COLLEGE OF BUSINESS EDUCTION

GROUP ASSIGNMENT: Describe storage capabilities of different devices.

Group members

1. DAUDI BELLA 02.1485.01.01.2016 *

2. ALLY SARAH SALIM 02.2493.01.01.2016
3. ASMA HASSAN ABEID 02.3268.01.01.2016
4. HUSSEIN AZIZA 02.9964.01.01.2016
5. BAUSI ABDI 02.3431.01.01.2016
6. LEONARD ALICIA 02.5286.01.01.2016
7. MPILI SABRINA 02.6978.01.01.2016
8. HENRY PATRICK MPUYA 02.2951.01.01.2016
9. NYANDA SELESTINE 02.7432.01.01.2016
10..

COURSE; DBA/MKT

SUBJECT; COMPUTER APPLICATION IN BUSINESS

 Storage; The retention of retrievable data on a computer or other electronic system. Also
the second of three stages in the memory process, involving mental processes associated with
retention of stimuli that have been registered and modified by encoding.

Storage capability; A device into which data can be entered, in which it can be held,
and from which it can be retrieved at a later time. The distinguishing characteristics of a
device are its capacity and the number of bytes it can hold, its access speed, whether it is
volatile (loses data when the power is turned off), removable or writeable. Common
examples are DRAM, hard disk, CD-ROM, Flash memory.

Types of storage; There are two main types of storage and they are as follows:

I. Primary storage
II. Secondary storage

Primary storage, also known as main storage or memory, is the area in a computer in
which data is stored for quick access by the computer's processor. The terms random access
memory (RAM) and memory are often as synonyms for primary or main storage.

Secondary storage, sometimes called auxiliary storage or external storage, is non-volatile

storage that is not under the direct control of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) or does
not directly interact with an application. Typically, secondary storage is used to back up primary
storage through replication or other data protection methods, which involves holding a secondary
copy of the data.

Storage capacity of device;

The storage capacity of storage devices varies from a few bytes to gigabytes. Super
external hard disk drives may have storage capacities of up to 2 terabytes. The size and
portability of the storage device is typically chosen based on its intended use. Examples of
storage devices are; floppy disks, USB flash drives, memory cards, memory sticks, tape
cassettes, zip cassettes, computer hard drives, CDs and DVDs, memory cards, tape cassettes etc.
External storage devices are used to move files from one computer to another, to back up a
computers data and to make copies of data
 STORAGE CAPABILITY OF DIFFERENT DEVICES

1. FLOPPY DISKS
These are also called as flexible disks. These are used in the smallest micro computer
systems as well as mini computers. Floppy disks have higher storage capacity and offer direct
access capability. The floppy disk is permanently sealed in a plastic coated jacket and the whole
package is inserted the floppy drive for data recording and retrieval. The jacket of the disk has a
small slot to permit the read/write head to contact the disk. They are 5.25 inch or 3.5 inch in
diameter. They come in single or double density and recorded on one or both surface of the
diskette. The capacity of a 5.25 inch floppy is 1.2 mega bytes whereas for 3.5 inch floppy it is
1.44 mega bytes. Once data has been recorded, a floppy disk reader can be used to enter data into
CPU. Again, the disk is loaded and rotated at a constant speed inside its envelope. Tiny magnetic
heads in the disk reader access data through the slot in the jacket.

2. MAGNETIC STORAGE DEVICE

Holds data even when the computer is turned off so the data can be used whenever needed.
Storage involves writing data to the medium and reading from the medium. Writing data
recording the data on the surface of the disk where it is stored for later use. Reading data,
retrieving data from the surface and transferring it into the computers memory for use.

3. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY

Or RAM is a type of computer memory that allows its stored information to be randomly
accessed by the CPU. This allows data to be retrieved much faster compared to other storage
locations such as a hard drive. Since information stored on RAM can be accessed quickly, active
files are temporarily stored there.
One may ask Why not store everything on RAM since its so fast? This brings us to another
fact about RAM. RAM is volatile. This means that RAM needs to be powered in order to keep
its data accessible. When the power is stopped or the computer is turned off, all the information
stored on RAM is lost. This is the reason we save our work to flash drives, DVDs, hard drives
and other forms of secondary storage. As you may recall, secondary storage is non-volatile.

4. READ ONLY MEMORY

Read-only memory or ROM is a type of computer memory on which data has been stored
during the manufacturing process. As the name suggests, this data can only be read. This data
cannot be removed and new data cannot be added. ROM is non-volatile. This means that ROM
retains its stored information even when the power is turned off. Because of this, ROM is used to
store vital information, such as the instructions to boot the computer. Two types of Read Only
Memory that you should be familiar with are PROM and EPROM.

5. PROGRAMMABLE READ ONLY MEMORY

Programmable Read Only Memory or PROM is a type of ROM that allows data to be
written to it only once. Unlike ROM chips that come pre-programmed with data, PROM is
manufactured with no stored data. A device called a PROM programmer is then used to write
information to the PROM chip. However, once this information is written to the chip, it cannot
be altered or erased.
 6. ERASABLE PROGRAMMABLE READ ONLY MEMORY
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory or EPROM is a type of ROM to which data can be
written but is capable of being erased and reprogrammed. The main difference between PROM
and EPROM is that PROM chips can only be programmed once and cannot be erased. EPROM
can be erased and written to using a special device called a PROM programmer.

7. HARD DISK
Hard disk is still the most common storage device for all computers. Like diskettes hard
drives store data in tracks divided into sectors. Physically however they look quite different to
diskettes Hard drives have become the primary storage devices for PCs because they are
convenient and cost effective. They outperform diskettes in both speed and capacity. Hard disks
offer capacities from several hundred MB and more. Most entry level PCs now come with hard
disks of at least 6.8MB to 500 GBs
 8. CD-ROM
The familiar audio compact disk is a popular medium for storing music. In the computer
world, the medium is called compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM). This uses the same
technology used to produce music CDs. Data is laid out on a CD-ROM disk in a long, continuous
spiral that starts at the outer edge and winds inwards towards the centre. Data is stored in the
form of lands, which are flat areas on the metals surface, and pits, which are depressions or
hollows. On a full CD-ROM the spiral of data stretches almost 3 miles long. A standard CD can
store 650 MB of data or about 70 minutes of audio.

9. DVD-ROM
Digital video (or versatile) disk read only memory, is a high-density medium capable of storing
a full-length movie on a single disk the size of a CD. Achieves such high storage capacities by
using both sides of the disk and special data compression technologies. The latest generation of
DVD-ROM use layers of data tracks; the laser beam reads data from the first layer and then
looks through it to read data from the second layer. Each side of a standard DVD-ROM can hold
up to 4.7 GB. Dual layer DVD-ROM can hold 17 GB of data.

10.TAPE DRIVE
Tape Drives Read and write data to the surface of a tape the same way as an audiocassette
difference is that a computer tape drive writes digital data. Best use of tape storage is for data
that is not used often, such as backup copies of your hard disk. Because a tape is a long strip of
magnetic material, the tape drive has to write the data to it serially 1 byte after another. This is
inherently slower than the direct access provided by media such as disks. When you want to
assess specific data on a tape the drive has to scan through all the data that you dont need to get
to the data that you want. Result slow access time. The access time varies depending on the
speed of the drive, length of tape and position on the tape to which the head wrote the data in the
first place Capacities of tapes can be as high as 100 GB and more, tape offers an inexpensive
way to store a lot of data on a single cassette
 11.Solid State Storage
Flash memory is a form of solid state memory. It was invented in the 1980s by the
Toshiba Company. Flash memory is a particular type of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable
Programmable Read Only Memory). It is a non-volatile memory. It retains the stored
information without requiring a power source. It is called solid state memory because it has no
moving parts. Flash memory is different from the regular EEPROM. In case of EEPROM data
are erased one byte at a time which makes it much slower. On the other hand, data stored in flash
memory can be erased in blocks. That is why it gets its name flash memory because the chip is
organized in such a way that a block of memory cells can be erased at a single time or flash.

Fig.1 Ssd from the inside fig.2 Ssd from the outside

12.Flash memory devices

Memory card, Memory cards are flash memory storage media used to store digital
information in many electronics products. The types of memory cards include compact flash,
secure digital card, multimedia card etc.
 13.Memory stick
Sony introduced memory stick standard in 1998. Memory stick is an integrated circuit designed
to serve as storage and transfer medium for digital data. It can store data in various forms as text,
graphics, digital images etc. transfer of data is possible between devices having memory stick
slots. Memory sticks are available in various storage sizes ranging from 4 MB to 64 MB. The
dimensions of a memory stick are 50 mm long, 21.5 mm wide and 2.8 mm thick (in case of pro
format). The transfer speed of memory stick is 160 Mb/s.

14. Smart Cloud Devices

This modern version of external storage goes beyond traditional uses of storing information;
this device can be used as a portable power bank, and a portable wireless router. The 3 in 1
functionality allows users flexibility. The device has a 128 GM memory and is compatible with
iPhone and Android smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs.
Reference;

o Group discussion
o International computer driving, 2008
o Computer organization and design fourth edition, 2008
o Structured computer fifth edition, 2007