Storage Device and how many types

The device used to store data is called storage device.

It is also known as Storage, Storage Medium, Digital Storage, or Storage Media.

Storage device works to keep data either temporarily or permanently. This computer Can be used anywhere inside or outside the system.

Storage device is a main component for any computing device which is available in different shapes and sizes according to different needs and functions.

For example, the storage media in a computer device hard disk, RAM And ROM It comes in different forms and its functions are also different.

types of computer storage devices

The storage devices used in computers are mainly of four types.

1. Primary Storage Device
2. Secondary Storage Device
3. Tertiary Storage Device
4. Off-line Storage Device

1. Primary Storage Devices

They help to store data temporarily and are very small in size, due to which it computer I fit inside.

RAM And Cache memory is an example of a primary storage device. This computer Also called main memory.

• These primary storage devices are also called main memory.
• This is the direct memory that is accessible by the Central Processing Unit (CPU), that too via a memory bus.
• These storage devices are volatile.
• Their memory is temporary, that is, as soon as the device is switched off or rebooted, then their memory gets erased.

Example

2. Secondary Storage Devices

It is capable of storing as much data as possible permanently. It is used to store data permanently.

Generally, storage devices have the capacity to store data from Megabyte to Petabyte. This device stores almost all types of data, programs and applications.

These Secondary Storage Devices are such storage devices that are not directly accessible by the Central Processing Unit.

• Input and Output Channels are used in this type of storage devices to connect with the computer as they are mainly external.
• They are non-volatile as compared to primary storage devices and together they have more storage capacity.
• This type of storage is Permanent unless removed by External Factor.
• Both internal and external memory are found in these.

Example:

hard disk USB Storage Device and Optical Disk Drive, Secondary Storage Device

3. Tertiary Storage Devices

These Tertiary Storage Devices are not that important and often they are not even part of the personal computer.

• It has often been found that a robotic mechanism is used in this which mounts or dismounts removable mass storage media in a storage device.
• Robotic functions are used in this type of storage device.
• It does not require repeated human intervention and it is capable of doing its work automatically.
• It is a comprehensive computer storage system that is very slow, so it is often used to archive data that is not frequently accessed.

Example:

• Magnetic Tape
• optical disc

4. Off-line Storage Devices

• These Offline Storage Devices are also called Disconnected Storage.
• It is a computer data storage that is not under the control of the processing unit.
• Before a computer can access it again, it has to be connected by a human.
• This type of storage device is also called Disconnected or Removable Storage.

Example:

• Floppy Disk
• Zip Diskette
• USB Flash Drive
• memory card

Some other types of computer storage devices

1. Magnetic Storage Device

Nowadays Magnetic Storage Device is usually found in Hybrid High Drive or very large HDD. Some examples of magnetic storage devices are given below.

(i). Floppy Disk Drive

Floppy Disk Drive is also known as Floppy. The disk drives that are used for floppy disks are called Floppy Drivers.

Floppy disk takes a lot of time to access and at the same time its storage capacity is also very less but one advantage of using floppy disk is that they are very cheap.

Floppy disk drive is being used very less in today’s time. Network file transfer USB has replaced it.

(ii). Hard Disk Drive

Hard disk drive is used to store data permanently. it directly to the computer Motherboard The disk is connected to the controller.

Usually it is inside the computer which is known as secondary storage device.

(iii). magnetic card

Magnetic card is also called magnetic stripe card. use this Credit Card or passcode. You must have seen that even in hotels nowadays the magnetic card is used as the key.

(iv). Super Disk

Imation corporation developed the technology of disk storage. Super Disc is also known as L7-240 and L7-120.

This drive was the most popular in OAM computers and a disk had the capacity to store up to 120 MB of data. Later it started storing 240 MB of data.

(v). Tape Cassette

A tape cassette is a rectangular and flat container that stores data. It is less expensive than other storage media. It is commonly used in Voice Recording.

(vi). Zip Drive

Zip disk is a device to store high quality data. Zip disk was used to store and protect that data by backing up the data inside the computer.

There is no use of Zip Drive in today’s time and it is not used in today’s time.

2. Flash Memory Device

Flash memory device is affordable as well as portable. The names of some Flash Memory Devices are given below.

(i). USB Flash Drive

A USB flash drive is a portable device. It is used to store data. whom pen drive Also known as thumb drive, data stick and kitchen drive. it’s in the computer USB are connected through the port.

(ii). memory card

Memory cards are commonly used in digital cameras, printers, MP3 players, PDAs, digital camcorders, game consoles, and handheld computers. It is also used to store photos, videos.

(iii). Compact Flash

Compact flash is a type of flash memory commonly found in digital cameras, PDAs, and other portable devices. Earlier Compact Flash could store data up to a few Megabytes but today can store data up to a few Gigabytes.

(iv). Multimedia Card

Multimedia card or MMC is an integrated circuit. Which is used in Printer, PDA, MP3 Player and Digital Camera. It stores the data in electronic form.

(v). Sony Memory Stick

It was first introduced by Sony company in October 1998. It has been designed for digital storage in the camera. Almost all Sony products that use fresh media use memory sticks.

(vi). Smart Media Card

Smart media card includes flash memory chip which works to store data. Toshiba made the first smart media card and its storage capacity ranged from 2 MB to 128 MB.

(vii). XD Picture Card

The XD Picture card is a flash memory card introduced by Olympus and Fuji in 2002. The XD card was the smallest flash memory until the Mini SD card was introduced in 2003.

The H and M/M+ storage capacities of the XD Picture cards were up to 2GB.

(viii). SD Card

The full name of SD card is Secure Digital Card. It is a memory having more storage capacity with smaller size. It is often used in small portable devices such as cell phones, digital cameras, digital video camcorders, MP3 players, etc.

(xi). SSD

The full name of SSD is Solid State Drive. It is a type of secondary storage device that can store a large amount of data permanently, similar to HDD.

But SSD does not have any mechanical parts like HDD, semiconductor chip is used to store data in it.

They are faster than hard disk drives and at the same time use less power.

(x). NVMe

NVMe is a new storage access and transport protocol that provides the highest throughput and fastest response for all types of enterprise workloads.

It works with PCI Express (PCIe) to transfer data from SSD.

3. Optical Storage Device

This storage device is used to later execute or retrieve the stored data.

The names of some optical disk drives are given below:

• Blu ray disc
• CD ROM Disk
• CD-R and CD-RW Disk

Storage Device FAQ

Some important questions related to storage devices and their answers are given below.

1. What is cloud storage?

We can store data online in Cloud Storage. You can access it in any device with your login id and password. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive are an example of cloud storage.

In the present time storing data online is becoming more popular because in this digital world people can need their data from any place.

2. What is paper storage?

In the early days of computers, no technology was invented to store information, so one had to rely on paper to store information.

In today’s time, storage is rarely used anywhere.

There are two types of paper storage.

3. Which storage devices are used?

Storage devices may be of different types but most of the storage devices mentioned above are not in use.

In today’s time, most computers mainly use SSD to store data along with flash drives and cloud storage.

Some laptops and desktop computers use hard disk drives. Contains CD and DVD.

4. Is the storage device an input and output device?

Storage devices are not considered as input and output devices.

Even though they have the ability to store data but it is not an input and output device.

They are known as storage devices instead of input and output devices because they help in reading and storing data.

5. Why is a storage device needed?

If the computer will not have any storage device then it will not be able to collect any kind of information and the computer will be considered as a dumb terminal.

A computer can run without a storage device but can only see or read information in it, cannot store information as data.

6. What is the storage location in the computer?

When you store any type of information in a computer, it asks you where to store that information. Where you want to store this information, then wherever you will store this information, it is a storage location.

If you want to move this information to another device, you can move it from a USB flash drive to another device.

7. Why the need for separate storage devices?

As the use of computers is increasing, so are the changes in storage devices to store more data.

Different storage devices are used to store different types of information.

As soon as new storage devices are invented, people replace the old device with new storage device, so the need of the old machine is eliminated and their use is stopped.

With the invention of the CD ROM drive, the use of floppy diskettes decreased.

Similarly, the use of CD ROM decreased with the advent of DVD drive and later the use of DVD drive decreased with the advent of Flash drive.

IBM The first hard disk drive (which had a storage capacity of only 5 MB) was priced at $50,000.

In today’s time, we have smartphones that have more storage capacity at a lower cost, which can be easily carried in the pocket as well.

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