COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

LESSON 2:
COMPONENTS OF COMPUTER SYSTEM

Objective Organization of Computer

The objective of this lesson is to give you insight in to: To have the better insight of computers, lets discuss the basic
• To make the student what constitutes a computer structure of a computer system. The diagram of a generalized
architecture of a computer system A computer system has the
• To understand organization of computer
following main components:
• To evaluate the need of input and output devices and of
• Input Unit/Devices
memory
• Output Unit/Devices
Introduction
So, we have no doubt that computer affects our lives in many • Central Processing Unit
ways by increasing our efficiency and enhance our ability. But • Memory Unit/Storage Devices
exactly what do computers do? Simply, computer solves the All these components are basically the integral parts of general-
problems. In this topic we will learn about elements of the purpose computers. These may be the Desktop systems or
computer hardware, software and the relationship between Workstations.
them. Storage
Unit
Components of Computer
Before we start with components of computer, lets be sure that Secondary
computer is itself is a system. And like every system, it also has Storage
some entities working together to achieve common goal. These
Input device Output device
entities may be acting as sub systems and thus are integral part Primary
for complete system or for computer. These components or Storage

entities can be classified into two broad categories as:

• Hardware
• Software Control Unit

Hardware
Hardware refers to any physical component of a computer. For A.L.U
example, CPU, Monitor, Keyboard, Hard Disk, Floppy Disk,
Printer, etc. Are physical components and thus, is hardware. Central Processing Unit

Software Registers

Software refers to the programs, which are required to operate

the computer. In other words, we can describe software as the
We know that the computer is a machine that processes the
logical entity, which enables the physical entities (hardware) to
input data according to a given set of instructions and gives the
function properly.
output. Before a computer does processing, it must be given
An analogy of hardware can be the book, which you are reading, data and instructions. After processing, the output must be
and then software would be the text written on this book. displayed or printed by the computer. The unit used for getting
Another analogy could be ‘brain’ is hardware but ‘memory the data and instructions into the computer and displaying or
stored in brain’ is software. printing output is known as an Input/Output Unit (1/0 Unit).
E.g. of software, which you come across daily, are: Windows, There are many peripheral devices, which are used as input/
Internet Explorer or any other Browser, Messenger etc. output units for the computer. The most common form of
Both hardware and software are dependent on each other. CPU, input device is known as a terminal. A terminal has an elec-
Memory Unit, Hard Disk etc. are useless unless they are tronic typewriter like device, called keyboard along with a display
provided with instructions and data for storage and processing. screen, called Visual Display Unit (VDU) or monitor. Keyboard
Similarly, Windows, Internet Explorer or any other Browser, is the main input device while the monitor can be considered
Messenger etc. has no importance unless they are used along both as an input as well as an output device. There are some
with various hardware components of the computer. other common input devices like mouse, punched card, tape,
joystick, scanner, modem etc., which are explained in the next
chapter. Monitor, printer and plotter are the main peripheral
devices used as output units for the computer.

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Central Processing Unit simple terms, CPU is allocated one or more clock cycles to

COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the main component or complete a micro-operation. CPU executes the instructions in
“brain” of a computer, which performs all the processing of synchronization with the clock pulse. The clock speed of CPU is
input data. Its function is to fetch, examine and then execute measured in terms of Mega Hertz (MHz) or Millions of Cycles
the instructions stored in the main memory of a computer. In per second. The clock speed of CPU varies from one model to
microcomputers, the CPU is built on a single chip or integrated another in the range 4.77 MHz (in 8088 processor) to 266 MHz
Circuit (IC) and is called as a Microprocessor. The CPU consists (in Pentium II). CPU speed is also specified in terms of
of the following distinct parts: Millions of instructions Per Second (MIPS) or Million of
• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) Floating Point Operations Per Second (MFLOPS).
• Control Unit (CU) Now these days we have clock speeds of CPU which in
Gigahertz. E.g. we have Pentium IV having a clock speed of
• Registers
3.04GHz, or AMD Athlon having speed of 2.7GHz.
• Buses
Storage Unit / Memory Unit
• Clock
Memory Unit is that component of a computer system, which
Arithmetic Logic Unit is used to store the data, instructions and information before,
The arithmetic and logic unit of CPU is responsible for all during and after the processing by ALU. It is actually a work
arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication area (physically a collection of integrated circuits) within the
and division as well as logical operations such as less than, equal computer, where the CPU stores the data and instructions. It is
to and greater than. Actually, all calculations and comparisons also known as a Main/Primary/internal Memory.
are performed in the arithmetic logic unit. Storage unit also consist of storage devices, which stores the
Control Unit data on permanent basis. I.e. unless or until we want to delete
The control unit is responsible for controlling the transfer of the data by ourselves the data will be available even if the power
data and instructions among other units of a Computer. It is goes off. Hard disks, Compact Disks, Floppy disks are the
considered as the “Central Nervous System” of computer, as it examples of secondary storage devices.
manages and coordinates all the units of the computer. It Input Devices
obtains the instructions from the memory, interprets them and Input Devices are used to input data, information and instruc-
directs the operation of the computer. It also performs the tions into the RAM. We may classify these devices into the
physical data transfer between memory and the peripheral following two broad categories:
device.
• Basic Input Devices
Registers • Special Input Devices
Registers are small high-speed circuits (memory locations),
which are used to store data, instructions and memory ad- We are discussing below the structure and function of the
dresses (memory location numbers), when ALU performs common input devices of these two categories in details.
arithmetic and logical operations. Registers can store one word Basic Input Devices
of data (1 word = 2 bytes & 1 byte = 8 bits. Depending on the The input devices, which have now days become essential to
processor’s capability, the number and type of registers vary operate a PC, may be called as Basic Input Devices. These
from one CPU to another. Registers can be divided into six devices are always required for basic input operations. These
categories viz. General Purpose Registers, Pointer Registers, devices include Keyboard and Mouse.
Segment Registers, Index Registers, Flags Register and Instruc-
Keyboard
tion Pointer Register, depending upon their functions.
Keyboard (similar to a typewriter) is the main input device of a
Buses computer. It contains 3 types of keys - alphanumeric keys,
Data is stored as a unit of eight bits (BIT stands for Binary special keys and function keys. Alphanumeric keys are used to
Digit i.e. 0 or 1) in a register. Each bit is transferred from one type all alphabets, numbers and special symbols like $, %, @, A
register to another by means of a separate wire. This group of etc. Special keys such as
eight wires, which is used as a common way to transfer data <Shift>,<Ctrl>,<Alt>,<Home>,<Scroll Lock> etc are used
between registers, is known as a bus. It is actually a connection for special functions. Function keys such as <Fl>, <F2>,
between two components to transmit signal between them. <F3> etc. used to give special commands depending upon the
Bus can be of three major types viz. Data Bus, Control Bus software used. We can understand the function of each and
and Address Bus. The data bus is used to move data, address every key actually by working on a PC. When any key is pressed,
bus to move address or memory location and control bus to an electronic signal is produced. This signal is detected b a
send control signals between various components of a keyboard encoder that sends a binary code corresponding to the
computer. key pressed to the CPL There are many types of keyboards but
101 Keys Keyboard is the most popular one.
Clock
Clock is another important component of CPU, which
measures and allocates a fixed time slot for processing each and
every micro-operation (smallest functional operation). In

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 Light Pen
COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

Light pen (similar to a pen) is a pointing device, which is used

to select a displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor
screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system placed in
a small tube. When its tip is moved over the monitor screen
and pen button is pressed, its photocell-sensing element detects
the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the
CPU.

A Keyboard
Mouse
Mouse (similar to a mouse) is another important input device.
It is a pointing device used to move cursor, draw sketches/
diagrams, selecting a text/object/menu item etc. on monitor
screen while working on windows (graphics based environment
of a computer). Mouse is a small, palm size box containing 3
buttons and a ball underneath, which senses the movement of
the mouse and sends the corresponding signals to CPU on
pressing the buttons.

A Light Pen

Touch Screen
A Mouse Some special VDU devices have touch sensitive screens. These
Special Input Devices screens are sensitive to human fingers and act as tactile input
The input devices, which are not essential to operate a PC, are devices. Using touch screen, the user can point to a selection on
called as Special Input Devices. These devices are used for the screen instead of pressing keys. Touch screen helps the user
various special purposes and are generally not required for basic in getting the information quickly. It is mainly used in hotels or
input operations. These devices include Trackball, Light Pen, airports to convey information to visitors.
Touch Screen, Joystick, Digitizer, Scanner, OMR, OCR, Bar
Code Reader, MICR and Voice Input Devices.
Trackball
A trackball looks like a mouse, as the roller is on the top with
selection buttons on the side. It is also a pointing device used
to move the cursor and works like a mouse. For moving the
cursor in a particular direction, the user spins the ball in that
direction. It is sometimes considered better than a mouse,
because it requires little arm movement and less desktop space.
It is generally used with Portable computers.

A Touch Screen
Joystick
Joystick is also a pointing device, which is used to move cursor
position on a monitor screen. Joystick is a stick having a
spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower
spherical ball moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in
all four directions. The function of joystick is similar to that of
A Track ball

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a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing Optical Mark Reader (OMR)

COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

(CAD) and playing computer games. Optical Mark Reader (OMR) is a special type of optical scanner
used to recognize the type of mark made by pen or pencil. It is
used where one out of a few alternatives is to be selected and
marked. It is especially used for checking the answer sheets of
examination having multiple-choice questions. The answer
sheet contains special marks such as squares or bubbles. The
student fills in these squares with soft pencil or ink to indicate
the correct choice 1.The OMR detects these marks and sends
corresponding signals to the processor. If a mark is present,
the amount of reflected light is reduced and thus, OMR detects
A Joystick the presence of mark for each and every answer. Optical Mark
Readers are widely used for almost all competitive examinations
Digitizer having objective type questions.
Digitizer is used to create drawings and pictures using a digitizer
tablet by a process called digitizing, Digitizing is a process by
which graphic representations are converted into digital data.
The digitizer consists of 3 main parts - a flat surface called
tablet, a small hand held mouse-like device called puck and a
special pen like device called stylus. The puck is used to input
existing drawings into the computer. The stylus is used to trace
existing drawings placed on the tablet. It is also used to draw
new drawings on a piece of paper placed on the tablet. The user
makes contact to the tablet with stylus. As the stylus is A Optical Mark Reader
connected to the tablet by a wire, the traced image is stored in
RAM and displayed on the monitor. Bar Code Reader
Bar Code Reader is an optical scanner used for reading bar-
coded data (data in form of light and dark lines). The bar-coded
data consists of a number of bars of varying thickness and
spacing between them. The bar code reader reads the bar coded
data and converts it into electrical pulses, which are then
processed by the computer. Bar-coded data is generally used in
labeling goods, numbering the books or encoding ID or A/c
numbers.

A Digitizer
Scanner
Scanner is widely used in Desktop Publishing (DTP) applica-
tions. It is used for digitizing images such as photographs,
forms, documents etc. into computer memory. There are many
types of scanners, which can also read text by converting them
to digital code. The scanners are very useful for converting the
typed pages into word-processing files. Graphic scanners
A Bar Code Reader
convert a printed image into video image without converting it
to digital code. Optical Character Reader (OCR)
Optical Character Reader (OCR) is an optical scanner, which is
capable of detecting alphanumeric characters typed or printed on
paper using an OCR font. The text, which is to be scanned, is
illuminated by a low-frequency light source. The dark areas on
the text absorb the light while light areas reflect it. The
photocells of OCR device receive this reflected light and provide
binary data corresponding to dark and light areas. OCR devices
are used for large volume applications like reading of passenger
tickets, computer printed bills of credit card companies and
reading of ZIP codes in postal services.

A Scanner

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 Output Devices
COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

Output devices are hardware components, which are used to

display or print the processed information. We are discussing
below the structure, working and uses of the common output
devices:
Monitor
Visual Display Unit (VDU) commonly called, as monitor is the
main output device of a computer. It consists of a Cathode Ray
Tube (CRT), which displays characters as an output. It forms
images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a
rectangular form. The sharpness of the image (screen resolu-
An Optical Character Reader tion) depends upon the number of pixels.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is used to recog-
nize the magnetically charged characters, mainly found on bank
cheques. The magnetically charged characters are written by
special ink called magnetic ink. MICR device reads the patterns
of these characters and compares them with special patterns
stored in memory. Using MICR device, a large volume of
cheques can be processed in a day. MICR is widely used by the
banking industry for the processing of cheques.
A Monitor
Types of Monitors
There are different kinds of monitors depending upon the
number of pixels. Depending upon the resolution, monitors
can be classified as follows
(a) CGA (Color Graphics Adapter)

Voice-input Devices
Voice-Input Devices are the latest input devices that can
recognize the human voice. They seem to be very useful but are
not popular due to storage of limited vocabularies and (b) MDA (Monochrome Display Adapter)
variations in the way of pronouncing words by different
persons.

(c) HGA (Hercules Graphics Adapter)

A Voice input device - Mic

(d) EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter)

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(e) VGA (Video Graphics Adapter) Daisy Wheel and Dot Matrix Printers

COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

• Daisy Wheel Printers: These printers print the characters
by a mechanism that uses a plastic or metal hub with
spokes, called daisy wheel. The characters are embossed on
the radiating spokes and printed by striking these spokes
against the ribbon and paper. Daisy Wheel printers give a
good quality but they are more expensive than Dot Matrix
(f) SVGA (Super VGA) printers.

The differences between these monitors are summarized.

Depending upon the color of display, monitors can be classified
as Monochrome (with single color black/white display) and
Color (with all colors display) Monitors.

Comparison among different types of monitors

Type of Display Text Graphics • Dot Matrix Printers: These printers print the characters by
Monitor Type Resolution Resolution putting dots onto the paper. They do not give better
CGA Text & Fair quality 320 X 200 printing quality than daisy wheel printers, but are faster in
Graphics speed. The printing speed of a dot matrix printer can be
MDA Text only Good - unto 360 cps (characters per second). They are widely used
quality with microcomputers in most of the offices.
HGA Text & 320 X 200 HGA
• Line Printers: These printers print one line at a time.
Mono
Graphics Their printing speed is much more than character printers.
Fair quality They are again of two types: -
EGA Text & Good 640 X 350 Drum Printers and Chain Printers
Enhanced quality
graphics • Drum Printers: These printers print the line by a rotating
VGA Text & Much better 640 X 480 drum having a ring of characters for each print position.
Video than all the The hammers strike each character of the drum
Graphics above simultaneously, so that entire line is printed for one full
rotation of the drum. These printers are also called as
Barrel Printers. The printouts obtained from these
SVGA Text & Best quality 1600 X printers, have even character spacing but uneven line height.
Video 1280
Graphics • Chain Printers: These printers print the line by a rotating
chain having ring characters for each print position. Their
Printer printing mechanism is similar to drum printers. The
Printer is the most important output device, which is used to printouts obtained from these printers, have uneven
print information on paper. Printers are essential for getting character spacing but even line height.
output of any computer-based application.
Non-Impact Printers
Types of Printers The printers that print the characters without striking against
There are many types of printers, which are classified on various the ribbon and onto the paper are called Non-impact Printers.
criteria. Printers can be broadly categorized into the following These printers print a complete page at a time, therefore, also
two types: called as Page Printers. Page printers are of three types: -
Impact Printers: The printers that print the characters by • Laser Printers: These printers look and work like
striking against the ribbon and onto the paper are called Impact photocopiers. They are based on laser technology, which is
Printers. These printers are of two types: - the latest development in high speed & high quality
• Character Printers: These printers print one character at a printing. In these printers, a laser beam is used to write the
time. These printers are again of two types image on a paper. First, the image is formed by electrically
charging thousands of dots on a paper by laser beam.
Then, the paper is sprayed with a toner having the

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 opposite charge and is passed over a heated roller to make • Inkjet Plotters: These plotters use inkjets in place of pens.
COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

the image permanent. Laser printers are very popular and They are faster than flat bed plotters and can print multi-
have become an essential part of Desk Top Publishing colored large drawings.
(DTP). Although laser printers are costlier than dot Computer Output Microfilm: Computer Output Microfilm
matrix, they are generally preferred in all offices due to their (COM) is a technique to produce output on a microfilm media
high quality of printing. There are many models of laser (microfilm reel or microfiche card). A microfilm is a continuous
printers depending upon the speed and number of dots filmstrip that can store several thousands miniaturized docu-
printed. The latest model of laser printer is 1200 DPI ment pages. A microfiche card is a 4 X 6 inch film sheet, which
(Dots Per Inch), which can print 10 pages/minute. Some can store several hundred pages. The process of producing
high-speed laser printers give a speed of up-to 100 pages/ microfilm or microfiche takes place on a special COM unit. The
minute. information recorded on the microfilm is read with the help of
a microfilm viewing system. It is generally easier to read a
microfiche than microfilm. Computer Output Microfilm is
particularly useful for organizations, which need to store and
manipulate large amount of data. It helps them in tremendous
savings in paper and document handling costs
Binary Logic
Binary logic deals with binary variables and logical operations.
The binary variables are denoted by x,y,z,A,B,C etc., which can
have two and only two distinct values (e.g. 1 and 0, TRUE or
FALSE, YES or NO, etc.). There are three basic logical opera-
tions - AND, OR and NOT. In binary logic, if x and y are two
binary variables, then x. y (read as x AND y) represents AND
operation and x + y (read as x OR y) OR operation. The NOT
• Ink Jet Printers: These printers print the characters by operation is represented by x’.
spraying the paper with electrically charged ink. These It follows that for each combination of the values of x and y,
printers give better quality than character printers but not there is a value for x+y, x.y and x’ as specified by the definition
better than laser printers. They are cheaper than laser of logical operations. The definitions of AND, OR and NOT
printers, hence used widely in many offices. They also offer logical operations is demonstrated in tables, called truth tables
an option of using co lour cartridges for multi-color BITS and BYTES
printing. BIT stands for Binary Digit. It is single digit in a binary
number, which can be either 0 or 1. Within the computer, a
single bit can be stored in many ways, generally by using
transistor, multi-vibrator (flip-flops - circuits made of Logic
Gates) or a capacitor as on/off switch. If a bit is OFF then its
value is considered 0 and if it is ON, its value is 1. BIT is the
smallest unit of data in a computer.
A single bit alone does not provide much information, but a
combination of 8 bits is enough to store all alphabets, num-
bers and other characters used by the computer. The group of
Plotter 8 BITS is known as a BYTE. For example, when the user types
Plotter is an important output device, used to print high quality A (1 byte) on the keyboard, the system delivers a signal, which
graphics and drawings. Although the graphics can be printed sets the input location to the bit value 01000000. In memory,
on printers, the resolution of such printing is limited on each byte occupies a unique address (storage location). Byte is
printers. Plotters are generally used for printing/ drawing considered as the smallest unit of memory. There are higher
graphical images such as charts, drawings, maps etc. of engineer- units of memory such as Word, Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte
ing and scientific applications. Some important types of and Terabyte which are illustrated in tabular form
plotters are discussed below: Unit of Memory Equivalent Units
• Flat Bed Plotters: These plotters print the graphical Byte 8 BITS
images by moving the pen on stationary flat surface
Word 2 Bytes
material. They produce very accurate drawings.
Double word 4 Bytes
• Drum Plotters: These plotters print graphical images by
moving both the pen and the drum having paper. They Quad word 8 Bytes
do not produce as accurate drawings as printed by flat bed Paragraph 16 Bytes
plotters. Kilobyte (K) 1024 Bytes

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Megabyte (MB) 1024 K Random Access Memory

COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

Gigabyte 1024 MB Random Access Memory (RAM) is another important compo-
nent of the Memory Unit. It is used to store data and
Terabyte 1024 GB
instructions during the execution of programs. Contrary to
Memory ROM, RAM is temporary and is erased when the computer is
Memory- are also known as the primary storage or main switched off. RAM is a read/ write type of memory, and thus
memory/ internal memory.It ia apart of microcomputer that can be read and written by the user/ programmer. As it is
hold data for processing,instruction for processing the data (the possible to randomly use any location of this memory,
programm) and information (processed data) .It is of the therefore, this memory is known as random access memory.
following three types: The memory capacity of RAM varies from 640 KB to several
• Read Only Memory (ROM) megabytes (1 Megabyte = 1024 KB) with different models of
• Random Access Memory (RAM) PC.

• Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Memory Types of RAM

(CMOS) There are two types of RAM used in PCs - Dynamic and Static
RAM.
Read Only Memory
Read Only Memory is an essential component of the memory Dynamic RAM (DRAM): The information stored in Dynamic
unit. We know that the computer, being a machine, itself has RAM has to be refreshed after every few milliseconds otherwise
no intelligence or memory and requires instructions, which are it will get erased. DRAM has higher storage capacity and is
given by a person. Whenever the computer is switched on, it cheaper than Static RAM.
searches for the required instructions. The memory, which has Static RAM (SRAM): The information stored in Static RAM
these essential instructions, is known as Read Only Memory need not be refreshed, but it remains stable as long as power
(ROM). This memory is permanent and is not erased when the supply is provided. SRAM is costlier but has higher speed than
system is switched off. As appears with its name, it is read only DRAM.
memory i.e. it can be read only and not be written by user/ Complementary Metal Oxide
programmer. The memory capacity of ROM varies from 64 KB Semiconductor Memory
to 256 KB (I Kilobyte = 1024 bytes) depending on the model Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) memory
of computer. is used to store the system configuration, date, time and other
ROM contains a number of programs (set of instructions). important data. When the computer is switched on, BIOS
The most important program of ROM is the Basic Input Output matches the information of CMOS with the peripheral devices
System (BIOS), which activates the hardware (physical compo- and displays error in case of mismatching
nents of computer) such as keyboard, monitor, floppy disk etc.
Storage Devices
in communicating with the system and application software (set
Auxiliary storage also known as auxiliary memory or secondary
of instructions or programs).
storage is the memory that supplements the main storage. This
Types of ROM is a long-term, non-volatile memory. The term non-volatile
There are many types of ROM available for microcomputers like means it stores and retains the programs and data even after the
Mask ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM and computer is switched off. Unlike RAM, which looses the
EAPROM. contents when the computer is turned, and ROM, to which it is
not possible to add anything new, auxiliary storage device allow
PROM
the computer to record information semi- permanently, so it
PROM stands for Programmable Read Only Memory. In this
can be read later by the same computer or by another computer.
type of ROM, the information is stored by programmers after
Auxiliary storage devices are also useful in transferring data or
its manufacturing. It also cannot be altered or erased later on.
programs from one computer to another. They also function as
EPROM back-up devices, which allows back up the valuable information
EPROM stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only that you are working on. So even if by some accident your
Memory. It is similar to PROM, but its information can be computer crashes and the data in it is un recoverable, you can
erased later on by ultra violet light and it can be reprogrammed. restore it from your back-ups. The most common types of
auxiliary storage devices are magnetic tapes, magnetic disks,
EEPROM
floppy disks, hard disks,
EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read
Only Memory. It is similar to EPROM, but its information can There are two types of auxiliary storage devices. This classifica-
be erased by using a high voltage current. tion is based on the type of data access: sequential and random.
Based on the type of access they are called sequential access
media and random-media. In the case of sequential-access
media, the data stored in the media can only be read in sequence
and to get to a particular point on the media you have to go
through all the preceding points.

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 Magnetic tapes are examples of sequential-access media. In In general, hard disks are less portable than floppies, although it
COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

contrast, disks are random-access also called direct-access media is possible to buy removable hard disks. There are two types of
because a disk drive can access any point at random without removable hard disks: disk packs and removable cartridges.
passing through intervening points. Other examples of direct
Floppy Disk
access media are magnetic disks, optical disks, zip disks; etc.
Floppy disk is a soft magnetic disk. It is called floppy because it
Magnetic Devices flops if you wave it (at least, the 51,4-inch variety does). Unlike
Magnetic tape is a magnetically coated strip of plastic on which most hard disks, floppy disks (often called floppies or diskettes)
data can be encoded. Tapes for computers are similar to the are portable, because you can remove them from a disk drive.
tapes used to store music. Some personal computers, in fact, Disk drives for floppy disks are called floppy drives. Floppy
enable you to use normal cassette tapes. disks are slower to access than hard disks and have less storage
Storing data on tapes is considerably cheaper than storing data capacity, but they are less expensive and are portable.
on disks. Tapes also have large storage capacities, ranging from a Floppies come in two basic sizes
few hundred kilobytes to several gigabytes. Accessing data on
tapes, however, is much slower than accessing data on disks. • 5-½ inch - The common size for PCs made before 1987.
Tapes are sequential-access media, which means that to get to a This type of floppy is generally capable of storing between
particular point on the tape, the tape’ must go through all the lOO K and 1.2MB (megabytes) of data. The most
preceding points. In contrast, disks are random-access media common sizes are 360K and 1.2MB.
because a disk drive can access any point at random without • 3 1/4 inch - Floppy is something of a misnomer for these
passing through intervening points. disks, as they are encased in a rigid envelope. Despite their
Because tapes are so slow, they are generally used only for long- small size, microfloppies have a large storage capacity than
term storage and backup. Data to be used regularly is almost their cousins - from 400K to 1.4MB of data. The common
always kept on a disk. Tapes are also used for transporting large sizes for PCs are 720K (double-density) and 1.44MB (high-
amounts of data. density). Macintoshes support disks of 400K, BOOK, and
1.2MB.
Data Cartridge
DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is a type of magnetic tape that uses ZIP Disk
an ingenious scheme called helical scans to record data. A DAT These are high-capacity floppy disk drives developed by the
cartridge is slightly larger than a credit card and contains a Iomega Corporation. Zip disks are slightly larger than the
magnetic tape that can hold from 2 to 24 gigabytes of data. It conventional floppy disks, and are about twice as thick. They can
can support data transfer rates of about 2 MBps (Million bytes hold 100MB of data. Because they’re relatively inexpensive and
per second). Like other types of tapes, DATs are sequential- durable they have become a popular media for backing up hard
access media. The most common format for DAT cartridges is disks and for transporting large files.
DDS (digital data storage), which is the industry standard for Optical Disk
digital audio tape (DAT) formats. The Latest format, DDS 3, Optical disk are a storage medium from which Data is read and
specifies tapes that can hold 24 GB (the equivalent of over 40 to which it is written by lasers. Optical disk can store much
CD) and support data transfer rates of 2 MBps. more data - up to 6 gigabytes (6 billion bytes) - than magnetic
Winchester Disk media, is Such as floppy and hard disks. There are three – basic
The term Winchester comes from an early type of disk drive type of optical disks:
developed by IBM that stored 30MB and had a 30-millisecond CD-ROM - Like audio CDs, CD-ROMs come with data already
access time; so its inventors named it a Winchester in honor of encoded onto them .The data is permanent and can be read any
the.30-caliber rifle of the same name. Although modern disk number of times, but CD-ROMs cannot be modified.
drives are faster than hold more data, the basic technology is the
WORM - This term stands for write-once, Read many with a
same, so Winchester has become synonymous with hard disk.
WORM disk drive, you can write data onto a WORM disk, but
Hard Disk only One After that, the WORM disk behaves just like a CD-
Hard disk is a magnetic disk on which you can store computer ROM.
data. The term hard is used to distinguish it from a soft, or
Erasable- Optical disks that can be erased and loaded with new
floppy, disk. Hard disks hold more data and are faster than
data, just magnetic disks. These are often referred to as EO
floppy disks. A hard disk, for example, can store anywhere from
(erasable optical) disks.
10 megabytes to several gigabytes, whereas most floppies have a
maximum store maximum capacity of 1.4 megabytes.
A single hard disk usually consists of several platters. Each
platter requires two read/write heads, one for each side. All the
read/write heads attached to a single access arm so that they
cannot move independently. Each platter has the same number
of tracks, - and a track location that cuts across all platters is
called a cylinder. For example, a typical 84-megabyte hard disk
for a PC might have two platters (four sides) and 1,053
cylinders.

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COMPUTER AWARENESS FOR MANAGERS

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