SECONDARY STORAGE DEVICES:
SEQUENTIAL & DIRECT ACCESS DEVICES
VIZ. MAGNETIC TAPE, MAGNETIC DISK,
OPTICAL DISKS
ACCESS TYPES OF STORAGE DEVICES
The information stored in storage devices can be
accessed in two ways—
1. Sequential access
2. Direct access
SEQUENTIAL ACCESS DEVICES
Sequential access means that computer must run through
the data in sequence, starting from the beginning, in
order to locate a particular piece of data. Magnetic tape
is an example of sequential access device. Let us
suppose that magnetic tape consists of 80 records. To
access the 25th record, the computer starts from first
record, then reaches second, third etc. until it reaches the
25th record. Sequential access devices are generally slow
devices.
DIRECT ACCESS DEVICES
Direct access devices are the ones in which any piece of data can
be retrieved in a non-sequential manner by locating it using the
data’s address. It accesses the data directly, from a desired
location. Magnetic disks and optical disks are examples of direct
access devices. There is no predefined order in which one can read
and write data from a direct access device. In a magnetic disk
consisting of 80 records, to access the 25th record, the computer
can directly access the 25th record, without going past the first 24
records. Based on access, magnetic tapes are sequential access
devices, and, magnetic disks, optical disk and magneto-optical
disks are direct access devices.
MAGNETIC TAPE
Magnetic tape is a plastic tape with magnetic coating . It is a
storage medium on a large open reel or in a smaller cartridge or
cassette (like a music cassette). Magnetic tapes are cheaper
storage media. They are durable, can be written, erased, and re-
written. Magnetic tapes are sequential access devices, which mean
that the tape needs to rewind or move forward to the location
where the requested data is positioned in the magnetic tape. Due
to their sequential nature, magnetic tapes are not suitable for data
files that need to be revised or updated often. They are generally
used to store back-up data that is not frequently used or to transfer
data from one system to other.
WORKING OF MAGNETIC TAPE
Magnetic tape is divided horizontally into
tracks (7 or 9) and vertically into frames
. A frame stores one byte of data, and a track in
a frame stores one bit. Data is
stored in successive frames as a string with one
data (byte) per frame
WORKING OF MAGNETIC TAPE
Data is recorded on tape in the form of blocks, where a block consists of a
group of data also called as records. Each block is read continually. There is an
Inter-Record Gap (IRG) between two blocks that provides time for the tape to
be stopped and started between records.
Magnetic tape is mounted on a magnetic tape drive for access. The basic
magnetic tape drive mechanism consists of the supply reel, take-up reel, and
the read/write head assembly.
The magnetic tape moves on tape drive from the supply reel to take-up reel,
with its magnetic coated side passing over the read/write head.
Tapes are categorized based on their width - ¼ inch, ½ inch, etc.
The storage capacity of the tape varies greatly. A 10–inch diameter reel of tape
which is 2400 feet long can store up to 180 million characters.
FEATURES OF MAGNETIC TAPE :
Inexpensive storage device
Can store a large amount of data
Easy to carry or transport
Not suitable for random access data
Slow access device
Needs dust prevention, as dust can harm the tape
Suitable for back-up storage or archiving
MAGNETIC DISK
Magnetic disk is a direct
access secondary storage
device. It is a thin plastic or
metallic circular plate coated
with magnetic oxide and
encased in a protective cover.
Data is stored on magnetic
disks as magnetized spots. The
presence of a magnetic spot
represents the bit 1 and its
absence represents the bit 0.
WORKING OF MAGNETIC DISK
The surface of disk is divided into concentric circles known as
tracks. The outermost track is numbered 0 and the innermost
track is the last track. Tracks are further divided into sectors. A
sector is a pie slice that cuts across all tracks. The data on disk is
stored in sector. Sector is the smallest unit that can be read or
written on a disk. A disk has eight or more sectors per track as
shown in figure.
Magnetic disk is inserted into a magnetic disk drive for access.
The drive consists of a read/write head that is attached to a disk
arm, which moves the head. The disk arm can move inward and
outward on the disk.
During reading or writing to disk, the motor of disk drive moves
the disk at high speed (60–150 times/sec.)
ACCESSING DATA ON THE DISK
.
The read/write head is positioned to the desired track where the
data is to be read from or written to. The time taken to move the
read/write head to the desired track is called the seek time.
Once the read/write head is at the right track, then the head waits
for right sector to come under it (disk is moving at high speed).
The time taken for desired sector of the track to come under
read/write head is called the latency time.
Once the read/write head is positioned at the right track and
sector, the data has to be written to disk or read from disk. The
rate at which data is written to disk or read from disk is called
data transfer rate.
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The sum of seek time, latency time and time for data transfer is the
access time of the disk.
The storage capacity of disk drive is measured in gigabytes (GB).
Large disk storage is created by stacking together multiple disks. A
set of same tracks on all disks forms a cylinder.
Each disk has its own read/write head which work in
Coordination.
A disk can also have tracks and sectors on both sides. Such a disk is
called double-sided disk.
FEATURES OF MAGNETIC DISK
Cheap storage device
Can store a large amount of data
Easy to carry or transport
Suitable for frequently read/write data
Fast access device
More reliable storage device
To be prevented from dust, as the read/write head flies over the
disk. Any dust particle in between can corrupt the disk.
FINDING DATA ON MAGNETIC DISK
In order to use a disk, it has to be formatted.
Formatting includes assigning addresses to various locations on disk, assigning location of
root directory and checking for defects on the surface of disk.
During formatting, the tracks and sectors of a disk are labeled, which provides an address
to each location of the disk.
There are different methods to format a disk.
File Allocation Table (FAT) is the commonly used logical format for disk formatting
performed by Windows
.
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Four areas are created when a disk is formatted using FAT—
Boot Sector :
It contains the program that runs when the computer is started. The
program checks if the disk has files required to run the operating
system. It then transfers control to an operating system program which
continues the startup process. Boot sector also contains information
about the disk, like number of bytes per sector and number of sectors
per track. This information is required by the operating system to
access the data on the disk.
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File Allocation Table :
It records the location of each file and status of each sector. While reading or writing to
disk, operating system checks the FAT to find free area or locate where data is stored on disk,
respectively.
Root Directory :This is the main folder of disk. It contains other folders in it, creating a
hierarchical system of folders. The root directory contains information about all folders on the
disk.
Data Area : The remaining area of the disk (after boot sector, FAT, root directory) is the data
area. It stores the program files and data files that are stored on the disk.
The Windows XP and the Windows 2000 operating system use the New Technology File
System (NTFS) 5 file system. The NTFS 5 file system offers better security and increased
performance. It allows using of filenames that are more than eight characters long.
FLOPPY DISK
Floppy disk (FD) is a flat, round, single disk made of Mylar
plastic and enclosed in square plastic jacket
Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) is the disk drive for floppy disk.
The floppy disk is inserted into the floppy disk drive to read or
write data to it.
Floppy disk has a write-protect slide tab that prevents a user
from writing to it.
A floppy disk may be single-sided or double-sided disk, i.e.,
data can be read and written on one and both sides of floppy
disk, respectively.
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They are portable. They can be removed from the disk drive, carried
or stored separately.
They are small and inexpensive.
Floppy disks are slower to access than hard disk. They have less
storage capacity and are less expensive than hard disk.
They come in two basic sizes—5-¼ inch and 3-½ inch.
The 5-¼ inch disk came around 1987. It can store 360 KB to 1.2 MB
of data.
The 3-½ inch disk has capacity of 400 KB to 1.44 MB. It usually
contains 40 tracks and 18 sectors per track and can store 512 bytes
per sector.
HARD DISK
A hard disk (HD) consists of one or more platters divided into
concentric tracks and sectors. It is mounted on a central spindle,
like a stack. It can be read by a read/write head that pivots across
the rotating disks. The data is stored on the platters covered with
magnetic coating .
PART OF HARD DISK
Hard disk is a fixed disk. The disk is not removable from the drive, unlike floppy disk.
The hard disk and Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a single unit.
Hard disk can store much more data than floppy disk. The data in hard disk are
packed more closely (because fast spinning uses smaller magnetic charges) and they
have multiple platters, with data being stored on both sides of each platter. Large
capacity hard disks may have 12 or more platters.
Unlike floppy disk, the read/write head of hard disk does not touch the disk during
accessing.
Hard disk can spin at the speed of up to 10,000 revolutions per minute and have an
access
time of 9—14 ms. It stores 512 bytes per sector but the number of sectors are more
per track (54 or more) than floppy disk.
Hard disk is the key secondary storage device of computer. The operating system is
stored on the hard disk. The performance of computer like speed of computer boot up,
loading of programs to primary memory, loading of large files like images, video,
audio etc., is also dependent on the hard disk.
Nowadays, portable external hard disk drive is available which can be attached to the
USB drive of the computer. They come in the storage capacities of 500 GB to 1 TB.
OPTICAL DISK
Optical disk is a flat and circular disk which is coated with
reflective plastic material that can be altered by laser light. Optical
disk does not use magnetism. The bits 1 and 0 are stored as spots
that are relatively bright and light, respectively.
An optical disk consists of a single spiral track that starts from the
edge to the centre of disk. Due to its spiral shape, it can access large
amount of data sequentially, for example music and video. The
random access on optical disk is slower than that of magnetic disk,
due to its spiral shape.
The tracks on optical disk are further divided into sectors which are
of same length. Thus, the sectors near the centre of disk wrap
around the disk longer than the sectors on the edges of disk.
Reading the disk thus requires spinning the disk faster when reading
near the centre and slower when reading near the edge of disk.
Optical disks are generally slower than hard disks. Figure shows the
tracks and sectors in a magnetic disk and optical disk.
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Optical disk
Sectors and track in magnetic disk and optical disk
Optical disks can store large amount of data, up to 6 GB, in a small space. Commonly
used optical disks store 600–700 MB of data.
* The access time for an optical disk ranges from 100 to 200 ms.
* There are two most common categories of optical disks—read-only optical disks and
recordable optical disks.
CD ROM
Originally, Compact Disk (CD) was a popular medium for storing music.
Now, it is used in computers to store data and is called Compact Disk-Read
Only Memory (CD-ROM).
As the name suggests, CD-ROM is an optical disk that can only be read and
not written on. CD-ROM is written on by the manufacturer of the CD-ROM
using the laser light.
A CD-ROM drive reads data from the compact disk. Data is stored as pits
(depressions) and lands (flat area) on CD-ROM disk. When the laser light is
focused on the disk, the pits scatter the light (interpreted as 0) and the lands
reflect the light to a sensor
(interpreted as 1).
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As CD-ROM is read only, no changes can be made into the data contained
in it.
Since there is no head touching the disk, but a laser light, CD-ROM does
not get worn out easily.
The storage density of CD-ROM is very high and cost is low as compared
to floppy disk and hard disk.
Access time of CD-ROM is less. CD-ROM drives can read data at
150Kbps. They come in multiples of this speed like—2x, 4x, 52x, 75x,
etc.
It is a commonly used medium for distributing software and large data.
