A Glimpse Into Storage Mediums

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When the word “storage” is discussed as related to computers, one does not usually mean a closet or desk compartment. Storage in this sense refers to a medium to which electronic data is stored whether permanently or temporarily. In fact, the Computer Dictionary Online (2008) states that storage is, “a device into which data can be entered, in which they can be held, and from which they can be retrieved at a later time.” Several types of storage mediums exist for electronic data including hard disks, floppy disks, RAM, CD-ROM, and tape each of which have its own specific strength. The speed at which data can be retrieved from these storage mediums can also aid in determining the overall speed of a computer. Let us begin with a look at the optimal uses of each storage type mentioned above.

Hard disks are almost solely used for permanent data storage such as when a user saves a file to the “My Documents” folder; the file is saved to the computer’s hard disk. Most computers have them in one form or another. The IDE and SATA versions come in 2-½ inch for laptops and 5-¼ inch for desktops. Servers normally have SCSI drives, which are more expensive, have a longer life and are faster than IDE and SATA drives. However, the newer SATA drives are coming close to catching up with SCSI in terms of spindle speed and are starting to be used by major vendors like HP in servers. The spindle speed of IDE and SATA drives range from 4200 RPM to 7200 RPM with 7200 being the standard for most off the shelf desktop drives and 5400 for laptops. SCSI drives range from 10,000 RPM to 15,000 RPM and this high speed makes them perfect for servers that need to serve many clients at once (Gilbert, 2007). These speeds are fixed though and no matter what the clock speed of a desktop or server’s CPU, the data can only be retrieved as fast as the magnetic head can locate it on the platter. A similar principal is used by a floppy disk.

Floppy disks store their data on a “small, circular piece of metal-coated plastic similar to audio cassette tape” (Brown, 2008, para. 2). Floppies were very popular before the CD-ROM came on the scene. They were used to store software installation programs and “sneaker-netting.” Today they are still used for things like flashing the BIOS in a PC and disaster recovery situations.

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