Secondary Storage

Chapter 05

Properties of Secondary Storage Systems

Properties
Physical Parts Nonvolatility Property

Removable versus Nonremovable Media

Accessing Data 3

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Physical Parts

(1)

Secondary Storage System involves two physical parts a peripheral storage device for e.g. disk drive or tape drive input/output medium for e.g. diskettes and magnetic tape cartridges are types of media
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Physical Parts

(2)

A peripheral storage device can be internal or external. Internal devices - such as diskette, hard disk, and optical disk drives - typically come installed and configured within the system. External devices - are stand alone pieces of hardware that connect via cables to ports on the system unit.
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Physical Parts

(3)

Advantage of Internal devices

No additional desk space is required.

Advantage of External devices

Devices can easily be swapped between two or more computer systems.

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Physical Parts (4)

Computer system keeps track of disk drives and other storage devices by assigning letters of the alphabet. In most secondary storage devices, media must pass by read/write heads. Read/write head - The component of a disk access mechanism or tape drive that retrieves or inscribes data.
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Nonvolatility Property
Secondary storage media are nonvolatile Nonvolatile storage - Storage that retains its contents when power is shut off

Volatile storage - Storage that loses its

contents when power is shut off

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Removable versus Nonremovable Media

Removable Media - Diskettes, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-tape cartridges Nonremovable Media (fixed media) - hard disk systems Removable media offer unlimited storage capacity, transportability, backup and security. Nonremovable media offer higher speed and better reliability at lower cost.
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Accessing Data
The process of retrieving data and programs in storage is called access. Two methods of data access

Sequential access Direct access

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Sequential access
Fetching stored records in the same order in which they are physically arranged on the medium

Computer systems tape drives allow only sequential access to data.

Media that process data in sequence are known as not addressable.
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Direct access
Reading or writing data in storage so that the access time is independent of the physical location of the data. Also know as random access Computer system disks allow both sequential and direct access to data Media that allow process of data randomly are known as addressable
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Magnetic Disk Systems

Secondary Storage

Magnetic Disk Systems

Most widely used Secondary Storage media that record data through magnetic spots on platters made of rigid metal or flexible plastic for e.g. diskettes (Floppy Disks), Hard Disks Provide speedy access Are relatively low in cost
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Diskettes
A low capacity, removable disk made of a tough, flexible plastic and coated with a magnetizable substance. They are used for Doing small amounts of backup Sending programs and files to others through mail Storing rarely used files so they wont crowd your hard disk
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Diskette Size
Sharing data among all the computer you use. 3.5 in diameter, circular shaped storage medium contained in a square, plastic case that can fit into a shirt pocket.

Sizes

720 KB - low density or double density

1.44 MB - high density
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Physical Properties
Hard Plastic Cover Write Protect Square Label High Density Indicator Hole Metal Hub Spring Loaded Shutter Liners The Plastic Surface coated with magnetizable substance
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Physical Properties

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Diskette Addresses
Tracks - Disks come from the factory with concentric tracks on them. Tracks are encoded with 0 and 1 bits as data and programs are inscribed by users. Sectors - A pie shaped area on a disk surface. Cluster - An area formed where a fixed number of contiguous sectors intersect a track.
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Zip Drive
A Zip drive is a small, portable disk drive used primarily for backing up and archiving personal computer files. The trademarked Zip drive was developed and is sold by Iomega Corporation. Zip drives and disks come in two sizes. The 100 megabyte size and 250 megabyte drive and disk. The Iomega Zip drive comes with a software utility that lets you copy the entire contents of your hard drive to one or more Zip disks.

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Hard Disks
A hard disk consists of one or more rigid metal platters mounted onto a shaft and sealed along with an access mechanism inside a case. The terms hard disk and hard drive are same.

Floppy disk spin at 300 rpm, hard disk spin anywhere from 3600 to 9600 rpm.
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Hard Disks
5 GB = 3400 3.5 inch floppy disks.

Constantly rotating - Eliminates waiting time for the drive to come up to the correct speed, whereas diskette does not start spinning until accessed.
Access mechanism - A mechanical device in a disk drive that positions the read/write heads on the proper tracks.
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Hard Disks
Disk Cylinders - On a disk pack, a collection of tracks that align vertically in the same relative position on different disk surfaces.
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Disk Access Time

Disk access time - The time taken to locate and read (or position and write) data on a

disk device.
Disk access time = seek time + rotational

delay + data movement time

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Disk Access Time

Seek time = Time taken for the read / write head to move to the desired cylinder that stores (or will store) data.

Rotational delay = Time taken for the desired sector to come under the read / write head.
Data movement time = Time taken for the system to transfer data from disk to RAM.
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Disk Cache
Disk cache is a special area of RAM used to store small amount of disk data. Such data can later be accessed thousands of times faster than they could from disk. Whenever a user requests data, the computer checks first to see if they are in cache. If they arent, they are pulled from the disk, and again, cache is rewritten with neighboring disk data.
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Disk Standards
EIDE - Enhanced integrated drive electronics (less expensive and easy to configure) SCSI - Small Computer System Interface (faster access, enables connection of more devices from a single board, and allows longer cable lengths)
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IDE
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) is a standard electronic interface used between a computer motherboard's data paths or bus and the computer's disk storage devices. The IDE interface is based on the IBM PC Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) 16-bit bus standard, but it is also used in computers that use other bus standards. Most computers sold today use an enhanced version of IDE called Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE). In today's computers, the IDE controller is often built into the motherboard.
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EIDE
Enhanced (sometimes "Expanded") IDE is a standard electronic interface between your computer and its mass storage drives. EIDE's enhancements to Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) make it possible to address a hard disk larger than 528 Mbytes. When updating your computer with a larger hard drive (or other drives), an EIDE "controller" can be added to your computer in one of its card slot. 29 Storage Devices ICMAP/F1/ZAQ

SCSI
SCSI that allow personal computers to communicate with peripheral hardware such as disk drives, tape drives, CDROM drives, printers, and scanners faster and more flexibly than previous interfaces. Developed at Apple Computer and still used in the Macintosh, the present set of SCSIs are parallel interfaces. In addition to faster data rates, SCSI is more flexible than earlier parallel data transfer interfaces. The latest SCSI standard, Ultra-2 SCSI for a 16-bit bus can transfer data at up to 80 megabytes per second (MBps). SCSI allows up to 7 or 15 devices (depending on the bus width) to be connected to a single SCSI port in daisy-chain fashion.

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Partitioning
Division of hard disk into separate areas. Each partition can be treated as independent disk drive. Partitioning the hard drive enables

installation of different operating system for

e.g. Windows 98 and UNIX.
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Large Computer Systems

In past, disk systems on large computers stored data on very large diameter disks (14 inch or so across).

Disadvantages of large diameter disks

Cannot rotate at the high speeds.

Require greater seek time.

The potential of wobbling increases.
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Large Computer Systems

Presently, large system employ smaller disks, because:

they provide better support for parallel processing. For e.g., if eight small disks replace a single, larger one, the system can read from all eight disks surfaces at the same time.

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RAID
Redundant arrays of inexpensive disks. This process hooks up several arrays of relatively small disks in parallel to do the job of the larger disk. The disks are separated from the system unit in a cabinet that, is often referred to as the disk subsystem.
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RAID
The subsystem is set up to record redundant copies of information so that, in the event of system crash, the redundant data can be used to reconstruct the lost data. Duplicating the entire contents of a disk to another disk is sometimes described as disk mirroring.
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Optical Disk Systems

Optical Disk Systems

Optical Disk A disk read by reflecting pulses of laser beams. Types of Optical Disks

CDs DVDs HD
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Optical Disk
General characteristics

Uses single track spiral concept Uses laser beam to read and write data

Read/write process from the center of the disc

outwards Direct/random data access Requires proper care
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Optical Disk
Removable, flat, round, portable, metal storage medium Used for software and combined digital data storage Advantages: higher capacity, more reliable and durable than floppy disks Disadvantages: sensitive Basic types: CD & DVD
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Compact Disk (CD)

A rigid plastic disk that stores a large amount of data through the use of laser. The underside of the plastic CD disk is coated with a very thin layer of aluminum that reflects light. Data is written to the CD by burning microscopic pits into the reflective surface of the disk with a powerful laser. The pits represent a value of 0 and flat spots, called land, representing a value of 1. 40 Storage Devices ICMAP/F1/ZAQ

Compact Disk
The reading & writing mechanism of Compact Disk

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Compact Disk (CD)

Data is read from a CD-ROM with a low power laser. The pits does not reflect the laser light. The land portions of the disk reflect the laser light efficiently to the photodetector. The photodetector then converts these light and dark spots to electrical impulses corresponding to 1s and 0s.
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Compact Disk (CD)

Diagram of CD pit layout.

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Compact Disk (CD)

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Compact Disk (CD)

The most common format of CD-ROM holds approximately 630 megabytes. Approximately 269,000 pages of text, or more than 7,500 photos or graphics. A single-speed CD-ROM player reads 150,000 bytes of data per second. A typical CD-ROM takes about a third of a second to access data, as compared to a typical hard drive, which takes about 10 milliseconds (thousandths of a second) to access data.
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CD - ROM
CD-ROM (Compact Disc, read-only-memory) Designed to store computer data in the form of text and graphics, as well as hi-fi stereo sound. A standard CD is 120 mm (4.75 inches) in diameter and 1.2 mm (0.05 inches) thick and is composed of a polycarbonate plastic substrate (underlayer - this is the main body of the disc), one or more thin reflective metal (usually aluminum) layers, and a lacquer coating.
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Photo CD
Photo CD is a process from Kodak that puts film images (including scanned prints and slides) on a compact disk as digitally stored images that you can view or work with at your computer. The images can also be printed out on photographic paper with a special Kodak machine.
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CD - R
WORM (Write-Once-Read-Many.) Record data onto for one-time, permanent storage. Ideal for use as archive because it can be read many times, but the data cannot be erased.

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CD - RW
CD-RW (for compact disc, rewriteable) is a compact disc (CD) format that allows repeated recording on a disc. CD-RW discs usually hold 74 minutes (650 MB) of data, although some can hold up to 80 minutes (700 MB) and, according to some reports, can be rewritten as many as 1000 times.
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Video CD
VCD is a compact disk format specifically designed to hold MPEG-1 video data and to include interactive capabilities. Each VCD disk holds 72-74 minutes of video and has a data transfer rate of 1.44 Mbps. VCDs can be played on a VCD player connected to a television set or computer, on CD-ROM drives, and DVD players.
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CD - Magneto Optical
CD-Magneto Optical (CD-MO) is a compact disc format that uses magnetic fields for data storage. Like other optical media, such as DVD and other CD formats, CD-MO is read by a laser beam, which makes it more reliable than a hard disk or a floppy disk. However, a strong magnetic field can corrupt the stored data.
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Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

The (DVD) holds 4.7 gigabyte of information on one of its two sides, or enough for a 133-minute movie. With two layers on each of its two sides, it will hold up to 17 gigabytes of video, audio, or other information. (Compare this to the current CD-ROM disc of the same physical size, holding 600 megabyte. The DVD can hold more than 28 times as much information!) 52 Storage Devices ICMAP/F1/ZAQ

Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

Diagram of DVD pit layout.

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DVD - ROM
DVD-ROMs have seven times the storage capacity of CD-ROMs. DVDs, although the same size as CDs, have varying storage capacities of up to 17GB (this is a format called DVD-18), compared with the standard CD's approximate (and unvarying) capacity of 750MB. DVD-ROM drives have a base speed of 1.32 megabytes/second. DVD-ROM drives are backward compatible, and can read CD-ROMs, usually at speeds comparable to a 24X or 32X CD-ROM drive.
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DVD - RAM
DVD-RAM is an adaptation of DVD-ROM that uses magneto-optical technology to record data, both on the grooves and the lands (flat areas) of the disk. Like most DVD formats, DVD-RAM can contain any type of information, such as video, text, audio, and computer data; however, at 2.6 gigabytes, the storage capacity is much lower than the other types of DVD. Single-sided DVD-RAM disks can be read by DVDROM drives, but double-sided DVD-RAM disks are not compatible with most DVD-ROM drives.
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DVD - R
Recordable (DVD-R) is a type of write once, read many (WORM) DVD DVD-R can contain any type of information, such as video, text, audio, and computer data DVD-R disks can be played on any type of DVD playback device that can handle the type of information stored, such as a DVD-ROM drive, or a DVD video player. DVD-R disks are read at the same speeds as commercially made DVDs. DVD-Rs can be written in a single session (called write-at-once recording) or incrementally.
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DVD - RW
Digital Versatile disc - Rewritable (DVD-RW) is a DVD format that allows the user to record and erase multiple times on a single DVD disk. Like DVD-R, DVD-RW disks can hold up to 9.4 gigabytes of data, compared to the 650 megabyte capacity of the CD.

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DVD - Layers
Cross sections of the various types of completed DVDs (not to scale) look like this:

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DVD - Layers
Format
Single Sided/Single Layer Single Sided/Double Layer Double Sided/Single Layer Double Sided/Double Layer
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Capacity
4.38 GB 7.95 GB 8.75 GB 15.9 GB
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Movie Length
2 hours 4 hours 4.5 hours Over 8 hours

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DVD - Layers
Why the capacity of a DVD doesn't double when you add a whole second layer to the disc ? This is because when a disc is made with two layers, the pits have to be a little longer, on both layers, than when a single layer is used. This helps to avoid interference between the layers, which would cause errors when the disc is played.
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DVD - Layers

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HD-ROM (High Density-Read-Only-Memory)

HD-ROM is a high capacity storage technology developed at Norsam Technologies, in conjunction with an IBM research group. HD-ROM technology can be used to write data on different types of media, such as metal or other durable materials, to create virtually indestructible storage. HD-ROM's particle beam, at a size of 50 nanometers, enables a storage capacity of 165 gigabytes on disks the same size as a CD or DVD.
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HD-ROM (High Density-Read-Only-Memory)

In comparison, CD-ROM uses an 800-nanometer wavelength laser beam for a storage capacity of 650 megabytes, and DVD-ROM uses a 350nanometer wavelength laser for a storage capacity of 4.7 gigabytes. HD-ROM was designed to store large databases, such as those required by government agencies, banks, insurance companies, scientific users, and libraries. In addition to the enormous storage capacity, HD-ROM's benefits over traditional archival storage systems (such as magnetic tape and RAID) include faster access times, greater durability, and lower costs.
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Magnetic Tape Systems

Magnetic Tape Systems

Magnetic tape is made of Mylar, a type of strong plastic, into which metallic particles have been embedded. A read/write head identical to those used for audio tape reads and writes binary information to the tape. Reel-to-reel magnetic tape is used to store information for large mainframe or supercomputers. High-density cassette tapes are used to store information for personal computers and mainframes.
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Magnetic Tape Systems

Advantages

It is able to hold enormous amounts of data; for this reason it is used to store information on the largest computer systems. It is less expensive than magnetic disk and optical disk technology.
Slow data access time compared to other media. Sequential access to information.
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Disadvantages

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Data Organization
Secondary Storage

Difference b/w Data Organization & Data Access

Data access - The process of fetching data either sequentially or directly from a storage device. Data organization - The process of setting up data so that they may subsequently be accessed in some desired way.
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Types of Files
To organize data three types of data files are used: Master files - These have permanent existence, and are kept up-to-date by adding new records, deleting expired records and modifying records in file.
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Types of Files
Transaction files (Change files) - These have only a temporary life. They are created by validating input and then writing it to backing storage from where it is used to update the master file, after which they have no further use.
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Types of Files
Temporary files are used by a computer programs to store data when insufficient memory is available.

Although disk space for temporary files must be available to the computer program, they require no human intervention, being automatically created and deleted.
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Data Organization
Data is organized in three major ways

Sequential Organization Indexed Organization Direct Organization

Key field - A field that helps identify a record.

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Sequential Organization
Arranging data on a physical medium in either ascending or descending order by the contents of some key field. It often suits the data requirements of batch processing operations by ordering records with respect to a key field.
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Indexed Organization
A method of organizing data on a direct access storage medium so that they can be accessed directly (through an index) or

sequentially.
This type of organization requires disk

storage, because tape cannot provide direct

access.
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Direct Organization
A method of arranging data on a storage device so they can be accessed directly (randomly). Both indexed and direct organization support the data needs of transaction processing and real-time processing.
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Data Access (Processing)

There are three types of data processing

Batch processing On-line (Transaction) processing Real-time processing

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Batch Processing (1)

Batch processing is the collection of a group of similar transactions over a period of time, and their processing at a single time as a

batch.
Advantages

batch systems are comparatively easy to

develop.

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Batch Processing (2)

Advantages (Contd...)

Less computer processing power is needed than for more complicated forms of input.

more checks can be done to ensure that the

processing is correct and accurate.

systems are cheaper to buy because less

hardware is needed.

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Batch Processing (3)

Disadvantages

There is a delay between a transaction being originated and the final output being available. Management information will always be out-ofdate, and therefore will not provide a current picture of the state of the company.

Information from the master file is not easily available, because these are kept off-line.
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On-line processing (1)

Online processing is the input of transactions while the input device is connected directly to the main CPU of the system. Advantages

Records are update immediately

Data entry users become more responsible in data entering and verification.
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On-line processing (2)

Disadvantages

It is very difficult to check that the information on the computer system entered is correct.

Systems are expensive than batch processing systems because more processing power is needed.

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Real-time processing (1)

Real time processing is the continual receiving and rapid processing of data so as

to be able to immediately feed back the

result of that input to the source of that data.
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Real-time processing (2)

Advantages

Processing is almost instantaneous. This provides a better service, because orders are processed more quickly, and account enquiries can be dealt with while the customer

is on the telephone simply by putting the

customers record on the VDU.
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Real-time processing (3)

Advantages (Contd...)

Management information is up-to-date. If management wants to know how much stock is available in the warehouse, or know sales so far today, then this information can be obtained from the computer system.

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Real-time processing (4)

Advantages (Contd...)

Information is more readily available. This is because the master files are always on-line.

It is likely that the computer will be used more

to aid management in decision making, because

the the information is always up-to-date, and

not in arrears as with other processing systems.
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Real-time processing (5)

Disadvantages

Systems are much more complex, and are thus more expensive to develop.
Because the data files are immediately updated, errors may be more damaging, and security becomes an important consideration. Hardware costs are higher. There is a need for on-line terminals, more memory, larger on-line storage, and more back-up facilities.
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