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4 TYPES OF DIRECT ACCESS STORAGE MEDIA

MAGNETIC DISKS

Description - use magnetic particles to store items such as data, instructions, and information on a disk's surface. Depending on how the magnetic particles are aligned, they represent either 0 bit or 1 bit. There are two types which are fixed head and movable head.
Examples- hard disks, floppy disks, removable cartridge.
Advantages- improves the media coercivity for a film structure, improve the thermal erasure problems related to a glass disk medium.
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OPTICAL DISCS

Description- a type of storage media that consists of a flat, round, portable disc made of metal, plastic and lacquer that is written and read by laser.
Examples - CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM.
Advantages- store items in a single track that spirals from the center of the disc to the edge of the disc. Can read and/or write on one side only. Mass storage capacity, low cost per bit of storage, long media life.
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FLASH MEMORY

Description - non-volatile computer memory that electrically erased and reprogrammed. For general storage and data transfer between computer and other digital products.
Examples- memory card, USB flash drives.
Advantages- non- volatile, fast read access time, better kinetic shock resistance than hard disks,
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MAGNETO-OPTICAL DISKS

Description- a kind of optical disc drive capable of writting adn rewritting data. Consists of a ferromagnetic material seal beneath a plastic coating.
Advantages - makes the media extremely reliable, able to report any problem to the operating system.
Examples - hard disk drives for some operating system.
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