3.

3 DATA STORAGE
UNIT 3 HARDWARE
TYPES OF MEMORY AND STORAGE
 Memory and storage is divided into following three groups.

Primary Memory

Secondary Storage

Off-line Storage
 • It is known as main storage or memory, is the
Primary area in a computer in which data is stored for
quick access by the computer's processor.

• A non-volatile storage device that is internal or

Secondary external to the computer. It can be any storage

device beyond the primary storage that
enables permanent data storage.

Offline
• Offline storage refers to any storage medium that
must be physically inserted into a system every
time a users wants to access or edit data.
Types of Storage
RAM
Primary
ROM
Memory and storage
Hard-disk(HDD)
Secondary storage
Solid-state Drive

DVD/CD, DVD
RAM

Blu-ray disk
Off-line Storage
USB memory
stick/Flash memory

Removable hard
disk
Primary Storage
(RAM & ROM)
 3.3.1 PRIMARY MEMORY
 Primary memory is the part of the computer memory which can be accessed directly from the CPU;
this includes random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM) memory chips.
 Primary memory allows the CPU to access applications and services temporarily stored in memory
locations.
 The structure of primary memory is shown in Figure
 Random Access Memory (RAM)
 It is volatile/temporary memory(the contents are lost when the power to RAM
is turned off)
 It is electronic and made on a chip or integrated circuit.
 The processor can access data in any order needed by program.
 It can be written to read from the contents of the memory can be changed
 Used to store data, files, part of an application or part of the operating
system currently in use

Another name for a chip, an integrated circuit (ic) is a small

electronic device made out a semiconductor material.
RAM

Application Advantages Disadvantage

Buffers use RAM as

they need to be a RAM is much faster
fast memory and to read and write
data only need to be than other types of
memory
held temporarily
Volatility
It is used to store RAM never runs out
Data, files, Parts of of memory; it
operating system continues to operate
currently in use but get slower.
 TYPES OF RAM

Dynamic RAM(DRAM) Static RAM(SRAM)

• DRAM is the most common type of RAM • It uses flip flops to hold each bit of
used in computers memory
• It consists of transistors and capacitor • It doesn’t need to be constantly refreshed
• Capacitor holds information • It is much faster than DRAM. Access time
• Transistor acts as a switch =25 nanoseconds
• It needs to refreshed otherwise capacitor • SRAM is the preferred technology when
charge leak away very quickly speed is essential, for example, in the
• Slower : Access time= 60 nanoseconds CPU’s memory cache
ADVANTAGES OF DRAM OVER SRAM

 They are much less expensive to manufacture than SRAM

 They consume less power than SRAM
 They have a higher memory capacity than SRAM.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DRAM AND SRAM
READ ONLY MEMORY(ROM)
 They are non-volatile/permanent memories(the contents of the memory
remain even when the power to the ROM is turned off)
 They are often used to store the start-up instructions when computer is first
switched on(for example BIOS)
 The data stored in ROM can be accessed rapidly and randomly.
 The contents of a ROM can only be read; they can not be changes.
 Embedded devices use ROM to hold the software that runs the device. This
software is known as firmware.
 General purpose devices use ROM to hold software known as a bootstrap.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAM AND ROM

RAM ROM
 RAM is like a whiteboard. It can be  ROM is like a book. Once written, it can
written to, read from, erased, or left as usually only be read from. Its contents
it is. Its contents are temporary are mostly permanent.
 ROM is non-volatile. It retains its
 RAM is volatile. It loses its contents contents when the power is switched off.
when power is switched off.
 ROM holds firmware and bootstraps.
 In embedded devices, RAM holds data
 ROM tends to be smaller in capacity
for processing. In general computers,
RAM hold the operating system,
running programs and data for
processing
REMOTE CONTROL CAR
Application of RAM Application of ROM

• The user may wish to • ROM stores the factory

program in their own settings such as remote
routines; these new control frequencies
instructions will be stored in • It stores the 'start-up' routines
the RAM chip. when the to)' car is first
• It also stores data and switched on
instructions received from • Stores the set routines; for
remote control. example, how the buttons on
the hand-held device control
turning left, acceleration,
stopping, and so on.
ACTIVITY 3.6 PG. 122
 Secondary Storage
(Magnetic/Solid state/Optical)
3.3.2 SECONDARY AND OFF-LINE STORAGE

 Secondary (and off-line) storage includes storage devices that

are not directly addressable by the CPU.
 They are non-volatile devices that allow data to be stored as
long as required by the user.
 This type of storage can store more data than primary
memory, but data access time is considerably longer than with
RAM or ROM.
 All applications, the operating system, device drivers and
general files (for example, documents, photos and music) are
stored on secondary storage.
PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY STORAGE

Primary storage Secondary storage

 Directly accessible by the processor  Not directly accessible to the processor data
as it is internal to the computer first has to be transferred into RAM
 Permanently stores data till erased.
 Temporarily stores data
 Slower to read data from and write data to as
 Can be read from and written to it needs to be transferred into RAM first
primary, storage almost instantly  Can be up to a terabyte or more in capacity
 Normally a few gigabytes in capacity  Some devices are removable
 Fixed within the computer
HOW DATA IS STORED ?

Magnetic Storage Solid-state Storage

Optical Storage Devices
Devices Devices

Store data in the form solid-state

of tiny magnetised dots. Save data as
patterns of dots storage has no
moving parts..
Read /write/erase data
by using electromagnets
The data is read by
bouncing the laser High speed flash
Magnetic fields controls beam off the memory is used
tiny magnetic dots of
data. The dots represent surface of the to store data.
binary. medium.
MAGNETIC STORAGE : HARD DISK DRIVES

 HDD is most common form of secondary storage device.

 They can hold up to 8 terabytes of data, far less than a magnetic tape that can
hold up to 185 terabytes.
 Hard-drives are random access devices and can be used to store all types of
films, including huge files such as movies.
 HARD DISK DRIVE

 Data is stored in a digital format on the platters of aluminium, glass or a ceramic

material
 Platters can spin at about 7000 times a second.
 Read-write heads consist of electromagnets that are used to read data from or write
data to the platters.
 A number of read-write heads can access all of the surfaces of the platters in the disk
drive.
 These read-write heads can move very quickly – typically they can move from the
centre of the disk to the edge of the disk (and back again) 50 times a second.
HARD DISK DRIVE

 Data is stored on the surface in sectors and tracks. A sector on a

given track will contain a fixed number of bytes.
 Hard disk drives have very slow data access when compared to, for
example, RAM.
 Many applications require the read-write heads to constantly look
for the correct blocks of data; this means a large number of head
movements. The effects of latency then become very significant.

 Latency is defined as the time it takes for a specific block of

data on a data track to rotate around to the read-write head.
 Users will sometimes notice the effect of latency when they see
messages such as ‘Please wait’ or, at its worst, ‘not responding’.
 REMOVABLE HARD DISK DRIVES

 Removable hard disk drives are essentially HDDs external to the computer that
can be connected to the computer using one of the USB ports.
 They can be Used as a back-up device or another way of transferring files between
computers.
 Many portable music players (such as the iPod classic) contain tiny hard-drives.
These miniature devices can store over 100MB of data!
SOLID STATE STORAGE DEVICES
 This is a nonvolatile rewritable memory.
 Solid state drives (SSD) have no moving parts therefore there is no
Latency issue.
 All data is retrieved at the same rate. They don’t rely on magnetic
properties
 The most common type of solid state storage devices store data by
controlling the movement of electrons within NAND or NOR chips.
 The data is stored as 0s and 1s in millions of tiny transistors
 NAND memory cells are made up of Floating and control gates
At each junction one transistor is called a FLOATING GATE
Other is called a control gate within the chip
 FLOATING GATE AND CONTROL GATE TRANSISTORS
 Flash memories make use of a matrix; at each intersection on the matrix there is a floating gate and a
control gate arranged as follows:

 A dielectric coating separates the two transistors, which allows the floating gate transistor to retain its
charge (which is why the memory is non-volatile).
 The Floating gate transistor has a value of 1 when it is charged and a value of 0 when it isn’t.
 To program one of these ‘intersection cells’ a voltage is applied to the control gate and electrons from the
electron source are attracted to it.
 But due to the dielectric coating, the electrons become trapped in the floating gate. Hence, we have control
over the bit value stored at each intersection.
 Solid state device should be used at least once a year to be certain it will retain its memory, as charge
leaks away after 12 months
BENEFITS OF USING SSD OVER HDD

 SSDs are more reliable as they don’t have any moving parts.
 They are lighter (suitable for laptops)
 They don’t have to get up to speed’ before they work properly
 They have lower power consumption(suitable for laptops)
 They run much cooler than HDD (suitable for laptops)
 They are very thin as they don’t have movable parts.
 Data access is faster than HDD.
 DRAWBACKS OF SSD

 Longevity of the technology. Most solid state storage devices have 20 GB of

write operations per day over a three year period – this is known as SSD
endurance. Therefore SSD technology is still not used in all servers, for
example, where a huge number of write operations take place every day.
 Due to the unique file system structure of an SSD, data extraction can be an
extremely difficult and lengthy process.
 The memory chips in an SSD have a limited number of write cycles, which can
lead to unrecoverable data loss.
 If the NAND type memory chips has been physically damaged, your data may
be completely inaccessible.
SOLID-STATE STORAGE DEVICES

USB Memory Sticks Memory Cards Smart Cards

Smart cards have

It is made up of chips that contains
Portable devices NAND chip with no both microprocessor
with flash memory . moving parts. It and memory. With
Plug it into your allows transferring of these cards the
computer and it photos from camera to information is stored.
appears as a drive. computer via USB The data can be
port. updated.
MEMORY STICKS/FLASH MEMORIES

 Memory sticks/flash memories (also known as pen drives) use solid

state technology.
 They usually connect to the computer through the USB port.
 Their main advantage is that they are very small, lightweight devices,
which make them very suitable as a method for transferring files
between computers.
 They can also be used as small back-up devices for music or photo files,
for example.
 Optical Storage Devices

https://www.ictlounge.com/html/optical_storage_media.htm
OPTICAL STORAGE DEVICES
OPTICAL STORAGE : ADVANTAGES

 Portable than hard disk drive as the disk can easily be carried
from one location to another.
 Good data transfer rate with speeds ranging between 10 and 72
megabytes per second.
 Newer formats, such as Blu-ray, are far quicker.
OPTICAL STORAGE : DISADVANTAGES

 Slower data transfer rates than hard disks

 Lower storage capacity than hard disks.
 In order to read and write data disk drive is needed
OPTICAL STORAGE : APPLICATIONS

 Used to Back-up systems

 CDs and DVDs are use to transfer files between
computer.
 Software are also supplied by manufactures on DVDs and
CDs in read only format.
 Used to supply of movies and games( DVD and Blu-ray )
CD/DVD DISKS

 CDs and DVDs are optical storages devices

 Laser light is used read/write data
 They both use a thin layer of metal alloy or light-sensitive organic dye to store
data.
 They use a single spiral track which runs from centre of the disk to the edge.
 The data is stored as ‘pits’(1) and ‘lands’ (0) on the spiral track. A red laser is
used to read and write data.
DVD-RAM

DVD-RAM uses a number of concentric tracks instead of a single

track.
Use of concentric tracks allows simultaneous read and write
operations to take place.
They allow numerous read and write operations (up to 100,000
times) and have great longevity(over 30 years) which makes them
ideal for archiving.
BLU-RAY DISKS

 Blu-Ray disks are a recent replacement for DVDs. A Blu-Ray disc can
hold 25 – 50 GB of data. Blu-Ray discs are random-access devices.
 Blu-Ray discs are used in the same way as DVD-ROMs but, since they
can hold more data, they are also used to store very high-quality, high-
definition (HD) video.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CD AND DVD

 DVDs use dual-layering which increases storage capacity.

 DVD devices use a higher frequency laser than CD devices. The
higher frequency allows the pits and land to be packed tighter onto
the tracks. This allows more data to be stored.
 DVDs use lasers with a wavelength of 650 nanometers where as
CDs use laser with wavelength of 780 nanometers.(shorter the
wavelength, the greater the storage capacity of medium.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BLU-RAY AND DVDS

 Blu-ray uses a blue laser, rather than a red laser, is used to carry out read and write
operations; the wavelength of blue light is only 405 nanometres (compared to 650
nm for red light). This gives more precision when writing to and reading from a disk.
 using blue laser light means that the ‘pits’ and ‘lands’ can be much smaller;
consequently, Blu-ray can store up to five times more data than normal DVD
 Single-layer Blu-ray discs use a 1.2 mm thick polycarbonate disk; however, duallayer
Blu-ray and normal DVDs both use a sandwich of two 0.6 mm thick disks (i.e. 1.2
mm thick)
 Blu-ray disks automatically come with a secure encryption system that helps to
prevent piracy and copyright infringement
 Data transfer rate for a DVD is 10 Mbps and for a Blu-ray disc it is 36 Mbps
OFF-LINE STORAGE

 Off-line storage is any non-volatile storage device or medium that is

disconnected (off-line), or removed, from a computer.
 Typical examples of off-line storage include optical media (CD, DVD and
Blu-ray disks), USB RAM sticks, external hard drives and magnetic tape.
COMPARISON OF THE CAPACITY OF DVDS AND BLU-RAY DISCS

 A standard dual-layer DVD has a storage capacity of 4.7 GB (enough to

store a 2-hour standard definition movie)
 A single-layer Blu-ray disc has a storage capacity of 27 GB (enough to
store a 2-hour high definition movie or 13 hours of standard definition
movies)
 A dual-layer Blu-ray disc has a storage capacity of 50 GB (enough to store
4.5 hours of high definition movies or 20 hours of standard definition
movies).
COMPARISON OF THE INTERACTIVITY OF DVDS AND BLU-RAY
DISCS

Blu-ray allows greater interactivity than DVDs. For example, with Blu-ray, it
is possible to:
 Record high definition television programs
 Skip quickly to any part of the disc
 Create playlists of recorded movies and television programmes
 Edit or re-order programmes recorded on the disc
 Automatically search for empty space on the disc to avoid over-recording
 Access websites and download subtitles and other interesting features.
COMPARISON OF CD, DVD AND BLU-RAY
 3.3.4 VIRTUAL MEMORY
 A memory management system that makes use of secondary storage and software to
enable a computer to compensate for the shortage of actual physical RAM memory
 Virtual memory is used to avoid system crash in case the amount of available RAM is
exceeded due to multiple programs running
 RAM is the physical memory, while virtual memory is RAM + swap space on the hard disk
or SSD.
 Virtual memory gives the illusion of unlimited memory being available. Even though
RAM is full, data can be moved in and out of the HDD/SSD to give the illusion that there
is still memory available.
 To execute a program, data is loaded into memory from HDD (or SSD) whenever
required.
MEMORY MANAGEMENT WITHOUT VIRTUAL MEMORY
 MEMORY MANAGEMENT WITH VIRTUAL MEMORY
With virtual memory all five programs can access RAM as required. This
will require moving data out of RAM into HDD/SSD and then allowing other
data to be moved out of HDD/SSD into RAM:
 NEXT STEP
 Data from program 0 (which was using RAM address space 3 – the oldest data) is
now mapped to the HDD/SSD instead, leaving address space 3 free for use by
program 4
 Program 4 now maps to address space 3 in RAM, which means program 4 now has
access to RAM.
 All of this will continue to occur until RAM is no longer being over-utilised by
the competing programs running in memory
BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL MEMORY

 Programs can be larger than physical memory and still be executed

 There is no need to waste memory with data that isn’t being used (e.g.
during error handling)
 It reduces the need to buy and install more expensive RAM memory
DRAWBACKS OF VIRTUAL MEMORY AND HOW TO OVERCOME

 Virtual memory causes Disk thrashing. As main memory fills, more and more data
needs to be swapped in and out of virtual memory leading to a very high rate of hard
disk read/write head movements; this is known as disk thrashing.
 Reduces processing speed results in halt in the execution of a process, since the system is
so busy moving data in and out of memory rather than doing any actual execution – this
is known as he thrash point.
 Large numbers of head movements, can lead to premature failure of a hard disk drive.
 Thrashing can be reduced by installing more RAM, reducing the number of programs
running at a time or reducing the size of the swap file.
 Another way of reducing this problem is to make use of a solid state drive (SSD) rather
than using HDD.
3.3.5 CLOUD STORAGE

A method of data storage where data is stored on offsite servers; the physical storage
may be on hundreds of servers in many locations
 The same data is stored on more than one server in case of maintenance or repair,
allowing clients to access data at any time. This is known as data redundancy.
 The physical environment is owned and managed by a hosting company and may
include hundreds of servers in many locations.
 Instead of saving data on a local hard disk or other storage device, a user can save
their data ‘in the cloud’.
3.3.5 CLOUD STORAGE : COMMON SYSTEMS

• This is a storage environment where the

Public cloud customer/client and cloud storage provider are
different companies

Private • this is storage provided by a dedicated environment

behind a company firewall; customer/client and cloud

cloud storage provider are integrate and operate as a single

entity

Hybrid • this is a combination of the two above environments;

some data resides in the private cloud and less

cloud sensitive/less commercial data can be accessed from a

public cloud storage provider.
BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF CLOUD STORAGE
DATA SECURITY WHEN USING CLOUD STORAGE

Companies that transfer vast amounts of confidential data from their own systems to a
cloud service provider are effectively relinquishing control of their own data security.
This raises a number of questions:
 What physical security exists regarding the building where the data is housed?
 How good is the cloud service provider’s resistance to natural disasters or power
cuts?
 What safeguards exist regarding personnel who work for the cloud service
company; can they use their authorisation codes to access confidential data for
monetary purposes?