Chapter 3

STORAGE MEMORY
Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time. Computer data storage provides one of the core functions of the modern computer, that of information retention. It is one of the fundamental components of all modern computers, and coupled with a central processing unit (CPU, a processor), implements the basic computer model used since the 1940s.

Purpose of Storage
A digital computer represents data using the binary numeral system. Text, numbers, pictures, audio, and nearly any other form of information can be converted into a string of bits, or binary digits, each of which has a value of 1 or 0.

A piece of information can be handled by any computer whose storage space is large enough to accommodate the binary representation of the piece of information, or simply data. Without a significant amount of memory, a computer would merely be able to perform fixed operations and immediately output the result. store operating instructions and data.

 Generally, the lower a storage is in the hierarchy, the lesser its bandwidth and the greater its access latency is from the CPU. This traditional division of storage to primary, secondary, tertiary and off-line storage is also guided by cost per bit. Type of storage memory :
Primary storage Secondary storage Off-line storage Tertiary storage

Primary Storage
Primary storage (or main memory or internal memory), often referred to simply as memory, is the only one directly accessible to the CPU. The CPU continuously reads instructions stored there and executes them as required. Any data actively operated on is also stored there in uniform manner. As shown in the diagram, traditionally there are two more sub-layers of the primary storage, besides main largecapacity RAM:
Processor registers are located inside the processor. Processor cache is an intermediate stage between ultra-fast registers and much slower main memory.

Secondary storage
Secondary storage (or external memory) differs from primary storage in that it is not directly accessible by the CPU. computer usually uses its input/output channels to access secondary storage and transfers the desired data using intermediate area in primary storage. Secondary storage does not lose the data when the device is powered downit is non-volatile. Example:
Rotating magnetic storage - hard disk drives optical storage CD,DVD flash memory - USB flash drives floppy disks, magnetic tape,

Tertiary storage
Tertiary storage or tertiary memory, provides a third level of storage. Typically it involves a robotic mechanism which will mount (insert) and dismount removable mass storage media into a storage device according to the system's demands. Useful for extraordinarily large data stores, accessed without human operators. Example :
tape libraries optical jukeboxes.

When a computer needs to read information from the tertiary storage, it will first consult a catalog database to determine which tape or disc contains the information. Next, the computer will instruct a robotic arm to fetch the medium and place it in a drive. When the computer has finished reading the information, the robotic arm will return the medium to its place in the library.

Off-line storage
Off-line storage, also known as disconnected storage, is a computer data storage on a medium or a device that is not under the control of a processing unit. The medium is recorded, usually in a secondary or tertiary storage device, and then physically removed or disconnected. It must be inserted or connected by a human operator before a computer can access it again. Unlike tertiary storage, it cannot be accessed without human interaction.

Differentiate Secondary Memory

magnetic disk Magnetic disk: Diskette and Hardisk

HARD DISK OPERATION

A hard disk is a sealed unit that a PC uses for nonvolatile data storage. The hard drive is used to store crucial programming and data. A hard disk drive contains rigid, disk-shaped platters, usually constructed of aluminum or glass.

Hard Disk

Hard Disk Overview

A hard disk uses round, flat disks called platters, coated on both sides with a special media material designed to store information in the form of magnetic patterns. The platters are mounted by cutting a hole in the center and stacking them onto a spindle. The platters rotate at high speed, driven by a special spindle motor connected to the spindle. Special electromagnetic read/write devices called heads are mounted onto sliders and used to either record information onto the disk or read information from it. The sliders are mounted onto arms, all of which are mechanically connected into a single assembly and positioned over the surface of the disk by a device called an actuator. A logic board controls the activity of the other components and communicates with the rest of the PC.

Hard Disk
Each surface of each platter on the disk can hold tens of billions of individual bits of data. Each platter has two heads, one on the top of the platter and one on the bottom, so a hard disk with three platters (normally) has six surfaces and six total heads. Each platter has its information recorded in concentric circles called tracks. Each track is further broken down into smaller pieces called sectors, each of which holds 512 bytes of information.

Hard Disk Platters and Media

Every hard disk contains one or more flat disks that are used to actually hold the data in the drive. These disks are called platters (sometimes also "disks" or "discs"). They are composed of two main substances:
a substrate material that forms the bulk of the platter and gives it structure and rigidity, a magnetic media coating which actually holds the magnetic impulses that represent the data.

Hard disks get their name from the rigidity of the platters used, as compared to floppy disks and other media which use flexible "platters" (actually, they aren't usually even called platters when the material is flexible.)

Hard Disk Platters and Media

Hard Disk Cylinder

Hard Disk Platters and Media

The size of the platters in the hard disk is the primary determinant of its overall physical dimensions, also generally called the drive's form factor.

Hard Disk Tracks and Sectors

Each platter is broken into tracks--tens of thousands of them--which are tightly-packed concentric circles. Track is one of the many concentric circles that holds data on a disk surface. A track holds too much information to be suitable as the smallest unit of storage on a disk, so each one is further broken down into sectors. A sector is normally the smallest individually-addressable unit of information stored on a hard disk, and normally holds 512 bytes of information. The first PC hard disks typically held 17 sectors per track. Today's hard disks can have thousands of sectors in a single track, and make use of zoned recording to allow more sectors on the larger outer tracks of the disk.

Hard Disk Tracks and Sectors

A platter from a 5.25" hard disk, with 20 concentric tracks drawn over the surface. This is far lower than the density of even the oldest hard disks; even if visible, the tracks on a modern hard disk would require high magnification to resolve. Each track is divided into 16 imaginary sectors. Older hard disks had the same number of sectors per track, but new ones use zoned recording with a different number of sectors per track in different zones of tracks.

Hard Disk Read & Write Head

The read/write heads of the hard disk are the interface between the magnetic physical media on which the data is stored and the electronic components that make up the rest of the hard disk (and the PC). The heads do the work of converting bits to magnetic pulses and storing them on the platters, and then reversing the process when the data needs to be read back.

Hard Disk Read/Write Operation

Older, conventional (ferrite, metal-in-gap and thin film) hard disk heads work by making use of the two main principles of electromagnetic force.
Write : applying an electrical current through a coil produces a magnetic field;. The direction of the magnetic field produced depends on the direction that the current is flowing through the coil. Read : that applying a magnetic field to a coil will cause an electrical current to flow; this is used when reading back the previously written information.

Newer (MR and GMR) heads don't use the induced current in the coil to read back the information; they function instead by using the principle of magnetoresistance, where certain materials change their resistance when subjected to different magnetic fields.

Hard Disk
An MR head employs a special conductive material that changes its resistance in the presence of a magnetic field. As the head passes over the surface of the disk, this material changes resistance as the magnetic fields change corresponding to the stored patterns on the disk. A sensor is used to detect these changes in resistance, which allows the bits on the platter to be read. MR technology is used for reading the disk only. For writing, a separate standard thin-film head is used. This splitting of chores into one head for reading and another for writing has additional advantages.

Ferrite vs MR Head
The use of MR heads allows much higher areal densities to be used on the platters than is possible with older designs, greatly increasing the storage capacity and (to a lesser extent) the speed of the drive. allows the use of weaker written signals, which lets the bits be spaced closer together without interfering with each other, improving capacity by a large amount.

Hard Disk
Extreme closeup view of a ferrite read/write head. The head is at the end of the slider, wrapped with the coil that magnetizes it for writing, or is magnetized during a read.

Closeup view of an MR head assembly. Note that the separate copper lead wire of older head designs is gone, replaced by thin circuit-board-like traces. The slider is smaller and has a distinctive shape. The actual head is too small to be seen without a microsco

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
Overview
The interface used to connect hard disk and optical drives to a modern PC is typically called IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or the true name is of this interface is ATA (AT Attachment). IDE variation : There have been four main types of IDE interfaces based on three bus standards:
Serial AT Attachment (SATA) Parallel AT Attachment (ATA, based on the 16-bit AT-bus, also called ISA) XT IDE (based on 8-bit ISA, obsolete) MCA IDE (based on 16-bit Micro Channel, obsolete)

Only the parallel and Serial ATA version are used today. ATA and Serial ATA have evolved with newer, faster and more powerful versions.

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
The newer versions of parallel ATA are referred to as ATA-2 and higher. They are also called EIDE (Enhanced IDE), Fast-ATA, Ultra-ATA or UltraDMA.
ATA-1 ATA-2 (also called Fast-ATA, Fast-ATA-2, or EIDE) ATA-3 ATA-4 (Ultra-ATA/33) ATA-5 (Ultra-ATA/66) ATA-6 (Ultra-ATA/100) ATA-7 (Ultra-ATA/133 or Serial ATA) SATA-8 (Serial ATA II)

Even though parallel ATA has hit the end of the of the evolutionary road with ATA-7, Serial ATA picks up where parallel ATA leaves off and offers greater performance, higher reliability, easier installation, low cost and established roadmap for future upgrades.

Continue

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA-1 (AT Attachment Interface for Disk Drives) Original ATA Integrated bus interface between disk drives and host systems based on the ISA (ATA) bus. Major features:
40/44-pin connectors and cabling Master/Slave or cable select drive configuration options. Signal timing for basic Programmed I/O (PIO) and Direct Memory Access (DMA) modes. Cylinder, head, sector (CHS) and logical block address (LBA) drive parameter translations supporting drive capacities up to 228-220 (267,386,880) sectors or 136.9GB.

ATA-1 had been in use since 1986 that has BIOS limitation that stopped at 528MB.
Continue

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA-2 (AT Attachment Interface with Extensions-2) Upgraded from original ATA. First used in 1993. Major features added to ATA-2 compared to the original ATA standard include:
Faster PIO and DMA transfer modes Support for power management Support for removable devices. PCMCIA (PC Card) device support. Identify Drive command that reports more information. Define standard CHS/LBA translation methods for drives up to 8.4GB in capacity.

ATA-2 also known as fast-ATA or fast-ATA-2 (Seagate/Quantum) and EIDE (Western Digital)

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA-3 (AT Attachment Interface-3).
First appearing in 1995. Has minor revision to the ATA-2 standard Most major changes included the following:
Eliminated single-word (8-bit) DMA transfer protocols) Added SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) support for prediction of device performance degradation. LBA mode support was made mandatory (previously it had been optional) Added ATA Security mode, allowing password protection for device access. Recommendation for source and receiver bus termination to solve noise issues at higher transfer speeds.

SMART enable a drive to keep track of problems that might result in a failure and therefore avoid data loss.

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA/ATAPI-4 (At Attachment with Packet Interface Extension-4)
First appearance in 1996. ATA-4 included several important additions to the standard included :
Packet Command feature known as the AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) which allowed devices such as CD-ROM and CD-RW drives, LS-120 SuperDisk floppy drives, ZIP drives, tape drive and other types of storage devices to be attached through a common interface.

The major revisions added in ATA-4 were as follows:

Ultra-DMA (UDMA) transfer modes up to Mode 2, which is 33MBps (called UDMA/33 or Ultra-ATA/33) Integral ATAPI support. Advanced power management support. Defined an optional 80-conductor, 40-pin cable for improved noise resistance. Host protected area (HPA) support. Compact Flash Adapter (CFA) support Introduced enhanced BIOS support for drive over 9.4ZB (zettabytes or trillion gigabytes) in size (even though ATA was still limited to 136.9GB)

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA/ATAPI-5 (At Attachment with Packet Interface-5)
First appear in 1998. Built on previous ATA-4 interface. ATA-5 includes Ultra-ATA/66 (also called Ultra-DMA or UDMA/66) which double the UltraATA burst transfer rate by reducing setup times and increasing the clock rate. The faster clock rate increases interference, which causes problem with the standard 40pin cable used by ATA and Ultra-ATA. To eliminate noise and interference, the newer 40pin 80-conductor cable has now been made mandatory for drives running in UDMA/66 or faster modes. This cable hash 40 additional ground lines between each of the line. Major additions in the ATA-5 standard include the following:
Ultra-DMA (UDMA) transfer modes up to Mode 4, which is 66MBps (called UDMA/66 or UltraDMA/66) 80 conductor cable Added automatic detection of 40- or 80-conductor cables. UDMA modes faster than UDMA/33 are enabled only if an 80-conductor cable is deteched.

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA/ATAPI-6 (At Attachment with Packet Interface-6)
Developed during 2000. Includes Ultra-ATA/100 (also called Ultra-DMA or UDMA/100). Increase the Ultra-ATA burst transfer rate by reducing setup times and increasing the clock rate. Use 80-conductor cable. Major changes or additions in the standard include the following:
Ultra-DMA (UDMA) Mode 5 added, which allows 100MBps (called UDMA/100, Ultra-ATA/100, or just ATA/100) transfers. Sector count per command increased from 8-bits (256 sectors 131KB) to 16-bits (65,536 sectors or 33.5MB) allowing larger files to be transferred more efficiently. LBA addressing extended form 228 to 248 (281,474,976,710,656) sectors supporting drives up to 144.12PB(petabytes). This feature is often referred to as 48-bit LBA or greater than 137GB support vendor. CHS addressing made obsolete; drive must be use 28-bit or 48-bit LBA addressing only.

IDE/EIDE CONCEPT
ATA/ATAPI-7 (At Attachment with Packet Interface-7)
ATA-7 began late in 2001. Major changes or additions in the standard include the following:
Upgrade to UDMA Mode 6 that allows for data transfer up to 133MBps. Also required the use of an 80-conductor cable. Inclusion of the Serial ATA 1.0 that makes SATA an official part of ATA standard. ATA-7 is last revision of the venerable parallel ATA standard. ATA is evolving into Serial ATA which was incorporated into the ATA-7 specification.

IDE/EIDE Concept
SATA/ATAPI-8
SATA/ATA-8 began in 2004 which is a new ATA standard based on ATA-7 that carry forward the development of Serial ATA while removing parallel ATA from the standard entireky. Main features of SATA-8 include :
The removal of parallel ATA from the standard

The replacement of read long/write long functions. Improve HPA management.

ATA Timeline

PRESENT ATA-1 ATA-2 Drive support up to 136.9GB;BIOS issues not addressed Faster PIO modes; CHS/LBA BIOS translation defined up to 8.4GB;PC-Card SMART; improved signal integrity; LBA support mandatory; eliminated single-word DMA modes ATA-3 ATA-4 ATA-5 ATA-6 Ultra-DMA modes; ATAPI Packet Interface; BIOS support up to 136.9GB Faster UDMA modes; 80-pin cable autodetectiopn ATA-7 SATA 133MBps UDMA mode; Serial ATA Serial ATA II 100MBps UDMA mode; extended drive and BIOS support up to 144PB.

HARD DISK DRIVE TROUBLESHOOTING AND REPAIRING

If a hard drive has a mechanical problem inside the sealed head disk assembly (HAD), repairing the drive is usually unfeasible. If the failure is in the logic board, that board can be replaced with one from a donor drive. Most hard disk drive problems are not mechanical hardware problems; instead, they are soft problems that can be solved by a new LLF and defect-mapping session. Soft problems are characterized by a drive that sounds normal but produces various read and write errors.

Hard Disk Drive Troubleshooting And Repairing

Hard problems are mechanical, such as when the drive sounds as though it contains loose marbles. Constant scraping and grinding noises from the drive, with no reading or writing capability also qualify as hard errors. In these cases, an LLF is unlikely to put the drive back into service. If hardware problem is indicated, first replace the logic-board assembly. You can make this repair yourself and if successful, you can recover the data from the drive. If replacing the logic assembly does not solve the problem, contact the manufacturer or a specialized repair shop.

Hard Disk Drive Troubleshooting And Repairing

Testing a drive
When accessing a drive, determine whether the drive has been partitioned and formatted properly. Procedure :
Attach the drive to your system. Detecting the drive in the BIOS and saving the changes, start your operating system from the boot disk. 3. Then from the A: prompt, enter the following command: 4. This produces one of the following responses. 1. 2.

Hard Disk Drive Troubleshooting And Repairing

Invalid drive specification.
Problem: This indicate the drive does not have a valid partition (create by FDISK) or that the existing Master Boot Record or partition tables have been damaged. No matter what, the drive must be partitioned and formatted before use. You also get this warning on FAT32 or NTFS partitioned drive if you use a Windows 95 (original version) or MS-DOS boot disk when checking. Solution: Use a Windows 95B, Windows 98/Me, or Windows 2000 boot disk to avoid this false massage from FAT32 partitions. Or, use a windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP boot disk to detect NTFS partitions.

Hard Disk DriveTroubleshooting And Repairing

Invalid Media Type.
Problem: This drive has been partitioned but not FORMATed, or the format has been corrupted. Solution: You should use FDISKs #4 option to examine the drives existing partitions and either delete them and create new ones or keep the existing partitions and run FORMAT on each drive letter.

Hard Disk Drive Troubleshooting And Repairing

Directory of C:
Problem: The contents of the C: drive are listed, indicating the drive was stored with a valid FDISK and FORMAT structure and data.

Compact Disk
A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982. In 2010, they remain the standard physical storage medium for audio.
Standard CDs have a diameter of 120 mm and can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio (700 MB of data).

 The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 mm; they are sometimes used for CD singles or device drivers, storing up to 24 minutes of audio. The technology was eventually adapted and expanded to encompass data storage CD-ROM, write-once audio and data storage CD-R, rewritable media CD-RW, Video Compact Discs (VCD), Super Video Compact Discs (SVCD), PhotoCD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced CD.

Cross-section of a CD

A CD is a fairly simple piece of plastic, about four one-hundredths (4/100) of an inch (1.2 mm) thick. Most of a CD consists of an injection-molded piece of clear polycarbonate plastic. During manufacturing, this plastic is impressed with microscopic bumps arranged as a single, continuous, extremely long spiral track of data. We'll return to the bumps in a moment. Once the clear piece of polycarbonate is formed, a thin, reflective aluminum layer is sputtered onto the disc, covering the bumps. Then a thin acrylic layer is sprayed over the aluminum to protect it. The label is then printed onto the acrylic. A cross section of a complete CD (not to scale) looks like this:

How do CD-RWs rewriteable CDs work?

Normal CD Normal CD uses microscopic bumps to store data. The surface of the CD contains one long spiral track of data. Along the track, there are flat reflective areas and non-reflective bumps. The surface of the CD is a mirror, and the bumps disrupt the mirror's perfect surface. A flat reflective area represents a binary 1, while a non-reflective bump represents a binary 0. The CD drive shines a laser at the surface of the CD and can detect the reflective areas and the bumps by the amount of laser light they reflect. The drive converts the reflections into 1s and 0s to read digital data from the disc. The bumps on a CD are molded into the plastic when it is manufactured, so they are permanent.

How do CD-RWs rewriteable CDs work?

CD-R There are no bumps on a CD-R. A clear dye layer covers the CD's mirror. A write laser heats up the dye layer enough to make it opaque. The read laser in a CD player senses the difference between clear dye and opaque dye the same way it senses bumps -- it picks up on the difference in reflectivity.

How do CD-RWs rewriteable CDs work?

CD-RW Dye layer can be changed back and forth between opaque and transparent. The material has the property that it can change its transparency depending on temperature. Heated to one temperature, the material cools to a transparent state; heated to another temperature, it cools to a cloudy state. By changing the power (and therefore the temperature) of the writing laser, the data on the CD can be changed, or "rewritten."

CD-ROM Standard
There are several formats used for data stored on compact discs, known collectively as the Rainbow Books. The Rainbow Books are a collection of standards defining the allowed formats of Compact Discs. Red Book
CD-DA Digital Audio extended by CD-Text,

Yellow Book
CD-ROM Read-Only Memory and CD-ROM XA, - An extension to Yellow Book

Orange Book
CD-MO Magneto-Optical CD-R alias CD-WO or CD-WORM Recordable, Write Once or Write Once, Read Many CD-RW alias CD-E ReWritable or Erasable, The orange book standard references the fact that "Yellow" and "Red" mix to orange; which means that CD-R and CD-RW is capable of music and data; although other colors (other CD standards) that do not mix are capable of being burned onto the physical medium. Orange book also introduced the standard for multisession writing

White Book
VCD Video and Hybrid discs, e.g. CD-Ready, SVCD Super Video,

Blue Book
E-CD Enhanced, CD+ - plus and CD+G plus Graphics (karaoke) extended by CD+EG / CD+XG,

Beige Book
PCD Photo

Green Book
CD-i interactive,

Purple Book
DDCD Double Density,

Scarlet Book
SACD Super Audio.

Black Book

No rainbow book was applied to the popular DVD and Blu-ray formats.

What is ISO 9660?

The ISO 9660 standard was introduced in 1988 and is the most widely used file format for data (CD-ROM) discs. ISO 9660 defines a common logical format for files and directories so discs written to ISO 9660 specifications can be read by a wide array of computer operating systems (MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, etc.) as well as consumer electronics devices. Due to the vast differences which exist among native file systems ISO 9660 takes a lowest common denominator approach resulting in a variety of restrictions upon the nature and attributes of files and directories. Three levels of interchange define these restrictions with level one being the most constraining and level three is the least (at the cost of compatibility with some operating systems). Various protocols are available to extend ISO 9660 to accommodate file system features specific to individual operating systems (longer file names, deeper directory structures, more character types, etc.) while preserving ISO 9660 compatibility with other platforms. These protocols include Joliet (Windows 95 and higher), Apple Extensions (Mac OS) and Rock Ridge (UNIX).

CD Error Correction System

CD technology has built-in error correction systems which are able to suppress most of the error that arise from physical particles on the surface of a disc. Every CD-ROM drive and CD player in the world uses Cross Interleaved Reed Solomon Code (CIRC) detection and the CD-ROM standard provides a second level of correction via the Layered Error Correction Code algorithm. With CIRC, an encoder adds two dimensional parity information, to correct errors, and also interleaves the data on the disc to protect from burst errors. It is capable of correcting error bursts up to 3,500 bits (2.4 mm in length) and compensates for error bursts up to 12,000 bits (8.5 mm) such as caused by minor scratches.

CD-ROM Troubleshooting
My CD-ROM/DVD drive doesnt work
CD and DVD drives are some of the more failure-prone components in a PC. It is not uncommon for one to suddenly fail after a year or so of use.

Solution
If you having problems with a drive that was newly installed, check the installation and configuration of the drive. Check the jumper settings on the drive. If youre using an 80-conductor cable, the drive should be jumped to Cable Select; if you are using a 40-conductor cable, the drive should be set to either master or slave (depending on whether it is the only drive on the cable). Check the cable to ensure that it is not nicked or cut and is the maximum of 18 long (the maximum allowed by the ATA specification). Replace the cable with a new one or a known-good spare, preferably using an 80-conductor cable. Make sure the drive power is connected, and verify that power is available at the connector using a digital multimeter. Make sure the BIOS Setup is set properly for the drive and verify that the drive is detected during the boot process. Try replacing the drive and, if necessary the motherboard. If the drive had already been installed and was working before, first read the different discs, preferably commercial-stamped discs rather than writable or rewriteable ones. Then try the step listed previously.