Storage system A system used for saving data, result or programs for future use Properties of storage systems

Storage devices and media Non- volatility Removable vs Fixed media Random vs sequential access Logical vs physical representation

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

There are two parts of storage system Storage device Storage medium Storage device A piece of hardware such as floppy drive or CD drive, into which a storage medium is inserted Hardware components that write data to and read data from storage media are called storage devices Storage media The physical materials on which data is stored are called storage media The part of a storage system where data is stored such as floppy disk or CD disk

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Non volatile Storage media is non volatile Removable vs fixed media The storage medium used with that device can be inserted and removed these are called removable media storage systems Floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs Fixed media storage systems seal the storage medium inside the storage device and user can not remove it Hard disk is the example of removable media
Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Advantages Fixed media devices provide higher speed and better reliability at a lower cost than removable media Advantages of removable media Unlimited storage capacity Transportability Backup Security

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Random vs sequential access two basic access methods are Random access Sequential access Random access also called direct access Data can be retrieved directly from any location on the medium in any order. PCs storage devices hard disk drive, floppy disk drives and CD/DVD drives are random access devices They work like audio CDs or movie DVDs User can jump directly to a particular selection or location as needed

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Sequential Access Data can be retrieved in the order in which it is physically stored on the medium Tape drive is an example of sequential access Computer tapes work like audio cassette tape or video tapes To get the specific location you must fast forward through all of the tape before it

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Both types of files have advantages and disadvantages. If you are always accessing information in the same order, a sequential-access file is faster. If you tend to access information randomly, random access is better.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Physical & logical representation Logical file representation is a convenient model that helps to understand computer file system, not how the data is stored Computer system might contain hundred or even thousands of files stored on multiple disks and storage devices To keep track of these files, computer has a file system that is maintained by OS Most computer have more than one device that the computer uses to store files

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Each storage device identified by a letter & a colon for example floppy drive A:, hard disk drive by C: the operating system maintains a list of files called a directory for each disk or CD-ROM The directory contains the file name ,the file extension the date and time it was created and the file size for every file in the directory The file size is a number of characters a file contains The main directory of a disk is called root directory Root directory provides a useful list of files

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Root directory provides a useful list of files, but it could be different to find a particular file if directory contains hundred of files To organize a large no of files OS allows to divide the directory in to small lists called sub directories A sub directory name is separated from a drive letter and a file name by a special symbol(\) A:\computer\chapters a directory name is called path name because it provides a path or map to the location of a file A:\ computer \ chapters\ chapter 1

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Physical file representation Physical file representation refers to How the data is actually stored on the physical disk medium? How files are stored ? How does a computer filing system knows where to look for a particular file ? How does computer make the most efficient use of storage space ?

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Before a computer can store a file on a disk CD,DVD the storage medium must be formatted Formatting is a process creates tracks and sectors that provide physical storage location for data Tracks and sectors are numbered to provide addresses for each data in storage The OS uses a file system ,which contain the name and location of file that resides on a storage medium such as hard disk Different OS uses different file systems

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

To speed up the process of storing & retrieving data disk drive works with a group of sectors called clusters or blocks A file systems primary task is to maintain a list of clusters & keep track of which are empty and which hold data

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Categories of storage media Magnetic storage Optical storage Solid state storage

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Magnetic storage Speedy Access to data Relatively low cost Ability to erase and rewrite With magnetic storage systems data is written by read / write heads The most common types of hard disk drives , high capacity floppy disk and tape drives use similar techniques for reading and writing data The surfaces of diskettes hard disks, high capacity floppy disks and magnetic tape are coated with a magnetically sensitive material such as iron oxide that reacts to a magnetic field Disk read/write heads are mechanisms that read data from or write data to disk drives. The heads have gone through a number of changes over the years.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Sector, Track and Cluster

Disk surface is divided into the following Tracks Sectors Clusters Cylinder Tracks are concentric circles around the disk. Sectors are segments of a track. Clusters are a set of sectors.
Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Tracks When you format a magnetic disk ,the disk drive creates a set of concentric rings called tracks on each side of disk The number of tracks required depends on the type of disk Most diskettes have 80 tracks on each side of the disk Each track has a separate circle Data is stored on circular tracks, the 0s and 1s are represented magnetically 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.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

If a disk has 80 tracks on each side, each track contain 18 sectors, then disk has 1,440 (80*18) sectors per side for a total of 2,880 sectors The disk outer most track is longer than innermost track but each track is divided into same number of sectors Regardless of physical size each track all of the disk size has the same no of bytes of data

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Sectors A sector is normally the smallest individuallyaddressable 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

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

In the context of computer disk storage sector is a subdivision of a track. Each sector stores a fixed amount of data. The typical formatting of these media provides space for 512 bytes (for magnetic disks) or 2048 bytes (for optical discs) of useraccessible data per sector.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Track is narrow recording band that forms full circle on disk

Sector stores up to 512 bytes of data

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Cluster The part of a track that crosses a specific number of adjacent sectors form a cluster A group of sectors the operating system treats as a unit

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Floppy disk The Physical Contents of a Floppy Disk (3.5 inch) Consists of a circular, thin, flexible plastic disk with a magnetic coating enclosed in a squareshaped plastic shell Takes .2 second to find data 3 floppy disk holds 1.44 MB

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Characteristics of a Floppy Disk A "track" is a narrow recording band that forms a full circle on the surface of the disk The disk's storage locations are then divided into pie-shaped sections, which break the tracks into small arcs called sectors (can hold 512 bytes of data) Floppy Disks store data on both sides. Each side consists of 80 tracks with 18 sectors per track To read from and write on the disk, sectors are grouped into clusters (consist of 2 to 8 sectors) A cluster is the smallest unit of space used to store data Diskettes spin at about 300 revolutions per minute Disk density is a measure of its capacity ,the amount of data it can store=total no of sectors *no of bytes of each sector holds=2880*512=1474560 total bytes

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

 How It Works Step 1: When you insert the floppy disk into the drive, the shutter moves to the side to expose the recording surface on the disk Step 2: When one initiates a disk access, the circuit board on the drive sends signal to control movement of the read/write heads and the disk Step 3: If disk access is a write instruction, the circuit board verifies that light is not visible through the write-protect notch Step 4: A motor causes the floppy disk to spin Step 5: A motor positions the read/write heads over the correct location on the recording surface of the disk Step 6: The read/write heads read data from and write data on the floppy disk

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: portable, inexpensive, write-protect notch
Disadvantages: cannot hold a lot of information compared to other modes of storage, fairly easy to damage, relatively slow, sometimes not formatted (although not difficult to do) Storage Capacity A typical High Density Floppy Disk contains 1.44 megabytes

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Hard disk High-capacity storage Consists of several inflexible, circular platters that store items electronically Components enclosed in airtight, sealed case for protection The hard disk platters are accessed for read and write operations using the read/write heads mounted on the top and bottom surfaces of each platter.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Here are the physical and logical parts of a hard drive. A hard drive consists of a number of platters on a spindle. The platters are read and written to with heads for reading, writing, and aligning. Each platter has two sides. Each side is divided into a number of rings called tracks. The tracks are numbered 0 on the outside and usually go up to 1023 tracks. All the tracks on the platter form a cylinder. Cylinders are also usually numbered 0-1023. Each track is divided into sectors. Sectors are the smallest chunk of bytes usable on a hard drive. Sectors are usually 512 B but are always to the power of two. Contiguous tracks form clusters. A hard disk has one MBR (Master Boot Record). A MBR holds the Partition Table which says how a disk is partitioned into up to 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition A primary partition has a specific file system (e.g. FAT or NTFS) and may even have system file for a specific OS (e.g. W95 or WNT). A primary partition is assigned a logical hard drive letter.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Platters The tracks are the thin concentric circular strips on a floppy medium or platter surface which actually contain the magnetic regions of data written to a disk drive. They form a circle and are (therefore) two-dimensional. At least one head is required to read a single track. Cylinders The collection of tracks located in the same location on a set of hard disk surfaces It consists of vertical stack of tracks ,the same relative track on each disk surface

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

platter

track sector

read/write head

platter sides

cylinder

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Read-write head A read-write head or simply the head, is a tiny electromagnet suspended by an armature that is precisely positioned above every disk platter. The head acts as an interface between the physical storage media and the rest of the electronic components of the disk by transforming electrical signals into magnetic pulses to store data onto a disk. In reverse, it reads the patterns of the magnetic flux and converts them into electrical signals which are further encoded into binary bits to be processed by the computer

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Head crash head crash is a physical damage of a hard disk when the faulty electronic or mechanism causes the read-write head to land on the rotating platter instead of retracting to its safe zone, hence by damaging and grinding away the magnetic film on the disk surface.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

How Does A Head Crash Happen? When the platter is rotating at rates between 5,400 to 15,000 revolutions per minute, a thin firm of air suspends the read/write head extremely closely above the disk surface. This distance, called the head gap is typically measured in millionths of an inch. So, it is possible that heads can make contact with the media on the hard disk when there are faulty disk mechanism

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing

Disk Access Time The total time required for the computer to process the data request from the processor and then retrieve the required data from a storage device.

Engr:Sajida Introduction to computing