Storage that is intended as a copy of the storage that is usually actively in use so that, if the storage medium such as a hard disk fails and data is lost on that medium, it can be recovered from the copy.
A small, portable, round medium made of molded polymer (close in size to the floppy disk) for electronically recording, storing, and playing back audio, video, text, and other information in digital form.
Advantages of CDs
- Small and portable
- Very cheap to produce
- Most computers can read CDs. If there is no CD drive, a DVD drive can usually read them
- Fairly fast to access the data - quicker than magnetic tape
Disadvantages of CDs
- Fairly fragile, easy to snap or scratch
- Smaller storage capacity than a hard drive or DVD
- Slower to access than the hard disk.
A type of compact disc able to store large amounts of data, especially high-resolution audiovisual material.
Advantages of DVDs
- Very large storage capacity
- Sound and picture quality is excellent, making them ideal for storing films with video and sound.
- DVDs are now mass produced so they are relatively cheap
- DVD drives can read CDs
Disadvantages of DVDs
- DVDs do not work in CD drives
- There is no single standard of DVD
- They can be easily damaged by breaking or scratching
An external hard drive is a portable storage device that can be attached to a computer through a USB or FireWire connection, or wirelessly. External hard drives typically have high storage capacities and are often used to back up computers or serve as a network drive.
Advantages of External Hard Disk
- Necessary to support the way your computer works
- Large storage capacity
- Stores and retrieves data much faster than a floppy disk or CD/DVD
- Stored items are not lost when you switch off the computer
- Cheap on a cost per megabyte compared to other storage devices
Disadvantages of External Hard Disk
- Far slower to access data than ROM or RAM chips
- Regular crashes can damage the surface of the disk, leading to loss of data in that sector
- They're often quite large and therefore inconvenient to carry around.
- They have moving parts so are more likely to break, especially if dropped.
A very small, portable, solid-state hard drive that can be inserted into a USB port for storage and retrieval of data. Expand. Also, flashdrive. Expand. Also called flash memory drive, jump drive, pen drive, thumbdrive, USB drive.
Advantages of Pen Drive
- They are extremely portable, so the user can take them wherever they go.
- They're durable, because they have no moving parts.
- Won't get damaged easily when dropped compared to Hard Disks.
Disadvantages of Pen Drive
- Easy to lose, get stolen or damaged as very small
- Cannot hold as much data as Hard Disk
A storage device containing non-volatile flash memory, used in place of a hard disk because of its much greater speed.
Advantages of SSD
- Faster startup because there is no spin-up required.
- Much Faster than Hard Disks
- Faster boot and application launch time when hard disk seeks are the limiting factor.
- Somewhat longer lifetime – Flash storages typically has a data lifetime of 10 years before it stops working.
- Security – allowing a very quick scan of all data stored.
- Some of the storage devices are waterproof.
Disadvantages of SSD
- Very Expensive
- Vulnerability to certain types of effects, including abrupt power loss, magnetic fields and electric/static charges compared to normal hard disk drives.
- Limited writes cycles. Typical Flash storage will typically wear out after 100,000-300,000 write cycles, while high endurance Flash storage is often marketed with endurance of 1–5 million write cycles
- Slow random write speeds – as erase blocks on SSDs generally are quite large, they're far slower than conventional disks for random writes.
Cloud storage is a service model in which data is maintained, managed and backed up remotely and made available to users over a network (typically the Internet).
Advantages of Cloud Storage
- Data storage saving: By storing your data online you are reducing the burden of your hard disk, which means you are eventually saving disk space.
- World Wide accessibility: Data can be accessed anywhere in the world without the need of bringing your Hard Disk or Pen Drive etc.
- Data safety: Hard Disk or Pen Drives may be damaged or loss especially if there is a natural disaster or a fire at your home but if it is in the Cloud, the data is still safe on the web.
- Security: Most of the online storage sites provide better security.
- Easy sharing: It is easy to share to friends, teachers, family, colleagues or anyone in the world as the data is on the internet.
- Data recovery: online data storage sites provide quick recovery of your files and folders. This makes them more safe and secure.
- Automatic backup: Automatic backups can be scheduled on your computer to back up important data or all your data on your computer.
Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
- Slow Internet will affect its speed and reliability of accessing/downloading the data and uploading it.
- Cannot access if no internet
- Costly for Large Amount of Storages and requires monthly subscription fees for large amounts
- Cannot Access if Technical Problems on Cloud Server
- Hackers may hack into your account or the cloud server and gain access to your data and information.