Storage Devices

Question 1

What are the advantages of magnetic discs

Answer 1

• Necessary to support the way your computer works
• Large storage capacity
• Stores and retrieves data much faster than a floppy disc or CD/DVD
• Stored items are not lost when you switch off the computer
• Cheap on a cost per megabyte compared to other storage devices

Question 2

What are the disadvantages of magnetic discs

Answer 2

• Far slower tot access data than ROM or RAM chips
• Hard discs can crash which stop the computer from working
• Regular crashes can damage the surface of the disc, leading to loss of data in that sector
• The disc is fixed inside the computer and cannot easily be transferred to another computer

Question 3

What are the different kinds of optical storage?

Answer 3

• CD ROM
• CD R
• CD RW
• DVD
• BluRay

Question 4

What are the advantages of CD R/ROM/RW

Answer 4

• small and portable
• very cheap to produce
• most computers can read CDs. if there is no CD drive, a DVD drive can usually read them
• fairly fast access to the data - quicker than a floppy disc or magnetic tape

Question 5

What are the disadvantages of CD R/ROM/RW

Answer 5

• fairly fragile, easy to snap or scratch
• smaller storage capacity than a hard drive or DVD
• slower access to the hard disc

Question 6

Why do BluRay discs have more storage than DVDs

Answer 6

BluRay discs use a blue laser where DVDs use a red one, the blue laser has a shorter wavelength so it can be focused more accurately