Secondary Storage

Secondary storage refers to long-term storage. Data is not lost when you turn off your device so you can access it later.
There are 3 types of secondary storage media.

Magnetic , Solid State and Optical.

MAGNETIC STORAGE

Magnetic hard drives are what you will find inside our desktop computers.
As suggested by the name, magnetism is used to represent the 1s and 0s that make up data.

Magnetism has been used for storage since the 1950s first as magnetic tape and then as floppy discs.

SOLID STATE STORAGE

Unlike hard drives, SSDs do not have any moving parts (which is why they are called solid state drives).

Instead of storing data on magnetic platters, SSDs store data using chips called NAND Flash. These are made of special transistors arranged in grids. If the transistors are charged, allowing current to flow, this represents a 1. If the transistors are not charged, this represents a 0.

OPTICAL STORAGE

Optical storage includes CDs, DVDs and Blurays. Blurays discs have the highest capacity and CDs the lowest capacity.

Optical storage stores binary data using tiny patterns called pits and lands on the surface of a disc. A pit represents a binary 0, while a land (a flat area) represents a binary 1.

To read the data, a laser shines onto the disc surface. Lands reflect the laser light back to a sensor, which is recognised as a 1. Pits scatter the light so it does not reflect back properly, which is recognised as a 0. The computer then converts these patterns of 1s and 0s into data.

PLANNNIG A LONGER ANSWER QUESTION

Write a 6 mark essay describing the different types of storage media. Include HOW it works and some advantages and disadvantages.

You should have an intro explaining what secondary storage is followed by at least 3 full paragraphs. Follow the structure of starting with a definition, then giving facts and explaining them (+ves & -ves).

Essay question IN CONTEXT

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