Storage Devices

STORAGE DEVICE - any device used to store data

 

Data is stored as a named file on anytime time of staorage device

Computing devices avaliable in todays market:

 

Mobile Phone Storage 

Flash memory micro chip 

Tablet Computer storage 

Expand the performance of your tablet storage with a micro card to enjoy faster data retrieval and seamless media playback (high-speed microSDHC cards)

 

Smartphone Storage

Expand the capacity of a smartphone with a micro card to bring more favorite apps and mobile media wherever you go. (microSDHC™)

 

MP3 Player Storage

Expand music library and carry thousands of more songs on MP3 players with a microSD card slot using the expansive storage space of a micro card(microSDHC card)

Device	Capacity	Speed of access	Portable?	Durable?
USB Memory Stick	up to 512 GB	Fast	Yes	Yes
HDD - Hard Disk Drive	up to 3TB	Slow(er)	Yes/No	Yes
CD	700MB	Fast	Yes	No
DVD	8.5GB	Slow	Yes	No
Memory Card	512MB		Yes	Yes
SSD - Solid State Drive		Fast	Yes	Yes

 

 

 The Cloud Storage Vs Local Storage

The Cloud Storage: anywhere, any time, as long as you have Internet

It has become fixed in how we store, access, and share files, photos, videos, and more. What's not to like? Cloud storage, you can access your file anywhere from any device. They practically act as remote backups, for those cases when you lose, or delete, your local copy.

However, you do require an Internet connection for advance activities. You can edit, view, or do anything else with local copies stored on your device, but you need an Internet connection to upload, sync, and download any file. It's not always a problem but not all locations are created with great internet coverage. Should you have an Internet connection, you still have to be careful of bandwidth usage, downloading large media files all at once may not be appropreate. Although you could stream them but that depends on avaliability of Internet connection.

Another drawback is the question of security and privacy benefits that these cloud services offer. A big issue is the ability of third parties gaining access to your data or use your Internet traffic, with or without the knowledge of service providers. Anything you put out on the Internet; cloud storage, social networking, anything, is always open to theft.

 

Local Storage: fast and secure and fragile

Having the files and work you need right at your fingertips, almost literally, is a huge convenience. An advantage with local Storage compared to Clound storage is you dont have to worry about download or upload times, you are instanly able to watch videos without lag or buffering, also with the ability to listen to your tunes endlessly. To add, there is no need to worry about unwanted eyes and hands gainning access to your data. As long you keep contenet or source off the Internet, you have very little to worry about of the files. The security and privacy of your data is as strong as you allow it.
However you are limited to the amount of data you can store at a single time. The highest capacity of internal storage commonly found on smartphones are capped at 64 GB, the most common high capacity microSD card is 128 GB, but not all smartphones can even support that yet. You can expand your available storage with a useful combination of an external hard drive and a USB on-the-go (OTG) cable but is inconvenient. You end up, trying to decide which files you want to always be with you and files you would swap around with your computer or hard drive. Plus its not an exactly fast or easy way for sharing photos and files with others.

 

Apropriate storage devices 

·         Store a high definition movie -  DVD, BLU-RAY

·         Distribute some software that you’ve written - CD (inc. CD-R, CD-RW), DVD

·         Transfer GCSE Media coursework between home and school - USB Memory stick

·         Storage area on a college network - HDD

 

Factors that should be considered when selecting a suitable storage medium to use in a given situation:

• Capacity
• Speed
• Durability 
• Portability 
• Reliability

An example device that makes use of solid state memory storage would be a Memory Stick or USB Memory Card.

 

One benefit of using a magnetic storage device (a HDD) compared to a solid state device (SSD) for storing files on a network is the capacity, HDD has a much higher capacity than a SDD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fetch Decode Execute Cycle

Fetch Decode Execute

What does a computer do?

 A computer runs a computer program

What is a Program?

 A program is the sequence of instructions stored in 'memory' required to solve a specified problem.

 

The computer will typically perform the execution cycle when taking on any instruction.

 

There will be different parts :instruction memory, control unit, data memory and data processing / local storage.

 

Three main stages of the cycle include: FETCH -  DECODE -  EXECUTE



 

First, the CU fetches a single instruction and data from the main memory

 

             The instruction is decoded

 

The ALU executes the instruction

 

The ALU sends the result of the processing back to the control unit – this is stored in the memory unit.

 



CPU - Purpose and Functions of the CPU

 In a computer, what covers the microprocessor? Why is it nessasary?
The microprocessor is covered by a heat sink which prevents the risk of over heating the computer's processor after running a number of multiple programes at once. Without a quality heat sink, you could be at high risk of destrying your entire system, costin you hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

 The microprocessor contains integrated circuits that make up the CPU.

CPU =  Computer Prcoessing Unit

Computer Processing Unit is responsible for executing a sequence of instructions known as a program. The program will take inputs from an input device, process the input and output the results to an output device.

 

The CPU is hardware that executes programs and manages the rest of the computer system. It sits underneath the heat sink on the motherboard and is made up of millions of electrical switches called transistors.

 



Most electronic devices rely on CPU's for operation; mobile phones, DVD players and washing machines are examples of equipment that have a CPU.

 

The CPU contain different functions

• The control unit is in charge of processing. It interprets the software instruction and sends the right data and operation to the ALU. It accepts the result of the processing from the ALU and sends it back to the memory unit. The CU will keep track of the sequence of instructions and the location of each item of data and software instruction in the memory unit.
• The Arithmetic and Logic unit (ALU) carries out mathematical tasks rapidly, performs calculations and logic operations in binary form 1/0 on data from the memory unit. The ALU transforms the digital data and outputs the resulting value.
• Registers (Memory Unit) store items of data and send them to the ALU for processing. The result of the processing will be copied back to the memory unit for storage

 

 

 

Fetch Execute Cycle: Task 1

Fetch-Execute Cycle:

CPU are the initials that stand for Central Processing Unit

Three main components of the CPU:

• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
• Control Unit (CU)
• Registers.

In relation to computer architecture, buses transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers. 

There are different functions in the fetch-execute cycle:

• The Program Counter - incremented by 1 so that it now has the address of the next instruction. Controls the activities of the computer by executing (carrying out)
• The Address Bus - The memoryaddress of the instruction to be fetched istransmited from the program counter to the RAM through the address bus.
• The Data Bus - when the instructon is being executed. Data is transmitted from the RAM back to the instruction register in the CPU through the data bus.
• Decoder - In the countrol unit and works out what the intruction means and what has to be done to the data.
• The Arithmetic and Logic Unit - The control unit instructs the ALU to carry out and execute instructions by performing all the mathematical calculations of the CPU