Topic 4: Computers Storing Data

Where Data is Stored Data can represent anything, from characters to sounds However, all data needs to be stored We can commonly store data in two places On a device we own On the ‘cloud’ We’re going to look at how both work

Storing Data Locally When storing data locally (on a device we own), we have a few options Internally on the computer Externally on a USB stick, hard-drive, or optical disk No matter what, the formats of storage are the same, and can be split into three categories Magnetic Optical Electrical

Magnetic Storage All forms of magnetic storage work off the same base Magnetic dots These magnetic dots can have two different polarities For 1 and 0 These polarities can be written and read using some mechanism (like a play head)

Magnetic Storage There are quite a few examples of magnetic storage Internal hard-drives External hard-drives Floppy disks

Optical Storage Optical storage works off light/visuals A disk can contain small dark pits (burned onto it by a write head) A dark pit represents 1 No pit represents 0 Often optical media cannot be written to twice

Optical Storage Examples of optical storage include CDs DVDs Blue-Rays

Electrical Storage Electrical storage works off of electricity Like a computer Certain electrical signals can be saved in transistors, even when not powered on This is EEPROM Examples include Solid-State Drives USB Flash Drives

Cloud Storage If we don’t want to store our data locally, we can store it on the ‘cloud’ Colloquialism for storing data on an external server The base idea of storing data is the same Data is still stored on some form of magnetic or electrical storage However, the data is stored not on our computer, but a company’s computer

Cloud Storage There is one big benefit of storing data on the cloud It is accessible from anywhere with Internet access Data is stored on a separate computer So you don’t need access to your local computer to get that data In modern times, in this Internet connected world, it is the preferred way of storing data

Cloud Storage Lots of companies offer cloud storage solutions these days Some even let us keep cloud-stored data synced to local-stored data This means changes we make on our computer are automatically ‘backed up’ to an external computer