasers that can read or write
to the disk. If you've ever used a DVD player to watch a movie, put a CD in a player to
listen to music or used similar disks in your desktop or laptop computer, you've used
optical storage.

Compared to other types of storage such as magnetic hard drives, the disks used in
optical storage can be quite inexpensive and lightweight, making them easy to ship
and transport. They also have the advantage of being removable, unlike disks in
typical hard drive, and they're able to store much more information than previous
types of removable media such as floppy disks.

One downside of optical disks is that they can become scratched, giving some drives
difficulty writing them, although drives and the software they work with do include
error-correction systems designed to prevent data loss in such circumstances.
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Types of Optical Storage Devices

Among the most familiar types of optical storage devices are the CD, DVD and Blu-ray
disc drives commonly found in computers. Initially, many of these drives were read-
only, meaning they could only access data on already created disks and couldn't write
new content to existing or blank disks. Still, the read-only devices called CD-ROM
drives revolutionized home and business computing in the 1990s, making it possible to
distribute multimedia material like graphically rich games, encyclopedias and video
material that anyone could access on a computer. Now, most drives can both read and
write the types of optical disks they are compatible with.
Disks are available that can be written once, usually marked with the letter "R" as
in "DVD-R," or that can be written multiple times, usually marked with the letters
"RW." Similar drives are also found in most modern home video game consoles in
order to read game software. Drives in computers and gaming systems can typically
play movies and music on optical disks as well. Make sure you buy disks that are
compatible with your drives and players.
Standalone players for audio CDs and TV-compatible players for Blu-ray discs are also
widely available. Drives and players for older formats like HD-DVD and LaserDisc are
still available as well, although they can be more difficult to find.

When Other Storage Is Used

Hard drives are still used in many computers for situations where data must be read
and written quickly. They're typically faster than optical drives and easier to edit in
particular parts.

Other magnetic-based media are still used as well, notably tape drives used for
archival purposes. They can be slow to operate but can also hold enormous amounts of
data and are also still used for situations like backing up data from corporate
networks.

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USB sticks, which contain flash memory that can be swiftly written and read, have also
begun to replace optical devices for transporting data in many circumstances. The
internet has also cut into the demand for optical storage devices and media, since
while for a time computer software, music, movies and video games were typically
delivered via optical disk, they're now at least as likely to be sold or rented digitally
online.
When you use virtual optical storage, you create and use optical images that are stored
on your disk units. These optical images are treated as if they were real optical disk
media by the internal file system functions. The term virtual applies to the emulation
of the optical media sectors when used by read and write functions.
 Supported hardware for optical storage

Various stand-alone optical devices are available as optical storage.

 Optical devices

Your system comes with a rack-mounted CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

 Concepts for optical storage

This section discusses optical volumes, optical directories and files, and volume
identifiers.
 Optical media formats

There are several optical media types and media formats used for the IBM i operating
system.
 Configuring optical devices

Configure your CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and DVD-RAM devices, and optical medial
libraries. The systems come with a rack-mounted CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.
 Using optical devices

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You can display the primary menu for optical support by entering GO OPTICAL on
the IBM i command line. System administrators and programmers can access most
optical commands through this menu. It is also convenient to enter many of the optical
commands directly on the command line.
 Using optical volumes

These topics describe the Work with Optical Volumes options on the Optical Support
Utilities main menu.
 Optical volume backup

Use the information provided to define your backup strategy, learn about backup
options, and learn backup commands.
 Managing performance in optical media libraries

Several factors can affect the optical performance of both LAN-attached and directly
attached optical media libraries.
 Managing optical security and auditing

You can secure information about optical media by using IBM i security functions.
 Reclaiming the optical index database

A system-level index, called the optical index database, keeps track of all optical
volumes and directories known to the system.
 Recovering held optical files

A held optical file is an optical file that cannot be closed normally.

 Saving and restoring using optical media

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Optical media is a cost effective long-term storage solution. You can save and restore
your data using optical media in multiple ways. You can perform saves using BRMS,
save operations and restore commands, and the Load Run command.
 Troubleshooting optical storage

Get answers to several of the most common questions, steps to follow when a problem
occurs, and information needed for problem analysis.

MAGNETIC TAPE

Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin, magnetizable

coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928,
based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video
using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders respectively. A device
that stores computer data on magnetic tape is known as a tape drive.
Magnetic tape revolutionized sound recording and reproduction and broadcasting. It
allowed radio, which had always been broadcast live, to be recorded for later or
repeated airing. It allowed gramophone records to be recorded in multiple parts,
which were then mixed and edited with tolerable loss in quality. It was a key
technology in early computer development, allowing unparalleled amounts of data to
be mechanically created, stored for long periods, and rapidly accessed.
In recent decades, other technologies have been developed that can perform the
functions of magnetic tape. In many cases, these technologies have replaced tape.
Despite this, innovation in the technology continues, and Sony and IBM continue to
produce new magnetic tape drives.
Over time, magnetic tape made in the 1970s and 1980s can suffer from a type of
deterioration called sticky-shed syndrome. It is caused by hydrolysis of the binder in
the tape and can render the tape unusable.

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CONSTRUCTION
The oxide side of a tape is the surface that can be magnetically manipulated by a tape
head. This is the side that stores the information; the opposite side is simply
a substrate to give the tape strength and flexibility. The name originates from the fact
that the magnetic side of most tapes is typically made of iron oxide,
though chromium is used for some tapes. An adhesive binder between the oxide and
the substrate holds the two sides together.
In all tape formats, a tape drive uses motors to wind the tape from one reel to another,
passing over tape heads to read, write or erase as it moves.

AUDIO RECORDING
Magnetic tape was invented for recording sound by Fritz Pfleumer in 1928 in
Germany, based on the invention of magnetic wire recording by Oberlin Smith in 1888
and Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. Pfleumer's invention used a ferric oxide (Fe
2 O
3 ) powder coating on a long strip of paper. This invention was further developed by
the German electronics company AEG, which manufactured the recording machines
and BASF, which manufactured the tape. In 1933, working for AEG, Eduard
Schuller developed the ring-shaped tape head. Previous head designs were needle-
shaped and tended to shred the tape. Another important discovery made in this period
was the technique of AC biasing, which improved the fidelity of the recorded audio
signal by increasing the effective linearity of the recording medium.
Due to the escalating political tensions, and the outbreak of World War II, these
developments in Germany were largely kept secret. Although the Allies knew from
their monitoring of Nazi radio broadcasts that the Germans had some new form of
recording technology, its nature was not discovered until the Allies acquired German
recording equipment as they invaded Europe at the end of the war. It was only after
the war that Americans, particularly Jack Mullin, John Herbert Orr, and Richard H.

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Ranger, were able to bring this technology out of Germany and develop it into
commercially viable formats.
A wide variety of audio tape recorders and formats have been developed since, most
significantly reel-to-reel and Compact Cassette.
Digital recording to flash memory and hard disk has largely supplanted magnetic tape
for most purposes. However tape as a verb and as a noun has remained the common
parlance for the recording process.

VIDEO RECORDING
The practice of recording and editing audio using magnetic tape rapidly established
itself as an obvious improvement over previous methods. Many saw the potential of
making the same improvements in recording the video signals used by television.
Video signals use more bandwidth than audio signals. Existing audio tape recorders
could not practically capture a video signal. Many set to work on resolving this
problem. Jack Mullin (working for Bing Crosby) and the BBC both created crude
working systems that involved moving the tape across a fixed tape head at very high
speeds. Neither system saw much use. It was the team at Ampex, led by Charles
Ginsburg, that made the breakthrough of using a spinning recording head and normal
tape speeds to achieve a very high head-to-tape speed that could record and reproduce
the high bandwidth signals of video. The Ampex system was called Quadruplex and
used 2-inch-wide (51 mm) tape, mounted on reels like audio tape, which wrote the
signal in what is now called transverse scan.

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A VHS helical scan head drum. Helical and transverse scans made possible to increase
the data bandwidth to the necessary point for recording video on tapes, and not just
audio.

Later improvements by other companies, particularly Sony, led to the development

of helical scan and the enclosure of the tape reels in an easy-to-
handle videocassette cartridge. Nearly all modern videotape systems use helical scan
and cartridges. Videocassette recorders used to be common in homes and television
production facilities, but many functions of the VCR have been replaced with more
modern technology. Since the advent of digital video and computerized video
processing, optical disc media and digital video recorders can now perform the same
role as videotape. These devices also offer improvements like random access to any
scene in the recording and the ability to pause a live program and have replaced
videotape in many situations.

DATA STORAGE

Quarter inch cartridges, a data format

commonly used in the 1980s and 1990s. Small open reel of 9 track tape

Magnetic tape was first used to record computer data in 1951 on the Eckert-
Mauchly UNIVAC I. The system's UNISERVO I tape drive used a thin strip of one half
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inch (12.65 mm) wide metal, consisting of nickel-plated bronze (called Vicalloy).
Recording density was 100 characters per inch (39.37 characters/cm) on eight tracks.
Early IBM 7 track tape drives were floor-standing and used vacuum columns to
mechanically buffer long U-shaped loops of tape. The two tape reels visibly fed tape
through the columns, intermittently spinning 10.5 inch open reels in rapid,
unsynchronized bursts, resulting in visually striking action. Stock shots of such
vacuum-column tape drives in motion were widely used to represent mainframe
computers in movies and television.
Most modern magnetic tape systems use reels that are much smaller than the 10.5 inch
open reels and are fixed inside a cartridge to protect the tape and facilitate handling.
Many late 1970s and early 1980s home computers used Compact Cassettes, encoded
with the Kansas City standard, or alternate encodings. Modern cartridge formats
include LTO, DLT, and DAT/DDC.
Tape remains a viable alternative to disk in some situations due to its lower cost per
bit. This is a large advantage when dealing with large amounts of data. Though the
areal density of tape is lower than for disk drives, the available surface area on a tape is
far greater. The highest capacity tape media are generally on the same order as the
largest available disk drives (about 5 TB in 2011). Tape has historically offered enough
advantage in cost over disk storage to make it a viable product, particularly
for backup, where media removability is necessary.
Tape has the benefit of a comparatively long duration during which the media can be
guaranteed to retain the data stored on the media. Fifteen (15) to thirty (30) years of
archival data storage is cited by manufacturers of modern data tape such as Linear
Tape-Open media.
In 2002, Imation received a US$11.9 million grant from the U.S. National Institute of
Standards and Technology for research into increasing the data capacity of magnetic
tape.

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In 2014, Sony and IBM announced that they had been able to record 148 gigabits per
square inch with magnetic tape media developed using a new vacuum thin-film
forming technology able to form extremely fine crystal particles, allowing true tape
capacity of 185 TB.

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REFERENCES:

https://itstillworks.com/types-external-memory-5038784.html

https://www.techopedia.com/definition/8210/magnetic-disk

https://www.britannica.com/technology/computer-memory/Auxiliary-
memory#ref93702

https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/50148/raid

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/types-optical-storage-devices

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_ibm_i_74/rzam4/rzam4optica
l.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_tape

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QUIZ: Multiple choice

1. Magnetic tape was first used to record computer data in _____ on the Eckert-
Mauchly UNIVAC I.
a. 1950
b. 1952
c. 1951
d. 1949
Answer: c

2. Magnetic tape was invented for recording sound by Fritz Pfleumer in _____ in
Germany.
a. 1927
b. 1928
c. 1929
d. 1926
Answer: b

3. _______ refers to recording data using light.

a. Optical storage
b. Magnetic disk
c. Magnetic tape
d. External memory
Answer: a

4. Most external hard drives connect to a computer through a ______

a. USB port
b. Flash Drive
c. Floppy Disk
d. Hard Drive
Answer: a

5. _______ are still used in many computers for situations where data must be read
and written quickly.

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a. External Drive
b. Internal Drive
c. Hard Drive
d. Flash Drive
Answer: c

6. A disk or solid state drive (SSD) subsystem that increases performance or

provides fault tolerance or both.
a. Redundant Array of Independent Disks
b. Floppy Disk
c. Hard Disk
d. Redundant Array of Dependent Disks
Answer: a

7. Capacity of true tape

a. 185 EB
b. 185 GB
c. 185 TB
d. 186 KB
Answer: c

8. The typical type of external memory that most people use and are familiar with
are ______
a. Flash Drive
b. External Hard Drive
c. Floppy Disk
d. Hard Drive
Answer: a

9. _______ are used in devices such as cameras, GPS systems and call phones.
a. Flash Drive
b. Floppy Disk
c. Memory Card
d. Hard Drive
Answer: c

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10. It is a storage device that uses a magnetization process to write, rewrite and
access data.
a. Magnetic Tape
b. Optical Memory
c. External Memory
d. Magnetic Disk
Answer: d

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