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Data Storage Devices

Data storage devices are any piece of computer hardware used to record some sort of information. Questions about storage devices and the media on which they record information belong here.

1,624 Questions

You want to set up your desktop system to use a solid state drive but the only solid state drives you can find are 2.5 inch drives intended for laptops. what do you do?

The easiest method is to use a solid drive inside an external enclosure, and plug into the desktop using a USB cable. This means the original internal hard drive is not affected and can still be used.

If the solid drive is to replace the internal hard drive, then the main points are: ensure the power and data plugs pulled off the hard drive will fit the sold drive - probably sata type. Also, the smaller size (2.5) doesn't matter as it can be held in the rack by various means, a special fitting, or simply laid in the rack without fasteners (a desktop is not usually moved as a laptop would be).

How can cache be used to improve performance when reading data from a storage device?

If the data is not in the cache already the storage device sends the data requested to a cache, which results in a wait stage, when the data has been copied to the cache it can then be transferred to the requesting device. Caches have faster transfer rates than that of your typical storage devices, thus when the request is sent to the cache for the data it can be transferred a lot faster than if it is transferred from the storage device, the data is then also not deleted immediately so if the data is required again, there is no wait stage and the data can be transferred immediately.

Why did floppy disks lose credibility?

They haven't lost credibility, but they have lost all purpose. They are no longer used because CD's and DVD's can hold a lot more information and are a lot more durable.

What is computer storage removal?

It is when a storage device is removed from a computer. Examples of common storage devices that are often removed from computers today are...

- solid state USB devices (aka jump drives or thumb drives)

- solid state storage cards (aka SD cards)

- CD/DVD recordable or rewritable media (aka CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+-R, etc.)

- hard disk drives (aka hard drives, HDDs, disk drives)

What is the differences between primary storage device and second storage device?

Primary Storage Device are the memory devices Like RAM. These are generally volatile i.e the data stored by them gets destroyed when the computer restarts or is turned off.There are available in the capacity 1GB, 2GB,4GB but there capacity is significantly lower then secondary storage device.They are also faster than Secondary storage devices.

Secondary Storage device retain the data even when the computer is turned off. HDD, FDD,CDs/DVDs/Tape Media, Pen Drive are example of these type.They are available in high capicity i.e. 160GB, 500GB , 1TB etc.

How data is stored on storage devices?

On DVD's there are little bumps that a laser reads on the silver side of the DVD

On memory cards a laser reads the 1's and 0's that your divce puts on it.

-:)

How many reams of paper hold a terabyte of information?

There is no simple answer to this as the information can be printed on the paper in many different ways, some human readable and some not. And using human readable formats there is no well defined way to say how many bits each character represents. Also you need to consider printed photographs, which have different resolutions and numbers of bits per pixel. It also is an issue whether or not the bits must be able to be read losslessly without error back into a computer.

Describe a stiffy disk?

In South Africa, "a stiffy" is a 3.5" computer disk. You know, the smaller ones with the hard case, as opposed to "a floppy" - the 5.25" big thin ones that bend. In the UK, 'a stiffy' is slang for an, um, erection. It leads to all sorts of embarassing confusion when South African IT people working in London ask their clients if they have a stiffy. Of course, these diskettes are becoming redundant, so there won't be this confusion with 'flash' drives. Oh wait...

How does the computer manage memory?

It's not your computer per say; u have a memory unit which is called a hard drive that which holds your memory.

What is the benefit of understanding about memory and storage?

If you know what kind of memory, (RAM) your going to get, you can make it even more advanced, or get a higher amount of it. The theory is, the more RAM you have, the faster your computer will go. If you know more about storage, (Hard Disk Drive) you can know what size you need, depending on what you plan to do with the computer. A 40 GB Hard Drive won't do much, it's basically just used for basic web browsing. An 80 GB does that, and can maybe store a few documents. A 120 GB Hard Drive can do some downloads too. A 160 GB Hard Drive will do all that, plus some light video editing. A 250 GB Hard Drive will do more heavy video editing, and some music editing. A 500 GB Hard Drive can do more heavy music editing, and a lot larger programs. 1 TB will be more than you will ever need, but it supports tons of heavy programs, downloads, video and music editing, huge amounts of web browsing, and have large document storage. 2 TB, and you'll never have to worry about running out of space ever again. Hope this helps! SeanHolshouser

How does a portable DVD player work?

Portable DVD players play DVDs using a digital scanner eye. The scanner eye is located inside the DVD player, and it scans the DVD as it turns. Then, it transfers the images to the screen.

How do you hook up old CPU to access from new computer as spare storage drive?

Hi there,First things first - BACKUP ALL IMPORTANT FILES !!!!!Second things second - UNPLUG ALL CABLES AND USE A ANTI-STATIC STRAP !!!Third things third - I ACCEPT NO LIABILITY FOR THE LOSS/DAMAGE TO ANY DATA SYSTEMS THROUGH FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS INCORRECTLY - ALL REPAIRS ARE UNDERTAKEN AT THE READERS RISK !!

Now,The best way to do this is to remove the hard drive which is storing all the information you require from the old computer and install it into the main computer as a second hard drive. This way you don't have to have 2 computers running at the same time. You also don't have to go buying any unnecessary external hard drives, Unless you need to increase the amount of storage space that is.

1st:Open the case of the old computer by removing the screws holding the outer casing to the chassis. Depending on the case this will either come off as an entire outer casing or as a single side panel. ( usually the left hand side as you look at the front of the PC)

2nd:Locate the hard drive. It looks the same shape as a small book and will be screwed into a small cradle-like part of the chassis. Now remove the 2 cables connected to the drive, making sure to pull them out straight so as not to bend any of the pins. Remove the screws from both sides taking care not to let the drive drop. Then slowly remove the drive. The label on top will confirm that you've removed the "Hard Drive". If it says CD-Rom then your book is too big. Look for one a bit smaller. Approx 3.5" x 6" x 1" roughly.

3rd:The last thing to remember before installing a hard drive is to make sure that the jumpers on the drive are configured properly. Basically, there will be between 6 and 10 small pins all together between where the 2 cables were plugged into the drive. There will be a small plastic jumper connecting 2 of the pins. This tells the drive how to work correctly with whatever PC it is connected to. If you look at the edge of the drive just above the pins or on the label itself then there will either be small diagrams or lines referring to which 2 pins must be connected to configure for either of these 3 modes;1)Master - the main drive that usually contains the Operating system2)Slave - An additional drive usually used for storage3)Cable Select - this means that the ID of the drive (master/slave) is determined by which connector on the IDE(flat looking cable from motherboard to hard drive) cable it is connected to. The one on the end being the master and the middle one being the slave.For this project we want to use the drive as an additional storage drive. Therefore move the jumper over the pins on the end of the hard drive to correspond to the 'Slave' option.

4th:Repeating the same process to open the case of your existing PC (BE AWARE THAT IF YOU HAVE A WARRANTY STILL VALID THIS WILL INVALIDATE IT!!! - YOUR CASE CAN ONLY BE OPENED BY THE COMPANY YOU BOUGHT IT OFF FOR ANY REASON IF YOU WANT TO KEEP THE WARRANTY VALID!!) but this time you are installing a drive.Now you should have a simliar type of caddy holding the main drive of your current PC. This caddy should have additional spaces for additional drives. Fit the drive in one of the spare spaces, if possible leave a gap between drives to improve airflow and cooling. At this point stop for a moment and think of where the cable will be placed and whether it can reach the 2 drives if they are using the same cable.You will have 2 IDE connectors ( long thin rectangular connectors ) on your motherboard. Now depending on how stingy the manufacturer was these cables can look pretty different. Quick info on IDE: each connector has 2 channels, the master and slave that we talked about earlier. Now the drive that contains the operating system MUST be the Primary Master for the PC to boot.You will probably see if you look in your current PC's case now that the drive is connected to the end of the cable and connected to the motherboard connector marked 'Primary' or 'IDE1'.Just so you know... The best places for your main drives are as followsIf only one CD drive then use secondary master... if using 2 CD drives (CD ROM/DVD ROM & CD-RW/DVD-RW for example the the Writer should be made the Secondary master and the reading CD drive should be placed as the PRIMARY Slave. I have found this to be better when copying from one CD to another.If you are installing a second Hard Drive as we are then I advise you to use the Secondary Slave. Only problem here, I hear 50% of people crying out is that there is only 1 IDE cable inside your particular PC and its connected to the Primary connector on the Motherboard and the Main Hard drive is connected to the end of the cable and the CD Drive is the Primary Slave. This is what happens when the manufacturer tries to cut costs and means you now have to go out and buy an extra IDE Cable from your local PC store. They're only a few pounds though. There are actually better cables that you can get that have round tubing between the connectors. They are a few quid more expensive as they reduce the pain of having to try and twist the flat ones round later on and they help increase airflow throughout your PC to stop overheating. Remember you're adding another heat source into your PC!... might be worth that extra few quid.

So, taking all that into account... you should now have the second drive set to run as slave by changing the jumper on the drive and have routed the IDE cables so that they can all connect to the correct drives. Now install the drive by screwing it into the chassis and connecting one of the IDE Slave (middle) cable connectors to the drive MAKING SURE that the red wire which signifies wire 1 matches the location of pin1 on the drive which is usually marked and generally is the end of the IDE connector on the hard drive next to the pins where you changed the jumper before. Now insert a spare power connector from the power supply into the additional hard drive.

If you have followed these steps correctly then you should now have completed the hardware changes. Apart from sticking the case back on obviously but only do that when everythings working right and tested.

Now plug in all the wires to the back of the computer again and power up.

5th:Now, one of 2 things is going to happen. 1) The new drive will be recognised by the BIOS ( black screen with white writing when you first start the PC). In which case windows will continue to load and when you login you should see your additional drive in My Computer and see all your files. Job's a goodun'!! or 2) It won't. lol, all is not lost though as the BIOS may only be programmed to look on the motherboard for the devices it already knows are there and not look for new ones. PROBLEM HERE THOUGH - If you are only pretending that you have some idea of what you're doing here then stop and get a PC techie type friend to do this part. Otherwise continue at your own risk - blowing the BIOS can mean having a new motherboard, and if its not a new PC that could mean having to replace the processor and the memory aswell these days! So be warned!

BIOS:When your PC first boots up there will somewhere on screen be a reference to how to get into BIOS or SETUP. Usually this is the delete key. What you need to do is confirm which key it is asking for then press it at the right time. The right time by the way is when you can see the reference on screen and the keyboard lights have just flashed for the first time signifying that the keyboard is now active. Basically, as soon as the keyboard works.Once you've hit the right key and you are presented by usually a blue screen saying BIOS at the top then see if there is a reference on the right hand column to AUTO DRIVE DETECTION or something similar. If there is this will make things easier. Using the arrow keys move the cursor to highlight this then hit enter. The detection should run through the Primary and Secondary connectors on both the Master and Slave channels. It should find the main hard drive first and when referring to hard drives it will give you 3 options when it finds it. The options will appear as a string of numbers which basically refer to the size and configuration of the drive. The LBA method is best and is usually number 2. If this matches with what you see then hit 2. It will move to the slave channel next, then the secondary master then the secondary slave on which it should find the new drive you have just installed. Once again pick the LBA(2) mode if available.

If the Auto Detect option does not appear in the right hand column then at the top left you should have standard BIOS or something simlilar, entering this you should see references to the pri/sec & Mas/Sla options. reference to the connectors that have not changed are not important. Select the secondary slave and hit enter and then hit enter again for auto detection and the BIOS should then see your new hard drive. If you have moved other drives around to different modes then run the auto detection on all 4 channels just to update the BIOS. Doesn't do any harm.Now, to save your changes, hit escape till you get back to the main screen. If you hit escape too many times then you will get asked if you wanna quit without saving any changes - too far... hit escape again to get back to the menu and then select 'Exit Saving Changes' or hit F10 and then confirm that you wanna save. The computer will now reboot and you will have a new drive when you login.

Hope this has helped solve this problem.

Tim SimpsonPC's on DemandEdinburgh, Scotland, UKwww.pcsondemand.co.UK

What is WORM secondary storage technology?

Write Once Read Many (WORM) is technology that includes CD-R, DVD + or - R discs and also a magnetic tape cartridge type of storage.

Which of the following are considered removable storage media?

Computers use a variety of types of media, including hard disk drives, USB drives, CD-ROMS and DVDs. All are considered removable media except the hard disk drives, which typically are placed permanently inside the computer.

Which Army regulation would be referenced to properly mark removable AIS storage media?

There are many branches of the Army and each of them have different jobs. The AR 380-5 Department of the Army would be referenced to properly mark removable AIS storage media.