Storage Devices

External Hard Drive

Stores very large amounts of data, can be plugged into your computer via USB or Firewire

+ Very large storage

+ Portable

+ Cheap £ / Gb

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- Easy to corrupt data (dust, dropping, magnetic field Etc.)

- Moving parts are easy to break

- Slower than non-moving part devices

Magnetic Tape

Used for storing and archiving small amounts of data

+ Small

+ Robust

+ Portable

+ Low cost

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- Very slow read write

- Serial Access (All data must be read, before it can be opened)

Memory Sticks

A small pen top sized usb device, seen as a removable drive (millions of NAND transistors)

+ Quick and durable because of no moving parts

+ Stores large amounts of data

+ Extremely portable because of size

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- Can easily br lost or stolen as it's so small

- Expensive compared to SSD

- Limited number of read - write cycles

Memory Cards

Stamp sized USB device (E.g. SD card), can be read with a memory card reader

+ Small, so can be used in cameras and other small/light devices

+ Holds large quantities of data

+ Extremely portable

+ Durable as there's no moving parts

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- Most computers don't have a built in memory card reader

- Extremely small, easily stolen, lost or damaged

Optical Drives

Disks such as CDs , DVDs, and Blu - Ray disks, can hold audio, video and other files for transfer

+ Most can be re-written and used again

+ Very cheap

+ Large storage capacity available

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- Some older computers or laptops may not be able to read disks

- CD - ROMs or DVD - ROMs cannot be overwritten and re-used

Capacity order

Floppy Disk         Lowest

Zip Drive

CD

DVD

Flash Drive

Hard Drive

Tape Drive           Highest

Data access speed

RAM and ROM          Fastest

Hard Disk

Flash Drive

DVD / CD

Zip disk

Floppy disk

Magnetic Tape          Slowest

Price per Gigabyte

Magnetic Tape         Cheapest

Hard Disk

DVD

CD

Flash Stick

Zip Disk

Floppy Disk            Expensive