Unit 10: Magnetic storage

L Minh Trung
Nguyn Th Thy Dng

what are storage devices?

what do they do?
 Store data when computer is off
1.Type
Twoofprocesses
magnetic storage device
- writing data
- reading data

Floppy disk Hard disk drive External Magnetic tape

drive portable hard
drive

A 3.5 floppy drive and diskette
A floppy disk drive uses 3.5" disks, which can
store 1.44MB of data; it is usually assigned to
the A: drive. Floppy drives are becoming
increasingly rare.
The inside of a hard drive
Most PCs have one internal hard drive, usually
called C: drive. It is used to store the operating
system, the programs and the user's files in a
convenient way. A hard drive can hold hundreds
of gigabytes of data.
A portable external hard drive
External hard drives are connected to the USB
or FireWire port of the computer. They can be
as small as a wallet but can have as much
capacity as internal drives; they are typically
used for backup or as secondary storage.
Magnetic tapes
A tape drive reads and writes data on tapes. It is
sequential-access - i.e. to get to a particular
point on the tape, it must go through all the
preceding points. Tapes can hold hundreds of
gigabytes of data and are used for data
collection, backup and archiving.
2. How these magnetic storage device works?

Storage terms
Media is the material storing data
Storage devices manage the media
Magnetic devices use a magnet
== > All magnetic drives work the same
Magnetic Storage Devices
Data storage and retrieval
Media is covered with iron oxide
Read/write head is a magnet
Magnet writes charges on the media
Positive charge is a 1
Negative charge is a 0
Magnet reads charges
Drive converts charges into binary
Magnetic Storage Devices
Data organization
Disks must be formatted before use
Format draws tracks on the disk
Tracks is divided into sectors
Amount of data a drive can read
Tracks and Sectors
Magnetic Storage Devices
Finding data on disk
Each track and sector is labeled
Some are reserved
Listing of where files are stored
File Allocation Table (FAT)
FAT32
NTFS
Part of the drive stores a map of sectors that have
already been used up and others that are still free.
(In Windows, this map is called the File Allocation
Table or FAT.) When the computer wants to store
new information, it takes a look at the map to find
some free sectors. Then it instructs the read-write
head to move across the platter to exactly the right
location and store the data there.
Magnetic Storage Devices
 3. Structure of some magnetic storage devices

Floppy drive

Hard drive
 Hard drives
- A backing storage device
- Hard drives consist of
stacks of non-removable platters coated with magnetic materials each with
its own read/write head as shown in the photo.
- Hard disk drives are into desktops and laptops.

- The capacity of a hard disk is measured in gigabytes.

- Functions of hard disks: storing operating system, software, files

DRIVE Disk platter Spindle
STRUCTURE

Actuator arm

Read/
write
heads

Main components of
hard disk drive
1. Spindle
2. Circuit board
3. Actuator arm Circuit board
4. Disk platter
5. Read/ write head
Disks structure
How data is written onto/ read from a hard
drive?

1:05-2:02
PRECAUTIONS
How to protect hard drives

Dont hit or move hard drive while its spinning, because its very sensitive
to vibration and shocks, especially when the read/ write head is touching
the rotating disks, it can scratch and damage disk surface. This is known as
head crash
You shouldnt turn off the computer quickly. Wait for 10 seconds to ensure
that the drive has stopped spinning
Check hard drive regularly for logical and physical errors. To check and
repair a drive you can use a disk diagnosis utility like Window Scan Disk
To minimize the risk of data loss or corruption. You should install an up- to-
date virus scanner. You should also back up your hard drive regularly.