DATA STORAGE

Storage systems are inevitable for modern day computing.

All known computing platforms ranging from handheld devices to large

super computers use storage systems for storing data temporarily or
permanently.

Beginning from punch card which stores a few bytes of data, storage
systems have reached to multi Terabytes of capacities in comparatively
less space and power consumption.

Reference:

http://www.logix4u.net/component/content/article
Data Storage

A device capable of storing data. The term usually refers to mass

storage devices, such as disk and tape drives. (courtesy:
webopedia.com)

In a computer, storage is the place where data is held in an

electromagnetic or optical form for access by a computer
processor. (courtesy:whatis.com)

Computer data storage; often called storage or memory refer to

computer components, devices and recording media that retain
digital data used for computing for some interval of time. (courtesy:
wikipedia.com)
Computer storage can be best defined as "when device or media
stores data for later retrieval".

From the definition, we can see that the storage device possess two
features namely "storage" and "retrieval". A storage facility without
retrieval options seems to be of no use.

Can be studied at three levels:

A. Unit Storage

B. Networked Storage

C. Large Scale Data Storage

A. Unit Storage

Classification:

•Primary and Secondary and Tertiary Storage

•Volatile and non-volatile storage

•Read only and Writable storage

•Random Access and Sequential Access

storage

•Magnetic storage

•Optical storage

•Semiconductor storage
1. Primary and Secondary and Tertiary Storage

In simple words, primary storage is the storage device that is directly

connected to the CPU and store data temporarily during execution. i.e.
CPU can directly access primary storage and stores instruction
and data for execution/processing.

Examples: RAM (Random Access Memory), CPU registers, Cache

Primary storage devices are comparatively faster than all other kinds of
memory types.
Usually primary storage devices are considered to be directly connected to the
processor. But in reality, modern computers employ components like Virtual
Memory Manager, DRAM controllers etc. in between processor and the memory but
the notion of 'Direct Connection' is still valid since these components are
transparent to the processor .
Secondary storage may not be directly accessible by the
processor. Usually used for more permanent storage of data. This
requires secondary storage devices and are non-volatile.

Secondary storage devices are connected to storage controllers and the

CPU is required to talk to the controllers in order to access information
from secondary devices.

The most popular example of secondary device is the Hard disk. CD

ROM, DVD ROM, USB mass storage devices, Floppy etc. also fall in this
category.

Secondary storage devices are also called Mass Storage Devices since
the capacity of these devices are comparatively large.
In contrast to Primary and Secondary storage, Tertiary storage may not
be directly connected to the CPU or the computer itself.

Tertiary storage mechanisms are usually used for storage of large

volumes of data such as backups etc.

A commonly used mechanism for Tertiary storage involves a large

number of removable mass storage devices stacked as a library.

Once the required information is read, the media is placed back in the
library.

The mechanical delays associated with Tertiary Storage makes it the

slowest of all storage types but largest in capacity.
2. Volatile and Non-Volatile Storage

As the name implies, volatile memory looses its contents when power
supply is withdrawn. So usually volatile memories are used for
temporary storage of data. In some exceptional cases, volatile
memory devices are used along with long life batteries to make semi-
permanent storage devices. Examples: Hybrid SSDs

Compared with non-volatile storage, Volatile storage devices are

faster while both reading and writing data. This makes these
kinds of memories very suitable to be used as main memories of
computers. In fact, the memories we use in computers (RAM) are
volatile devices.
Non-volatile storage devices retain the contents even in
absence of active power source.

This makes non-volatile devices suitable for long term permanent data
storage. Non-volatile devices usually available in large capacities.

Hard Disks, CD ROM, Floppy disks, Flash, ROM etc.. are examples of
non-volatile memory devices.

Non-volatile storage devices are slower when compared to volatile

storage devices. But some non-volatile can faster during read
operation and slower during write operation. Semiconductor non-
volatile memory devices fall in this category.
3. Read only and Writable storage
Read only storage devices only allows contents to be read from and
doesn't allow the contents to be modified.

Meanwhile, writable storage devices allow both content retrieval as

well as content modification.

Read only devices are usually used for long term permanent storage
where modification of data is not necessary. CD ROM, DVD etc are
examples of Read Only Storage devices. Some Read Only Storage
devices comes with factory programmed data which you can only read
but not modify.

There is another class of devices called Write Once Read Multiple

(WORM) devices which allows us to write data to it one and only one
time and allows any number of subsequent reads. CD-R and DVD-R are
technically comes under this category.
4. Random Access and Sequential Access
Storage

Random Access storage devices allow retrieval of content from any

location in the same amount of time. i.e. Latency (the time taken to
access a particular location in storage) is independent of content's
location. RAM used in computers is an example of Random Access
Memory.

In sequential access storage devices, data can be accessed in sequential

manner only. And the time taken to read from a particular location will
be dependant on the location last accessed. Example of a sequential
access device is the Tape storage device. Sequential access devices
are usually used for backup purpose only, where frequent access of
5. Magnetic storage
Magnetic storage devices store information in the form of magnetic field
on magnetically coated surface.

Magnetic storage devices fall in the category of non-volatile devices.

This makes magnetic storage devices to be useful for long term data
storage. Hard disks, Floppy disks and tape devices are examples of
magnetic storage devices.

Data is written to magnetic media with the help of electromagnetic

heads. The same head is usually used also for retrieval of data.

Though magnetic storage medias can hold large amount of data, these
are considered to be bulky and not usable for mobile applications.

But technological advancements made it possible to create large

capacity magnetic storage devices with small size. An example for this
is Apple's ipod classic which is available with a built in hard disk with a
6. Optical Storage

Optical storage devices store data on reflective polycarbonate discs in

the form of pits and bumps.

Data is recorded on the disc by pointing modulated laser beam on to

the rotating disc.

This makes a series of tiny pits which doesn't reflect light and bumps
that reflect light.

For reading the data, a low power laser beam is focused to the track
and the reflected beam is directed to a photo diode.

The photo diode detects the presence of pits and bumps from the
reflected laser beam and convert it in to bits and bytes of
information.
7. Semiconductor Storage
Semiconductor storage devices store data in tiny memory cells made of
very small transistors and capacitors made of semiconductor materials
such as silicon.

Each cell can hold one bit of information and an array of cells stores
large chunk of information.

Semiconductor storage devices can be volatile and non-volatile.

RAM is an example of volatile semiconductor storage device.

EEPROM and FLASH are examples of non-volatile semiconductor

storage devices.

There are a large number of products in the market now which uses
FLASH devices exclusively as secondary storage (E.g. MP3 players,
Mobile Phones etc).
B. Networked Storage

BUS
•In computer technology, BUS is an interconnect that helps data to be
transferred between CPU and different peripherals or between
computers. a BUS facilitates an organized and usually co-operative
access on resources.

•In contrast to point to point connections, a BUS can logically

accommodate several peripherals irrespective of their type and
functionality as long as it confirms to the rules specified by the BUS
specification.

•While learning about storage domain, different types of BUS

technologies and standards come in to picture. Let's take a closer look in
to the different BUS standards used in storage technologies.
•In computer technology, BUS is an interconnect that helps data to be
transferred between CPU and different peripherals or between
computers. A BUS facilitates an organized and usually co-operative
access on resources.

•In contrast to point to point connections, a BUS can logically

accommodate several peripherals irrespective of their type and
functionality as long as it confirms to the rules specified by the BUS
specification.

•While learning about storage domain, different types of BUS

technologies and standards come in to picture.

•Bus Topology is a network topology in which all nodes, i.e., stations, are
connected together by a single bus.

Let's take a closer look in to the different BUS standards used in storage
technologies.
Common BUS Topologies

The BUS topology describes how peripherals are connected to the BUS
physically. Usually, in a topology there will have one or more BUS
Masters (usually CPU) and at least one Slave device ( usually peripheral).

In some interconnect mechanisms, peripherals are also can be masters

on the BUS. This facilitates transactions to be initiated at peripherals will
in contrast to some mechanisms where CPU is the only Master and all
transactions needed to be initiated by the CPU.
The physical structure of the BUS (All devices directly connected to
single data path) puts it in a position where all the connected devices
must be highly co-operative.

Any malfunctioning device may put the functionality of the BUS in

risk unless the situation is handled properly.

Following are the most common BUS topologies used.

• Multi Drop

• Daisy Chain

• Switched Hub
1. Multi Drop
In Multi Drop topology, the devices are connected parallel on the BUS.
The data transmitted by any device will be presented to all the other
devices and it is up to each device whether it should accept or reject the
data.

A multidrop bus (MDB) is a computer bus in which all components are

connected to the same set of electrical wires. A process of arbitration
determines which device gets the right to be the sender of information at
any point in time. The other devices must listen for the data that is
intended to be received by them.
•If the data on the BUS matches with the criterion as per a
device's requirements, the device may read in the data for further
processing. Other wise the device will stay inactive as if no data is
available on the BUS. A bus connection can happen if more than
one device tries to transmit something on the BUS.

•To avoid this, Multi Drop Buses usually incorporate some kind of
collision detection and correction mechanism as a part of the bus
implementation. A very popular example for this is the CSMA/CD
(Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection)
implemented in Ethernet.

•In single master environments chances of collision are less.

2. Daisy Chain
Unlike in Multi Drop topology, Daisy Chain topology does not share a
common data path among the connected devices. In this topology, each
device is connected to two adjacent devices except for star-based
networks, the easiest way to add more computers into a network is
by daisy-chaining, or connecting each computer in series to the next. If a
message is intended for a computer partway down the line, each system
bounces it along in sequence until it reaches the destination. A daisy-
chained network can take two basic forms: linear and ring.
•The major advantage of Daisy chain topology is that since it does not
have a share data path, bus contention is practically zero. But a major
disadvantage is that a device's direct accessibility is restricted to the
two immediate peers only.

•If a device wants to communicate to another device which is not an

immediate peer, the first device needs the help of either of the
immediate peers. And if any device in the chain fails, the chain will be
effectively broken in to two pieces and will be isolated from each other.

•As a solution for this, if the two devices in the far ends of the chain are
connected together, we will get a Ring topology. In Ring topology,
failure of one device won't break the entire network since in ring
topology, two paths always exist between two devices. But if two
devices happen to fail, the network will be broken.
3. Switched Hub topology
Switched Hub topology uses a Hub as a mediator for communication
between devices. All access requests are routed through Hub only.
The hub should be intelligent enough to rout the request to
appropriate connected device.
The major advantage of this topology is that the chance for collision is
virtually zero since all requests are routed through the Hub. And the
disadvantages are increased cost due to additional hardware (Hub)
and when the number of devices increases, the Hub will become a
bottleneck in the network. The most popular examples of networks
that use Hub topology are Ethernet and USB.
C. Large Scale Storage
In larger companies, the storage architecture is often composed of
several, linked types of storage hardware. These are typically classified
as Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Network Attached Storage (NAS),
or Storage Area Networks (SANs).
1. DAS
These more basic secondary storage devices are directly connected to
a host computer or server. For instance, disk drives for disk
backups, RAID arrays, and tape libraries for tape backups are DAS
systems, usually connected by standard protocols like small computer
system interface (SCSI). The numerous variations of SCSI developed by
vendors create numerous component-driven storage standards. Data
retrieval is at the block level. DAS systems are used for local file
sharing.
2. NAS
NAS is composed of both hard disks and management software, and is
completely dedicated to serving files from a company network running a
Gigabit Ethernet. It is based on standard network protocols such as
TCP/IP, FC, and CIFS. NAS systems typically consist of RAID systems and
software for configuring and mapping file locations to a network-
attached device. Storage is shared across multiple servers.
3. SAN
A storage area network, or SAN, is a highly scalable, dedicated, high-
speed storage network of devices for transferring large blocks of data
securely among servers, networking components, and storage devices. It
is separate from the corporate local area network.
In a SAN infrastructure, storage devices such as NAS, DAS, RAID arrays,
or others are connected to servers using highly reliable interconnect
technology called Fibre Channel.

Serial ATA and Serial Attached SCSI interfaces are also making headway
with SANs.
DAS, NAS, and SAN all offer benefits, but each is best suited for a
particular environment.
END