MAGNETIC SURFACE STORAGE

DEVICES
MAGNETIC DISK STORAGE

The primary computer storage device. Like tape, it is magnetically

recorded and can be re-recorded over and over. Disks are rotating
platters with a mechanical arm that moves a read/write head
between the outer and inner edges of the platter's surface. It can
take as long as one second to find a location on a floppy disk to as
little as a couple of milliseconds on a fast hard disk. See hard disk for
more details.
Tracks and Spots
The disk surface is divided into concentric tracks (circles within
circles). The thinner the tracks, the more storage. The data bits are
recorded as tiny magnetic spots on the tracks. The smaller the spot,
the more bits per inch and the greater the storage.
Sectors
Tracks are further divided into sectors, which hold a block of data
that is read or written at one time; for example, READ SECTOR 782,
WRITE SECTOR 5448. In order to update the disk, one or more sectors
are read into the computer, changed and written back to disk. The
operating system figures out how to fit data into these fixed spaces.
Modern disks have more sectors in the outer tracks than the inner
ones because the outer radius of the platter is greater than the inner
radius.

Tracks and sectors

Tracks are concentric circles on the disk, broken up into storage units
called "sectors." The sector, which is typically 512 bytes, is the smallest
unit that can be read or written.

MAGNETIC TAPE
The amount of work that you do on your computer at home can
easily be backed up onto a CD-RW, CDROM, DVD or a memory
stick. However, many organizations, such as your school or an office,
need to back up large volumes of data each day. CD-RW, DVD-RW
or flash memory sticks are unlikely to be large enough for doing this.
Large organizations who need to back up their systems daily tend to
use magnetic tapes to store their data.

Magnetic tapes can store up to one terabyte of uncompressed

data - as much as can be stored on a hard disk.
Magnetic tape uses serial access to find a piece of data. This means
that to find a specific piece of data, the tape reader has to start at
the beginning of the tape and continue fast forwarding until it gets
to the piece of data that needed.
Serial access makes it fairly slow to find and retrieve data so it would
not be much use to store data that you needed to get hold of
quickly. However, magnetic tape is excellent for archiving data i.e.
data not likely to be needed instantly.
Large companies such as a television network have robot storage
libraries. This consists of shelf upon shelf of magnetic tapes under the
control of a robotic arm. If an archive tape is needed, the robot
fetches it from the store and places it in a tape reader. The robot
also handles the data recording as well.
Advantages of magnetic tape
Probably the cheapest form of
storage per megabyte of
storage

Disadvantages of magnetic
tape
Serial access so can be
quite slow to access data

Can store large amounts

Need a special piece of equipment
of data - up to 1
to record and read the data on the
Terabyte per tape
tape
cartridge
The data may be corrupted if the
Can be set up to do the
tape is placed near a strong
back up overnight or
magnetic field e.g. a large speaker
over the weekend
or magnet

Properties of magnetic tape

Notes

Property
Type of
Magnetic
storage
Data
Serial access (unlike the direct access of a hard
access
disk)
This is probably the most cost effective method of
Cost of
storing data which is why it is the technology
storage
choice for archiving data.
Capacity Can be a Terabyte or more
The slowest of all of the storage media from which
Speed
to access data, which is why it is fine for archiving
but not for immediate data retrieval.
The magnetic tape itself is fairly small and would
fit into a pocket or bag. However, in order to be
Portability read, an external tape drive is required. Thus, this
form of storage is not considered to be very
portable.
Although data can be saved to and erased from
the tape many times, each tape does have a
limited life span and eventually the quality of the
Durability
data storage will decline. However if a tape is
only used once for archiving, then it will last many
years, typically 15 years. But of course you also

Properties of magnetic tape

Property
Notes
need to keep the tape reading equipment that
can read back the data for that time as well.
Needs to be protected from extremes of heat.
As long as it is not damaged, a magnetic tape is
Reliability
very reliable method of data storage.

MAGNETIC FLOPPY STORAGE

It is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and
flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular
plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles.
Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive (FDD).
Floppy disks, initially as 8-inch (200 mm) media and later in 5inch (133 mm) and 3-inch (90 mm) sizes, were a ubiquitous
form of data storage and exchange from the mid-1970s well
into the 2000s.
History
8 inch floppy was invented in 1960s and was commercially
available from 1971.
5-inch was invented in 1976.
Structure and Design
The 5-inch disk has a large circular hole in the center for the
drive's spindle. The magnetic medium can be spun by rotating
it from the middle hole

Inside the disk are two layers of fabric, with the medium
sandwiched in the middle. The fabric is designed to reduce
friction between the medium and the outer casing.
Operation
A spindle motor in the drive rotates the magnetic medium at a
certain speed, while a stepper motor-operated mechanism
moves the magnetic read/write heads along the surface of the
disk. Both read and write operations require the media to be
rotating and the head to contact the disk media.
To write data, current is sent through a coil in the head as the
media rotates. The head's magnetic field aligns the magnetic
particles directly below the head on the media. When the
current is reversed the particles align in the opposite direction
encoding the data digitally.
To read data, the magnetic particles in the media induce a
tiny voltage in the head coil as they pass under it. This small
signal is amplified and sent to the floppy disk controller, which
converts the streams of pulses from the media into data,
checks it for errors, and sends it to the host computer system. A
blank disk has a coating of magnetic oxide with no magnetic
order to the particles. During formatting, the particles are
aligned forming a pattern of magnetized tracks, each broken
up into sectors, enabling the controller to properly read and
write data.
MAGNETIC DRUM STORAGE
Magnetic drum is an example of a direct access storage
device. Although the Magnetic Drum was once used as a main or
primary storage, it is now used as secondary or auxiliary storage.
Unlike some disk packs the Magnetic Drum can't be physically
removed. The Drum is permanently mounted in the device.

Magnetic Drum storage devices consist of either a hollow cylinder or

a solid cylinder that rotates at a constant velocity (From 600 to 6000
RPM). The outer surface is coated with an iron oxide material
capable of being magnetized.
The tracks on a Magnetic Drum are assigned to channels located
around the circumference of the Drum forming adjacent circular
bands that wind around the drum. A single Drum can have up to 200
tracks. As the Drum rotates at a speed of up to 3000 RPM. The device
read / write heads deposit magnetised spots on the Drum during the
write operation and sense these spots during a read operation. This
action is similar to that of a Magnetic Tape or a Disc Drive. Magnetic
Drums are able to retrieve data at a quicker rate than Magnetic
Tape or Disc device, but are not able to store as much data as either
of them.

MAGNETIC CORE MEMORY

Magnetic core memory is a non-volatile random access
read/write memory. Almost all early computers magnetic core
as their primary internal memory before the wild availability of
semiconductor memory. The basic magnetic core memory cell
is a small doughnut shaped core made of ferromagnetic
material. The cores are called ferrite cores and typically have
diameter of 0.05 inch. A small wire is threaded through the
centre of the core. When a current pulse is passed through this
core , a magnetic flux is set up on the core in a direction that
depends on the direction of the current. Because of the cores
magnetic retentivity, it stays magnetized even after the current
pulse is terminated. In other words, it is non-volatile. The two
direction of magnetization are used to represent 1 and 0,
respectively.

Stored data are read from a core by magnetizing it in the 0

direction and using second threaded wire as a sense wire. The
size of the voltage induced in the sense wire will be greater if
the core is initially in 1 state rather than in 0 state. The reading
of a core is said to be destructive, since it always leaves it in 0
state. Thus, the data must be rewritten after a read operation.
Magnetic core memory systems have access time from 100ns
to 500ns and can be still found in old minicomputers and
mainframes. But for all practical purposes, their large physical
size and complex interface have made them virtually difficult.