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A computer can be defined as an electronic device that accepts data from an input device,
processes it, stores it in a disk and finally displays it on an output device such as a monitor.
Computer is an electronic device that can perform a variety of operations in accordance with
a set of instructions called program. The term ‘computer is derived from the term
‘computare’, this means to calculate. It takes raw data as input from the user and processes
these data under the control of set of instructions (called program) and gives the result
(output) and saves output for the future use. It can process both numerical and non-numerical
(arithmetic and logical) calculations.
1. Speed: A computer is a very fast device capable of data processing at unbelievable speed.
It can perform in a few seconds the amount of work that a human being may not be able to do
in an entire year even if he works day and night and does nothing else. Computers can
process millions of instructions per second thus carrying out even the complex tasks in
fractions of seconds without any mistake. While talking about the speed of a computer, we do
not talk in terms of seconds or even milliseconds (103). Our units of speed are the
microseconds (106), the nanoseconds (109), and even the picoseconds (1012). A powerful
computer is capable of performing about 3 to 4 million simple arithmetic operations per
second.
2. Accuracy: In addition to speed, the computer has high accuracy in computing. The
accuracy of a computer is consistently high and the degree of accuracy of a particular
computer depends upon its design. But for a particular computer, each and every calculation
is performed with the same accuracy. Errors can occur in a computer, but these are mainly
due to human rather than technological weakness. The errors in computer are due to errors in
programming and operation by human and due to inaccurate data.
5. Storage Capability: Computers have their main memory and auxiliary memory systems.
A computer can store a large amount of data. With more and more auxiliary storage devices,
which are capable of storing huge amounts of data, the storage capacity of a computer is
virtually unlimited. The factor that makes computer storage unique is not that it can store vast
amount of data, but the fact that it can retrieve the information that the user wants in a few
seconds. Every piece of information can be retained as long as desired by the user and can be
recalled as and when required. Even after several years, the information recalled is as
accurate as on the day when it was fed to computer. A computer forgets or looses certain
information only when it is asked to do so. So it is entirely up to the user to make a computer
retain or forget particular information.
8. No IQ: A computer is not a magical device. It possesses no intelligence of its own. Its IQ
is zero, at least till today. The difference is that it performs these tasks with unthinkable speed
and accuracy. Hence, only the user can determine what tasks a computer will perform. A
computer cannot take its own decision in this regard. Unlike the human brain, a computer
cannot think on its own, but has to be given very explicit, step-by-step instructions to make it
perform a task.
9. No Feelings: Computers are devoid of emotions. They have no feelings and no instincts
because they are machine. Although men have succeeded in building a memory for the
computer, but no computer possesses the equivalent of human heart and soul. Based on our
feelings, taste, knowledge, and experience, we often make certain judgments in our day-to-
day life. But computers cannot make such judgments on their own. Their judgments are based
on the instructions given to them in the form of programs that are written by us. They are
only as good as man makes and uses them.
Thus a computer is not intelligent: it is a fast, rule-following idiot. Fast because it works at
electronic speeds; rule-following because it needs to be given very detailed and complete
instructions before it can do even the simplest task; and an idiot because it will unhesitatingly
follow instructions even when to us it would be obvious that they were nonsense.
CLASSIFICATION OF COMPUTERS:
a. Microcomputers(Personal Computer)
A microcomputer is the smallest general purpose processing system. Microcomputers is a
computer whose processing unit consists of one or more microprocessors, one or more input /
output units and sufficient memory to execute instructions. They are used in schools, homes,
office etc. The older pc started 8 bit processor with speed of 3.7MB and current pc 64 bit
processor with speed of 4.66 GB. Examples: IBM PCs, APPLE computers. Microcomputer
can be classified into 2 types:
1. Desktops
2. Portables
The difference is portables can be used while travelling whereas desktops computers cannot
be carried around. The different portable computers are:
Laptop: - this computer is similar to a desktop computers but the size is smaller. They
are expensive than desktop. The weight of laptop is around 3 to 5 kg.
Notebook: - These computers are as powerful as desktop but size of these computers
are comparatively smaller than laptop and desktop. They weigh 2 to 3 kg. They are
more costly than laptop.
Palmtop (Hand held): - They are also called as personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
These computers are small in size. They can be held in hands. It is capable of doing
word processing, spreadsheets and hand writing recognition, game playing, faxing
and paging. These computers are not as powerful as desktop computers. Ex: - 3com
palmV.
Wearable computer: - The size of this computer is very small so that it can be worn
on the body. It has smaller processing power. It is used in the field of medicine. For
example pace maker to correct the heart beats. Insulin meter to find the levels of
insulin in the blood.
c) Mainframe computers: - Computers with large storage capacities and very high speed of
processing (compared to mini- or microcomputers) are known as mainframe computers. They
support a large number of terminals for simultaneous use by a number of users like ATM
transactions. They are also used as central host computers in distributed data processing
system. They are specially designed to handle all type of scientific and business application
with large volume of data instruction and information. Examples: IBM 370, S/390. The main
features of supercomputers can be summarized as below:
are the fastest, largest and most expensive computers.
use processing power to solve a few computer intensive task.
can process I trillion instructions per second.
have parallel processor.
can perform simultaneously many computations whereas a conventional computer
uses a series of sequential steps.
are often used for complex scientific applications like weather forecasting, problems
concerning ballistic missiles, nuclear reactor designs, modeling large linear
programming, seismic data processing etc. The aerospace, automotive, chemical,
electronics, petroleum industries use supercomputers extensively
a. Single User: - Only one user can use the resource at any time.
b) Parallel computers: The parallel computer is relatively fast. New types of computers that
use a large number of processors. The processors perform different tasks independently and
simultaneously thus improving the speed of execution of complex programs dramatically.
Parallel computers match the speed of supercomputers at a fraction of the cost.
The internal Architectural Design of computers differs from one system model to another.
However, the basic organization remains the same for all computer systems. All computer
systems perform the following five basic operations inputting, storing, Processing, Outputting
and Controlling. The function of each of these units is described below.
INPUT UNIT
Data and instructions must enter the computer system before any computation can be
performed on the supplied data. The input unit that links the external environment with the
computer system performs this task. Data and instructions enter input units in forms that
depend upon the particular device used. For example, data is entered from a keyboard in a
manner similar to typing, and this differs from the way in which data is entered through a
card reader which is another type of input device. However, regardless of the form in which
they receive their inputs, all input devices must provide a computer with data that are
transformed into the binary codes that the primary memory of a computer is designed to
accept. This transformation is accomplished by units called input interfaces. Input interfaces
are designed to match the unique physical or electrical characteristics of input devices to the
requirements of the computer system. In short, an input unit performs the following
functions:
It accepts (or reads) the list of instructions and data from the outside world.
It converts these instructions and data in the computer acceptable form.
It supplies the converted instructions and data to the complete system for further
processing.
OUTPUT UNIT
The job of an output unit is just the reverse of that of an input unit. It supplies information
and results of computation to the outside world. Thus, it links the computer with the external
environment. As computers work with binary code, the results produced are also in the binary
form. Hence, before supplying the results to the outside world, it must be converted to human
acceptable (readable) form. This task is accomplished by units call output interfaces. Output
interfaces are designed to match the unique physical or electrical characteristics of output
devices (terminals, printers, etc.) to the requirements of the external environmental.
In short, an output unit performs the following functions:
It accepts the results produced by the computer, which are in coded form and hence
cannot be easily understood by us.
It converts these coded results to human acceptable (readable) form.
It supplies the converted results to the outside world.
STORAGE UNIT
The data and instructions that are entered into the computer system through input units have
to be stored inside the computer before the actual processing starts. Similarly, the results
produced by the computer after processing must also be kept somewhere inside the computer
system before being passed on to the output units. Moreover, the intermediate results
produced by the computer must also be preserved for ongoing processing. The storage unit at
the primary/main storage of a computer system is designed to cater to all these needs. It
provides space for storing data and instructions; space for intermediate results; and also space
for the final results. The main functions of storage unit are:
To hold all data to be processed and instructions required for processing.
To store intermediate results of processing.
To store final results of processing before these results are released to output device.
The main memory, housed inside the computer unit, is built from two different kinds of
memory chip: the first kind, called ROM (read only memory), has permanently built into
information and instructions the computer needs to know in order to operate properly; the
second kind of memory, called RAM (random access memory), holds the program and other
information typed in at the keyboard. The RAM is a 'read and write' memory. This means we
can store, or 'write', information into this memory and later recall it, or 'read' it out again. The
ROM, on the other hand, can only be read; we cannot write information into it. This ensures
that we do not destroy the vital information held in ROM by over-writing it. An important
difference between the two types of memory is that RAM is 'volatile', i.e. it loses all the
information stored when the power is switched off. ROM, on the other hand, is 'non-volatile';
its information is not lost when the power is switched off. The secondary storage medium
stores data, instructions and output for archival purpose so that whenever any data or
instructions is required in the future it can be retrieved for reference or for further processing.
CONTROL UNIT
Although, it does not perform any actual processing on the data, the Control Unit acts as a
central nervous system for the other components of the computer. The control unit controls
and co-ordinates all the operations of the CPU and peripheral devices. Its functions are to
ensure that the program instructions are carried out in the desired sequence and to control and
co-ordinate the flow of data between the CPU and the input-output devices. By selecting,
interpreting, and seeing to the execution of the program instructions, the Control Unit is able
to maintain order and direct the operation of the entire system. It manages and coordinates
the entire computer system. It obtains instructions from the program stored in main memory,
interprets the instructions, and issues signals that cause other units of the system to execute
them.
The control unit instructs the input unit where to store the data after receiving it from
the user.
The control unit determines the sequence in which computer programs and
instructions are executed. It acts like the supervisor seeing that things are done in
proper fashion.
It controls the flow of data and instructions from the storage unit to ALU and also
controls the flow of results from ALU to the storage unit.
PERIPHERAL DEVICES
A peripheral device connects to a computer system to add functionality. Examples are a
mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer and scanner. A computer peripheral is a device that is
connected to a computer but is not part of the core computer architecture. The core elements
of a computer are the central processing unit, power supply, motherboard and the computer
case that contains those three components. A peripheral device is an internal or external
device that connects directly to a computer but does not contribute to the computer's primary
function, such as computing. It helps end users access and use the functionalities of a
computer. A peripheral device provides input/output (I/O) functions for a computer and
serves as an auxiliary computer device without computing-intensive functionality.
INPUT DEVICES
Following are few of the important input devices which are used in a computer: Keyboard,
Mouse, Joy Stick, Light pen, Track Ball, Scanner, Graphic Tablet, Microphone, Optical
Character Reader(OCR), Bar Code Reader, Optical Mark Reader(OMR)
Keyboard
Keyboard is the most common and very popular input device which helps in inputting data
to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional typewriter, although
there are some additional keys provided for performing additional functions. Keyboards are
of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now keyboards with 104 keys or 108 keys are also
available for Windows and Internet. The keys on the keyboard are as follows:
1 Typing Keys These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (0-9) which
generally give same layout as that of typewriters.
4 Control keys These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four
directional arrow keys. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert,
Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt),
Escape(Esc).
5 Special Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter, Shift,
Purpose Keys Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print Screen.
Mouse
Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having a
small palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and
sends corresponding signals to CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed. Generally it has
two buttons called left and right button and a wheel is present between the buttons. Mouse
can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text into
the computer.
There are three types of mouse: mechanical, optomechanical and optical. The mechanical
mouse has a ball at its bottom. It can be rolled across a flat and smooth surface to control the
position of the cursor on the screen. By pointing and clicking on icons and menu options
displayed on the screen, it is easy for the user to control the computer with a mouse.
Mechanical sensors within the mouse detect the direction the ball is rolling and move the
screen pointer accordingly. The optomechanical mouse is more or less the same as the
mechanical mouse, but it uses optical sensors to detect motion of the ball. Optical mouse uses
a laser to detect the mouse movement. The mouse requires to be moved along a special mat
with a grid so that the optical mechanism has a frame of reference. It has no mechanical
moving parts. It responds more quickly and precisely than mechanical or optomechanical
mouse. Optical mouse is more expensive than the other two. Advantages of using mouse are:
Easy to use
Not very expensive
Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.
Joystick
Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen.
It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball
moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions. The function of joystick
is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing (CAD) and
playing computer games. The screen-cursor movement in any particular direction is measured
by the distance that the stick is shifted or moved from its centre position.
Light Pen
Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu
item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system
placed in a small tube. When the tip of a light pen is moved over the monitor screen and pen
button is pressed, its photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends the
corresponding signal to the CPU.
Track Ball
Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop computer, instead of a
mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted and by moving fingers on ball, pointer can be
moved. Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less space than a mouse. A
track ball comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square. Advantages of Trackball
are:
It can be placed on any type of surface, including our palm or lap.
It is stationary so it does not need much space for its use.
Due to their compact size these are most suitable for portable computer.
Touchpad
This is a small sensitive pad used on portable computers (laptops). The touch pad is used as a
pointing device. The pointer is moved on screen by touching the touch pad with the finger.
Tapping on the touch pad will give the same results as when using the mouse buttons. The
touchpad is particularly useful for persons with disability whom can have limitations in
moving their hand.
Digitizer
Digitizer is an input device which converts analog information into digital form. Digitizer
can convert a signal from the television or camera into a series of numbers that could be
stored in a computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of whatever the
camera had been pointed at. Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics Tablet because it
converts graphics and pictorial data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as digitizer is used
for doing fine works of drawing and image manipulation applications. Advantages of
Digitizer are:
Microphone
Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in digital form. The
microphone is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia presentation
or for mixing music.
Scanner
Scanner is an input device which works more like a photocopy machine. It is used when
some information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disc of the
computer for further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the source which are then
converted into the digital form that can be stored on the disc. These images can be edited
before they are printed.
OUTPUT DEVICE
An output device is a device which accepts results from the computer and displays them to
user. The output device also converts the binary code obtained from the computer into human
readable form. Output devices generate two types of output copy of results.
1. Hard Copy Output - it is a computer output, which is permanent in nature and can be kept
in paper files, or can be looked at a later stage, when the person is not using the computer.
For example, output produced by printers or plotters on paper.
2. Soft Copy Output - it is a computer output, which is temporary in nature, and vanishes
after its use. For example, output shown on a terminal screen, or spoken out by a voice
response system. Examples: CRT screen/TFT screen.
Monitor: It is also known as VDU (Visual Display Unit). It is the most basic output device.
It is used to display the output. Types of monitor on the basis of architecture:
CRT Monitor: CRT is the large bulky sized monitor. It has high power requirement so it is
not appropriate for portable devices. A monochrome CRT contains single electron gun which
emits beam of electrons. These electrons are attached towards positive phosphorous screen.
When an electron strikes the screen it glows and emits light. A small area in which an
electron strikes is known as pixel. To display a screen all the pixel are striked by electrons.
Accelerating anode varies the speed of the electron and deflecting system changes the path of
the electron. A color CRT monitor contains three electron guns which emits three electrons at
a time. These electrons converge in the same pixel to display a color.
LED: LED contains multiple small bulbs. The contents are displayed by turning the bulbs
“on” and “off”. Initially it was used only for simple digital displays like in calculator, digital
watch, etc. At present it is also used in television, desktop PC, laptop, etc.
LCD: LCD contains liquid crystals in between two plates of the screen. The plates are made
by either glass or plastic. The front plate is transparent and the back plate is reflective. Liquid
crystals are charged electronically to display the content. This monitor is popular for portable
devices because of its small size, light weight, low power requirement however it has low
brightness and it requires viewing angle of almost 90.
Merits of LCD:
It is small in size.
It is light in weight.
It has low power requirements so, can be used in portable devices.
It is cheaper than LED and plasma display.
De-merits of LCD:
Plasma display: It contains neon gas in between the two plates of the screen in place of
liquid crystals of LCD. It has larger viewing angle but is expensive than LCD. It is smaller in
size, light in weight and it has low power requirement and low brightness.
Speaker: Speaker is a soft copy output device for audio. It generates analog sound wave
from stored digital sound by using vibrators. Different types of speakers vary on the loudness
of sound generated. Some of the speakers used are: Head phone, Normal speaker, Woofer,
Loud speaker.
Printer: Printer makes the permanent impression of color on the printing material like paper,
plastic, clothes, rubber, metal, etc. A printer can be single or multi-colored. Types of printer
are:
a.) Dot matrix printer: It is an impact type character printer. It prints character by the
combination of dots where each dot is printed when the hammer strikes the printing
material. It can print both image and text of different font and size. It is appropriate
for low volume printing. It is usually available in three operating modes: fast, medium
and slow. Faster speed will have low printing quality.
Merits:
It can print both image and text of different font and size.
Its operating cost is low.
It can print multiple copies at the same time using carbon paper.
De-merits:
It is noisy, slower.
It has low printing quality.
It can print single color only.
It is not appropriate for large volume printing.
b.) Daisy wheel printer: It is an impact type character printer. It can only print text of
fixed size and font. It contains separate hammer for each character so it is also know
as letter quality printer. Its printing quality is better than dot matrix printer. It is faster
than dot matrix printer. It is rarely used at present.
Merits:
c.) Line printer: It is an impact type printer. It can print a complete line of text at a time.
It can’t print images and text of different size and font. It is expensive than non-
impact. It is appropriate for continuous printing like printing mark sheet, bill, bank
statement, etc. the different line printers are: chain printer, drum printer, band printer.
Merits:
It can be used for continuous printing.
It is faster than character printer.
It can print a complete line of text at a time.
It can print multiple copies at a time.
De-merits:
It can’t print images and text of different size and font.
Its printing quality is low.
It is slower and noisy.
It can print a single color.
It is expensive.
Drum Printer: It is a line printer. It has a drum that rotates at high speed. A set of characters
is embossed on the drum. It prints one line of characters at a time. The hammer for a
particular character position is activated when that character on the drum passes under it to
produce character impression on paper.
Chain Printer: The chain printer works like the drum printer. It consists of a set of typefaces
on a chain that rotates at high speed. The printer composes one line at a time and the
hammers are activated to produce one row of characters as it is composed. There is a hammer
for each print position. As the characters move around on the chain, the hammer strikes on
the opposite side of the print position to produce character impression on paper.
2. Non impact printer: it prints without touching the printing material. It sprays liquid
or powder ink. It uses electromagnetic or electrostatic mechanism. It is noiseless, faster for
printing usually expensive, it has high printing quality, it can be single or multi-colored, it
cannot produce multiple copies at the same time. Example: ink jet printer, laser printer,
thermal wax printer.
a.) Inkjet: It is non impact type character printer. It uses liquid ink for printing. It can be
single or multi-colored. It is cheaper to buy but its operating cost is expensive due to
expensive ink. So, it is appropriate only for low volume printing. Inkjet is a non-impact
printer and is quiet when working. It sprays ink particles through its nozzle. On leaving the
nozzle, the tiny particles of ink get electrically charged. The electrically charged particles are
then guided on to the paper to form appropriate characters. Inkjet printers are as cheap as dot
matrix printers are; but their operating costs are far higher than those of dot matrix printers.
However, they give much better quality than DMPs. They are available in black and white
and colour.
Merits:
It is not noisy and is faster than impact printers.
It can be both single and multi-colored.
It is cheaper to buy.
It can print both text and images.
Its printing quality is better than impact printers.
De-merits:
Its operating cost is high.
It is appropriate for low volume printing only.
It can’t produce multiple copies at the same time.
It is not appropriate for continuous printing.
b.) Laser Printer: It is non-impact type page printer. It uses powder ink (toner) for printing.
It is expensive to buy but its operating cost is low. So, it is appropriate for large volume
printing. Multi-colored laser printer is larger in size and they are slower and expensive. It can
print about 30 pages per minute. The laser beam is turned off and on under the control of a
computer. The areas that are exposed to the laser attract toner, which is generally an ink
power. Thereafter the drum transfers the toner to the paper. Then the toner is permanently
fused on the paper with heat or pressure in a fusing station. After this drum is discharged
cleaned so that it is ready for next processing.
Merits:
It is not noisy and is faster than impact printer.
It can be both single and multi-colored.
Its operating cost is low.
It can print both text and images.
Its printing quality is better than impact printer.
De-merits:
It is expensive to buy.
It can’t print multiple copies at the same time.
It is not appropriate for continuous printing.
Plotter: It is large sized printer. It is used to plot large maps, designs, advertisements, etc. It
is multi-colored, slow for printing, expensive and large in size. Paper, plastic (mainly flex) is
used as printing material. It uses technology like ink jet technology, color pen technology.
Ink jet technology uses liquid ink whereas color pen technology uses multi colored pens
controlled by the mechanical arm. Ink jet is cheaper and color pen has better printing quality.
Different plotters in use are:
Drum plotter: Here the paper moves along a drum vertically while pens move side to
side horizontally.
Flat bed plotter: This uses a flat paper which is fixed, and pens (or styluses) that
move on it draw the required design.
STORAGE DEVICES
Computer storage or memory can be of two types: primary and secondary. Primary memory
provides very fast access and is used for storing frequently used programs and data. But,
primary storage is expensive and also volatile. Hence it is used for storing data and
instructions mostly temporarily. Large files and databases are stored on secondary storage
devices. Data and instructions from the secondary storage are moved into the primary
memory for the CPU to access them.
Random Access Memory (RAM): RAM stands for Random Access Memory and it is a
read/write memory. Information can be written into and read from a RAM. It is a volatile
memory. It retains the stored information as long as it is supplied with power. When power
supply of computer is switched off or interrupted the stored information in the RAM is lost.
RAMs of various capacities are available for example, 1K, 4K, 16K, 64K, 1M, 4M and so on.
There are two important types of RAMs - static RAM and dynamic RAM.
Static RAMs retain stored information as long as power supply is on. But a dynamic RAM
loses its stored information in a very short time even though the power supply is on.
Therefore, dynamic RAMs have to be refreshed periodically, generally every 2 millisecond.
The dynamic RAMs are cheaper and have high packing density and moderate speed. They
consume less power. They are used where large capacity memories are needed. Static RAMs
are costlier and consume more power. They have higher speed than dynamic RAMs. Static
RAM and dynamic RAM are also written as SRAM and DRAM.
ROM (Read Only Memory): ROM stands for Read Only Memory and it is a permanent
type memory. It contents are not lost when power supply of computer is switched off. The
user cannot write into a ROM. Its contents are written into at manufacturing time. ROMs
store permanent programs and other types of information which are needed by the computer
to execute user programs. ROMs store function such as sine, cosine, logarithm, square root,
exponential and code conversion tables, etc.
Secondary storage is thus supplementary to primary storage. It is, therefore, also called
auxiliary storage. Secondary storage has larger storage capacity and is cheaper than primary
storage. But access to secondary storage is slower than that to primary storage. Hence,
secondary storage holds data and programs not currently in use.
Magnetic Disks
Magnetic disks are made of rigid metals or synthetic plastic material. The disk platter is
coated on both the surfaces with magnetic material and both the surfaces can be used for
storage. The magnetic disk provides direct access and is popular for both small and large
computer systems. The magnetic disk comes in two forms: hard disks and floppy disks.
Hard Disks
Hard disk is a metal platter with magnetic coating on both sides. Several such hard disks are
stacked one on the other, without touching each other, into a disk pack for large storage.
The disk pack, housed in metal container with a read/write head assembly unit, is fixed inside
a computer permanently. Hard disks are highly reliable and accessing data from hard disk is
faster and more efficient than that from floppies. A disk pack is a collection of disks stacked
vertically one on top of the other and it is mounted on a disk drive. The disk drive has a head
assembly with a read/write arm for each pair of recording surfaces. Each disk has two
surfaces for storage.
The top surface of the first disk and the lower surface of the last disk are not used for
recording as small dust particles might settle down on them. The disk drive mechanism
rotates the disk pack at a constant speed. Each read/write arm has one pair of read/write head,
one for each surface. To increase the speed of access, the read/write arm carries as many
heads as the number of tracks on the disk. The access time is determined by two factors: the
seek time and the rotational delay. The seek time is the time required to locate the track on
the recording surface. Rotational delay involves positioning the read/write arm at the right
track of the surface for reading/writing.
Advantages of Hard Disks
They support direct access.
They have quick access rates.
They have fairly large storage capacities.
Hard disks are essential for online systems.
Disadvantages of Hard Disks
Hard disks are expensive.
Hard disks are not always reliable. For example, hard disks can crash. If they crash,
the entire data on them may be lost as data recovery is difficult and expensive.
Speed and performance of hard disks are slower than that of CPU. Hence, they slow
down overall speed of performance of the computer.
Floppy Diskettes: These diskettes, made of synthetic plastic material, are flexible. Hence
they are called floppy diskettes or simply floppies. Floppies are cheaper and more rugged
than metal disks. The floppies were introduced in the early 1970s and became very popular
with the arrival of microcomputers. The floppies are popularly used on microcomputers.
They are reliable and portable. They are available in many sizes like 5 1/4 -inches and 3 1/2 -
inches and vary in storage capacity from 360 KB to 2.88 MB. The 5 1/4 -inch floppies are not
used these days. The 3 1/2- inch floppies, called microfloppies, are very popular and they can
hold 1.44 MB to 2.88 MB of storage. The current trend is towards reducing the size and
increasing the storage capacity of the floppies.
Magnetic Tape: Magnetic tape is a serial access storage medium. It can store large volume
of data at low costs. The conventional magnetic tape is in reels of up to 3600 feet made of
mylar plastic tape; the tape is one half inch in width and is coated with magnetic material on
one side. The reel of tape is loaded on a magnetic tape drive unit. During any read/write
operation, the tape is moved from one spool to the other in the same way as in the
audiocassette tape recorder. The conventional tape is replaced by cartridge tape that is housed
in a small box, that is cartridge, which is more convenient to use. This eliminates the need to
manually handle and thread the tape for any read/write operation. The magnetic tape is
densely packed with magnetic spots in frames across its width. A frame records one byte and
each bit in the frame is read/ written by a read/write head for that bit position. The tape has
nine tracks, out of which eight are used as data tracks and the ninth one for parity bit meant
for error detection.
CO-R: This is Compact Disk -Recordable. It can be used to write data on it once. The data
on it can be retrieved as and when needed.
CO-RW: Compact Disk Re-writable (CD-RW) is an optical disk that can be rewritten many
times. The data stored on it can be read, erased and re-written as frequently as needed.
DVD: Digital Versatile Disk is a large capacity secondary storage device. It stores seven
times CD capacity on a single side. Double-sided or dual layer DVDs are also available with
much larger storage capacity. DVD uses a 5-inch disc for storage. That is, it is of the same
size as a CD ROM. Single layer, single-sided DVD has a storage capacity of 4.7 GB. With
double-layer, double sided disc, it can store 17 GB of data on a single disk. (Single sided
DVDs can store 4.7GB for single layer and 8.5GB for dual-layer disks. Double sided DVDs
can store 9.40GB for single layer and 17GB for dual-layer disks). With such huge storage
capacity, DVDs are used to store full-length commercial motion pictures, video albums etc.
And its viewing quality is much better than tape storage
Pen drive: Pen drive is a compact secondary storage device. It can be carried like a pen. Its
capacity is in GB’s.
Computer software, or just software, is the collection of computer programs and related data
that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do. The term was coined to contrast
the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is
intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched". Software is also sometimes used in a more
narrow sense, to include application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has
traditionally not been associated with computers, such as film, presses and records.
System software is the program that controls computer hardware. It also maintains computer
operation efficiently. The main components of system software are the operating system,
network operating system and utility. System software is computer software designed to
operate the computer hardware and to provide and maintain a platform for running
application software.
Application software is computer software designed to help the user to perform single or
multiple related specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software,
office suites, graphics software, and media players. Some of the categories of application
software include: Word Processing Software, Spreadsheets, Database Management Software,
Presentation Programs, Web browsers, Games etc.
Utility software is software such as anti-virus software, firewalls, disk defragmenters and so
on which helps to maintain and protect the computer system but does not directly interface
with the hardware. Utility software is software specifically designed to help manage and tune
the computer hardware, operating system or application software.