In this unit you will learn about removable storage.
The main idea behind removable storage is that data can be easily transferred between computers via a portable medium. For many years the diskette (also known as a floppy disk) was the best example of this kind of storage.
In recent years, you are much more likely to see optical storage devices such as CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-ROM, and DVD-R devices being used to store larger software and data archives. These devices can store between 650 MB and 50 GB of data.
But optical devices do have their drawbacks. As you probably know, these discs scratch easily. Also, optical drives have lower performance than hard disk drives, and they can normally only be written to one time with any degree of reliability.
Because of the need for ever greater capacity and performance for removable storage, a new device called the flash drive has taken over the industry by storm. Based on semiconductor storage technology, these devices can store up to 16 GB (or greater) of data. Data read and write times are very fast due to USB 2.0 technology.
As is true with most other types of computer equipment, the speed and capacity of removable storage is always increasing, while prices generally decrease for all but the newest technologies.
- How will removable storage change in the future?
- What types of removable storage does your computer support?