Program: BCAH, Semester- 3rd, 2ndYear

BCAH -302: Computer System & Organization

Unit No. 4

Topic: Auxiliary Memory

Lecture No. 4
Rahul Yadav
Asst. Professor, CSA /SOCA
Slide Contents
• Prerequisite of topic

• Problem Objective
• Topic-I: Main Memory Vs Auxiliary Memory
• Topic-II: Auxiliary Memory
• Topic-III: Hard Disk Drive
• Topic-IV: CD and DVD Drive

• Assignment

• Learning Outcomes

• SELO points Applicable

• References
Prerequisite of topic

• Student should be aware about the Registers and basic units used for
development of Registers .
Problem Objective

• Students will be able to understand

– The various types of Auxiliary Memory .

– The characteristics of Auxiliary Memory .
 Main Memory Vs Auxiliary Memory

• Computer memory is divided into main (or primary) memory and

auxiliary (or secondary) memory.

• Main memory holds instructions and data when a program is

executing .

• Auxiliary memory holds data and programs not currently in use and
provides long-term storage.
 Auxiliary Memory

• Auxiliary memory units are among computer peripheral equipment.

• They trade slower access rates for greater storage capacity and data
stability.

• Auxiliary memory holds programs and data for future use, and,
because it is nonvolatile memory.

• It is used to store inactive programs and data for future use.

 Auxiliary Memory

• An Auxiliary memory is known as the lowest-cost, highest-capacity

and slowest-access storage in a computer system.

• It is where programs and data are kept for long-term storage or when
not in immediate use.

• The most common examples of auxiliary memories are magnetic

tapes and magnetic disks.
 Characteristics of Auxiliary Memory

• These are some characteristics of auxiliary memory, which

distinguish it from primary memory −

• It is non-volatile, i.e. it retains data when power is switched off

• It is large capacities to the tune of terabytes

• It is cheaper as compared to primary memory

• Depending on whether secondary memory device is part of system or

not, there are two types of secondary memory
– fixed and removable.
Classification
 Hard Disk Drive

• Hard disks provide larger and faster secondary storage capabilities

than diskettes.

• Hard disks are permanently mounted inside the computer.

• Most personal computers have at least one hard disk.

• The input/output device that transfers data to and from the hard disk
is the hard disk drive.
• Hard disk drive is made up of a series of circular disks called platters
arranged one over the other almost ½ inches apart around a spindle.

• Disks are made of non-magnetic material like aluminum alloy and

coated with 10-20 nm of magnetic material.

• Data is stored by magnetizing or demagnetizing the magnetic

coating.

• A magnetic reader arm is used to read data from and write data to the
disks. A typical modern HDD has capacity in terabytes (TB).
 Characteristics of Hard Disc

• The hard disk provides a large storage capacity. ...

• It is much faster than the floppy disk.

• It is the primary media for storing data and programs.

• It is more reliable than a floppy disk.

• Data stored on the hard disk is safer than the floppy disk.
 Hard disc performance
• The following factors affect the performance of the hard disk:

• Seek time: it is also called positioning performance. It is the time

required by reading and writes head to the correct location on the
disk.it is often used with rotational speed to compare the
performance of hard drives. It is measured in milliseconds.

• Spindle speed: it is also called transfer performance. It is the speed

at which the driver transfers the data.

• Latency: it is the time required by the spinning platter to bring the

desired data to read and write head.
 CD Drive
• CD stands for Compact Disk. CDs are circular disks that use
optical rays, usually lasers, to read and write data. They are very
cheap as you can get 700 MB of storage space for less than a dollar.
CDs are inserted in CD drives built into CPU cabinet. They are
portable as you can eject the drive, remove the CD and carry it with
you.
• There are three types of CDs −

• CD-ROM (Compact Disk – Read Only Memory) − The data on

these CDs are recorded by the manufacturer. Proprietary Software,
audio or video are released on CD-ROMs.

• CD-R (Compact Disk – Recordable) − Data can be written by

the user once on the CD-R. It cannot be deleted or modified later.

• CD-RW (Compact Disk – Rewritable) − Data can be written and

deleted on these optical disks again and again.
 DVD Drive

• DVD stands for Digital Video Display. DVD are optical devices that
can store 15 times the data held by CDs.

• Its main uses are video and data storage. Most DVDs are of the same
dimensions as compact discs (CDs) but store more than six times as
much data.
• They are usually used to store rich multimedia files that need high
storage capacity. DVDs also come in three varieties – read only,
recordable and rewritable.
 Pen Drive
Pen Drive/USB Drive/Flash Drive:

• It is a plug and play (PnP) device that simply connects into a USB port of
a computer.

• One can read, write, copy, delete and move data from it to computer’s
HDD or from HDD to pen drive.

• One can even run application like MP3 files or music video directly from
it.
 Blu Ray Disk

• Blu Ray Disk (BD) is an optical storage media used to store high
definition (HD) video and other multimedia filed. BD uses shorter
wavelength laser as compared to CD/DVD. This enables writing arm to
focus more tightly on the disk and hence pack in more data. BDs can
store up to 128 GB data.
 Assignment

1. Discuss the various elements of hard disk?

2. What are the performance factors of hard disk

3. What is the main difference between CD-ROM, DVD Disk and Blu

Ray Disc?
Learning Outcomes

• Understand the concept of Secondary Memory .

• Understand the importance of Secondary memory used in computer

system..
SELO points Applicable
SELOs (Student Effective Learning Outcome) following Points are
applicable on this Lecture:

• Clear understanding of professional ethics.

• Ability to understand subject related concepts clearly along with

contemporary issues.

• Application of concepts of topic & it’s technological application.

• Understanding available tools and products and ability to use it

effectively.
References

1. Computer Organization and Architecture - Stalling Williams -

PHI

2. Mano, M. Morris, Computer System Architecture, Prentice-

Hall