Storage devices

Slide №1
A storage device is a part of the computer system which is employed to store
the information and instructions to be processed. A storage device is an integral
part of the computer hardware which stores information/data to process the
result of any computational work. Without a storage device, a computer would
not be able to run or even boot up. Or in other words, we can say that a storage
device is hardware that is used for storing, porting, or extracting data files.

Slide №2
It can also store information/data both temporarily and permanently. Computer
storage is of two types: Internal (Primary) Storage Devices and External
(Secondary) Storage Devices.

Slide №3
Internal (Primary) Storage Devices: It is also known as main memory. This is a
section of the CPU that holds program instructions, input data, and intermediate
results. It is generally smaller in size. Internal storage devices are designed to
hold data temporarily. They have the fastest data access speed.

Slide №4
Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer memory that can be read
and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine
code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written
in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data
inside the memory, in contrast with other direct-access data storage media
(such as hard disks, optical discs and the older magnetic tapes and drum
memory), where the time required to read and write data items varies
significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due
to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement.

Slide №5
Hard (magnetic) disk drive (HDD) is an electro-mechanical data storage device
that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more
rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material. The platters are
paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which
read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-
access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored and
retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of non-volatile storage, retaining stored
data when powered off. Modern HDDs are typically in the form of a small
rectangular box.

Slide №6
CPU cache (processor memory) is a hardware cache used by the central
processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the average cost (time or
energy) to access data from the main memory. Cache is the amount of memory
that is within the CPU itself, either integrated into individual cores or shared
between some or all cores. It’s a small bit of dedicated memory that lives
directly on the processor so that your CPU doesn’t need to fetch information
from your system RAM every time you want to do something on your PC. Every
processor has a small amount of cache, with smaller CPUs getting perhaps just
a few kilobytes while large CPUs can have many megabytes worth of cache.

Slide №7
Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to
store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a
computer monitor. This is often different technology than other computer
memory, to facilitate being read rapidly to draw the image. In some systems this
memory cannot be read/written using the same methods as normal memory (it
is not memory mapped). While a computer has system RAM, most
contemporary graphics cards have access to a dedicated set of memory known
as VRAM. In contrast, a GPU which shares system memory has a Unified
Memory Architecture, or shared graphics memory.

Slide №8
External (Secondary) Storage Devices: Is a memory that is stored external to
the computer. It is mainly used for the permanent and long-term storage of
programs and data and usually has a larger capacity.

Slide №9
Solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated
circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and
functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is also
sometimes called a semiconductor storage device, a solid-state device or a
solid-state disk, even though SSDs lack the physical spinning disks and
movable read–write heads used in hard disk drives (HDDs). SSD also has rich
internal parallelism for data processing.

Slide №10
External hard disk drive (external HDD) is a portable storage device that can be
connected to a computer or digital media devices via a USB connection,
Thunderbolt or wireless network. The storage function ensures system
compatibility, has large storage capacity and a portable design. Modern external
hard drives have capacities from 500 GB to 20 TB. External hard disk drives are
usually available as assembled integrated products but may be also assembled
by combining an external enclosure (with USB or other interface) with a
separately purchased drive. There are pre-assembled external hard disk drives
that, when taken out from their enclosures, cannot be used internally in a laptop
or desktop computer due to embedded USB interface on their printed circuit
boards, and lack of SATA interfaces.

Slide №11
Optical disc is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the
form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat
surfaces. Its main uses are physical offline data distribution and long-term
archival. Changes from pit to land or from land to pit correspond to a binary
value of 1; while no change, regardless of whether in a land or a pit area,
corresponds to a binary value of 0. This is how the information stored on the
optical disc is read.

Slide №12
USB Flash drive (UFD) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with
an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much
smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 g. Common uses of USB
flash drives are for storage, supplementary back-ups, and transferring of
computer files. Compared with floppy disks or CDs, they are smaller, faster,
have significantly more capacity, and are more durable due to a lack of moving
parts. Additionally, they are less vulnerable to electromagnetic interference than
floppy disks, and are unharmed by surface scratches (unlike CDs).

Slide №13
Conclusion
Storage devices are very useful and necessary devices, without which
practically no computing equipment would work, because there would be no
place to store data and use it later.
One of the main purposes of storage devices is backup or archiving of important
data. In today's world, there is a need to store data conveniently and
permanently in large quantities and in such a way that it cannot be easily
destroyed, damaged or corrupted.
For convenient storage, backup, archiving or reading of data, there are various
types of storage devices that are better suited for certain needs.