Secondary Storage

External hardrives

This is very portable, slightly costly however can store anything from a word document to a whole game or application. It is very quick and are very riliable.

Definition

Secondary storage, sometimes called auxiliary storage, is all data storage that is not currently in a computer's primary storage or memory. An additional synonym is external storage.

Magnetic Storage

Magnetic storage and magnetic recording are terms from engineering referring to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory. The information is accessed using one or more read/write heads. As of 2011, magnetic storage media, primarily hard disks, are widely used to store computer data as well as audio and video signals. In the field of computing, the term magnetic storage is preferred and in the field of audio and video production, the term magnetic recording is more commonly used. The distinction is less technical and more a matter of preference. Other examples of magnetic storage media include floppy disks, magnetic recording tape, and magnetic stripes on credit cards.

Need for secondary storage

Secondary storage can be used as a back up for all your computer files incase your computer crashes or files are permanantely deleted accidentely. It can also be used for transferring large documents to a different computer system without use of the internet,

Optical storage

Optical storage is a term from engineering referring to the storage of data on an optically readable medium. Data is recorded by making marks in a pattern that can be read back with the aid of light, usually a beam of laser light precisely focused on a spinning disc. An older example, that does not require the use of computers, is microform. There are other means of optically storing data and new methods are in development.

Solid state

Solid state storage (SSS) is a type of computer storage media that is made from silicon microchips. SSS stores data electronically instead of magnetically as with spinning hard disk drives or magnetic oxide tape.