Various Types Of Storage Devices

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Andrea Nicholson January 12, 2012 TB145 Wk. 3 WA1 Various Types of Storage Devices Data storage is an important task performed by computers. Devices that are used to store information use different technologies and store information for a certain period of time. Computer data storage devices store information in digital forms. Data storage types are classified according to the basic task they perform, i.e. whether the storage device is used as a memory or it is used as a secondary storage device. Also, there are other different types of data storage devices used in the computers to store data. Let us take a look at these types in detail. The three basic computer data storage types are primary storage, secondary storage and tertiary storage. Primary Storage Basically, primary storage is the memory part of the computer itself. Primary storage includes the Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). Random Access Memory (RAM) Random access memory is used as a scratch pad by the computer processor to store information temporarily. The random access memory is a volatile memory that loses information as soon as you turn off the computer. However, the access rate of this type of memory is greater than the read only type of memory. Access rate of the memory is the time required by to get an access to the memory. Also, RAMs are a bit more expensive than the read only memory. Read Only Memory Read only memory (ROM) is a type of data storage that is used to store information permanently. Either the data is stored in this type of memory at the time of manufacturing or is stored by the computer user. But the data in this type of data storage cannot be changed once written (non-volatile). The access rate of this type of primary storage is less than that of the RAM. Lastly, the ROMs are not as expensive as the RAMs. Secondary Storage Hard disks,

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