Storage Media

Storage may be online or offline. Online storage is storage where the data is stored on a peripheral device that is directly under the control of the user such as a hard disk. Offline storage involves data that is stored on a peripheral device that is not directly under the users control such as a centralised database.

 

 

Some Storage Media used are: A hard disk. Which is made of metal or glass and covered with a thin layer of magnetic material. An optical disk: such as a CD-ROM which is made of polycarbonate plastic and etched using laser technology. CD-ROMs are 12 cm wide and DVDs are the same physical size but can store between 4.7 Gb to 17 Gb of information instead of 650 Mb of information which is stored on a CD A Removeable Cartridge: such as a Zip disk or Jazz disk. Are similar to floppy discs but can store anywhere from 100Mb to 250 Mb  for a zip disk and up to 2 Gb for a Jaz disc. Magnetic Tape: is like a cassette tape or an old reel to reel tape. It is sequential by its nature and is most commonly used for large backups.

 

More On Distributed Databases: Distributed Databases,

 

 

Related Topics (Information Systems) : DBMS, The 5 Types of Information Systems, Expert Systems, TPS, DSS, ES, MIS, OAS, Characteristics, computerised methods, non-computerised methods, flat file databases, relational databases, data modelling, URLs, storyboards, searching, HTML, backups, security methods, encryption, firewalls, virus' and virus scanners, passwords and security levels, social and ethical issues, data accuracy, data integrity, data validation, data bias, data reliability, privacy, ownership and control of data, access to data, data warehousing, data mining, freedom of information, acknowledgement of data sources, issues related to new trends, sequential access, direct access, distributed databases, storage media, querying, operators, wildcards, sorting, SQL, biometrics and ethical issues, face recognition

 

See Also: Knowledge Management, data mining,Information systems