Week 6 Clear

As this course progresses we are getting into more specific points of information. This week's topic was storage. Let's start off with the basics of storage. The layman defintion of storage is the ability to store data or information for a later time. Storage is one of the most crucial parts of a PC because it holds all data that we use more than once. We can store word documents, pictures, and pretty much anything else imaginable; storage is like memory in the fact that we utilize both in order to keep instructions from previous use and recall a variety of documents in no time at all. One large difference between memory and storage is the actual cost of installing each when building a PC. Memory costs approximately $30/GB and storage only costs $.12/GB; however, this is for good reason because memory works at a much faster pace than storage.



There are three different types of storage but most of us only use the first two. These types are primary, secondary and tertiary storage. Primary storage is online storage that is immediately available and the PC user is not required to connect the PC to any external storage unit (information is already on the harddrive). Secondary storage is near-online storage which requires the PC user to connect the PC to an external storage unit such as a junk drive, floppy drive, CD or DVD. The last type of storage is rarely used in every day computing but is nonetheless important to anyone who is learning about storage. Tertiary storage or offline storage is not readily available for the consumer to use and is stored on magnetic strips or tapes, making use extremely difficult for a basic user.

Once you've got the basics of storage, it's important to learn about the disposal of storage. There's a controversial issue over storage disposal because computers save files underneath the accessible service that average user could find or even delete. Deleting stored files on the surface can be easy to do, but to permanently delete stored items is a completely different story. Utilizing near-online storage devices, your best bet is to physically destroy the CD, USB or DVD. Another consideration is to utilize the 3-pass overwrite which basically means deleting a file while continuing to add other files leaves no room for back-up storage of deleted files. It's important to keep your files safe and secure. This means either deleting them or utilizing laws that keep files private that are private matters such as student, financial or medical files.

For more information on this topic, please utilize this website that will act as a great springboard: computer data storage. In the business world, it's important to know how to store files as well as delete such files safely as confidential information is sent via transfering files and e-mails.