Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need - Essay Example

Data Storage Technology Options for Business Need Abstract Evaluations and analysis have been conducted across the globe to look into and define the various storage technologies. This paper seeks to provide a conclusive report on the existing storage technology devices with focus on their specific use benefits and constraints. There have also been new fabrications and variations of these technologies that will be discussed. The scope and purpose of this paper is therefore to focus on the data storage technology options for business need and computer file systems. 1.0 Introduction The computer systems world has in the resent past been growing very fast increasing the demand for harnessing processing power and expanded features that can accommodate sophisticated software applications and data storage capacity. For computer systems technology to cope with these intensifying storage and processing needs, the demand for performance and storage capacity has risen acutely. This has contributed to the manufacture, invention and uses of a variety of physical storage devices for computer systems. These physical storage mediums in the contemporary computing world range from the familiar usual floppy disk, hard disk, flash drive, DVDs and CD-ROMs, and tapes that are commonly used in Information Communications Technology business and organization sectors. It’s also important to note that these storage devices have different file allocation methods and size allocation. This is therefore what is going to form the discussion basis of this paper. Additionally, this paper will also evaluate the concept of fragmentation of file systems on the storage devices and how best they could be managed (Parsons & Oja, 2009). 2.0 The Computer Storage Organization The computer storage devices are divided into three major classes including Magnetic, Optical, and Semiconductor. Computer storage systems are also widely referred to as secondary storage media or devices. 2.1 Magnetic Storage Devices Magnetic storage devices basically record and store information in the form of magnetized spots. These magnetized spots are represented by binary codes with a magnetized head that is slightly hang freely above the surface of the storage device that reads and records information by use of electric charges. The data hence can be retained, erased or replaced by use of new magnetic spots. Examples of magnetic storage include the Tape, referred to as magnetic tape that is used to read, write and store information up to a terabyte. They are generally used in magnetic tape recorders or machines to record and write data after which the tapes can be connected to gadgets that can read the information. The plus of magnetic tapes is that large amounts of information can be stored in a relatively compact space in a considerable short amount of time. It’s however important to note that magnetic tapes are disadvantageous as it has to be read from one end to the other in order to retrieve and store information. Due to this reason, magnetic tapes are widely used to copy and backup large amounts of information. The floppy diskette drive is another example of magnetic storage devices. It reads and writes information on rotating disk that can be ejected from the computer diskette drive. Floppy diskette drives are mainly useful in provisional storage and transfer of data and information. Due to advancement in technology floppy diskettes have been replaced by hard disks that basically uses the same technology, the only difference is that floppy disks are build of coated synthetic material rather than metal. Hard drives are the third example of magnetic storage devices. Hard drives are made up of small piles of metal plates revolving at invariant speed with a magnetic head attached on an arm that brushes across the disk surface to write and read information. This way information is stored in the hard drive/disk. They can be used as computer internal hard drive to run the computers operating systems, programs and software. There are also the external hard drives that are used as portable devices connected to the computer through a high-speed port cable such as a USB plug. The pros of hard drives are that they can swiftly retrieve information consecutively and because they are compact, they make splendid storage devices for microcomputers. Hard disks also have a large storage capacity therefore can store huge amounts of data up to a terabyte. Consequently, hard drives are the most common type of storage devices in the contemporary world (Parsons & Oja, 2009). 2.2 Optical Storage Devices These storage devices read information from a rotating synthetic disk using laser beams. Optical devices include digital versatile disk (DVD) and compact disk (CD). Compact disks are made up of three layers that include; an overcoat layer protecting the information on the disk, dye layer that records information in digital bits, and a mirrored bottom reflecting the laser beam back to its source. CD-ROMs are inserted to the computers or user devices via a CD-ROM drive. CD-ROMs are mostly used for storage of information such as memory intensive applications as songs, video games and other programs with elaborate graphics. CD-ROMs are of various types. CD-write ones read many only allows for writing information without erasure or replacement with new information, while there are erasable CD-ROMs that allows for rewriting and replacement of the existing information. DVDs also uses the same technology, the only difference is that DVDs are high-density compact disks that have a higher capacity of holding information between a minimum of 4.7 gigabytes and a maximum of 9.0 gigabytes while, CD-ROMs can only hold information up to 650 megabytes. The advantage of these optical storage medium is that a considerable massive amounts of data can be cheaply stored on a small, portable medium. The corns of optical storage are that information retrieval is extensively cumbersome and slower than magnetic mediums. Additionally, optical storage is comparatively rigid as it doesn’t allow for easy writing and erasure of information (Parsons & Oja, 2009). 2.3 Semiconductor Memory Storage Devices Semiconductor memory storage device also forms part of the computer storage systems. Semiconductor storage devices manifest itself in the form of magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory cards and flash drives. Semiconductors uses semiconductor chips that store information and programs in form of digital impulses. The flash memory cards, for instance has been used as portable chip storage devices for PCs to store data in small amounts through the computers integrated USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports. They are also designed for use in digital cameras, digital audio players and cell phones among others. The advantage of flash memory chips is that they are small reliable portable removable storage devices that allows for erasure and replacement of data. Additionally, flash memory cards can store large amounts of data depending on the capacity of the drive. As at 2010, flash disks could hold data of up to 256 gigabyte. Flash drives on the other hand are solid-state external storage devices that works and operates just like flash memory cards and they also consist of a flash memory. They are of the size of the human thumb and are used for the purposes of writing and reading data that can be rewritten and deleted. The advantages of use are that it’s cheap, portable and provide for fast transmission speed of data. Flash drives also vary in capacity and size of storage that ranges from 512 megabytes to 500 gigabytes, but commonly used are of 1.0 to 16 .0 gigabytes (Parsons & Oja, 2009). 3.0 Fragmentation and Defragmentation Fragmentation refers to the condition of a storage device such as a disk, in which files are divided and scattered around the disk that occurs when files are frequently created, deleted or modified. This then creates the need of the operating system to store parts of the files in noncontiguous clusters, which in turn slows down the speed at which data is accessed because the storage medium must explore different parts of the disk to put them together into a single file. In the evaluation of storage technologies, it’s significant to address the complexities that encompass computer software and hardware use in contemporary storage environment from disk to network storage. Consequently, this has created a continued need for a solution to fragmentation as it is vital for system performance and reliability. The process of resolving fragmentation constraints is therefore known as defragmentation (Tucker, 2004). 3.1 Approaches in storage devices There are two principle approaches for eliminating fragmentation on storage devices. One is that data storage devices allows file systems to generate fragmentation, then thereafter it runs a process that consolidates or frees up space on the file system. The second is the modern approach that prevents file fragmentation from happening. In modern approach systems there are used in file defragmentation are defragmentation commands and there are other software utilities known as disk optimizers that can be bought. There are methods used to improve read and write of data on hard disk drives that include the use of queuing and seek optimization that uses disk level algorithms to minimize the impact of physical limitations such as rotational latency that buffers and prioritizes retrieval of data. Disk cache is also another tool that temporary stores data to improve performance as it eliminates need to retrieve data from the disk platter. Electromechanical read is also used in PCs to improve the operational speed and performance of CPU and memory. These are some of the contributing factors to fragmentation. It is hence important to prevent fragmentation at file system level and use of automatic background defragmentation for total performance gain on hard disks. Flash drives do not largely experience electromechanical read as compared to rotating magnetic devices. It thus means that the tendency of file fragmentation is less serious. It’s however important to defragment flash drives occasionally by use of automated defragmentation tools, which encourage performance boost. Because CDs and magnetic tapes are widely write-only and in other cases rewriting, the tendencies of file fragmentation are less serious. It is however important to have an automatic defragmenter tool to improve writing and rewriting compatibility (Mike, 2006). 3.2 Approaches in storage distribution strategies (Indexing, Partition and Table allocation) On a positive note, fragmentation can be a useful tool in storage distribution strategies. This is specifically due to the fact that it can typically benefit from distributed storage allocation designs for partitioning a database table into two or more fragments. The fragments of a table thus could be stored in database spaces on different devices, on the same physical storage device or in a named partition within a single database space that may include both fragmented and non-fragmented tables (Kim, 2012). Additionally, Index storage can also be fragmented, either in the same storage spaces as their table, what is referred to as ‘attached’ indexes, or in a different storage distribution scheme, which are also known as ‘detached’ indexes. Table fragmentation and indexing features are therefore also a common aspect in computer storage systems. Table fragmentation and data storage gives a further control of where database stores data. In this, there are no limited specifications on the indexes and table fragment locations. Users can also specify the location of table and index fragmentation locations thereby helping in choosing and identifying the physical unit of storage or location of data, ultimately promoting potential performance and security rewards of segmented storage (Mike, 2006). Conclusion It is clear that the Information Communication Technology field in every organization and business set-up will consistently continue to realize fresh and new storage technologies. What is of importance is to embrace these fresh technologies at the same time looking at ways of doing away with and addressing the constraints that contribute to slow performance of computer storage systems in various sectors such as fragmentation and durability. This will absolutely have an impact on improving storage performance, reliability, flexibility and manageability on computer storage mediums. Table of contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………3 1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3 2.0 The Computer Storage Organization………………………………………………….4 2.1 Magnetic Storage Devices…………………………………………………….4 2.2 Optical Storage Devices……………………………………………………….5 2.3 Semiconductor Memory Storage Devices…………………………………….6 3.0 Fragmentation and Defragmentation………………………………………………….7 3.1 Approaches in Storage Devices……………………………………………….8 3.2 Approaches in Storage distribution strategies………………………………... 9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………...9 References………………………………………………………………………………. 11 References Kim, T. (2012). Computer applications for security, control and system engineering International Conferences, SecTech, CA, CES3 2012, held in conjunction with GST 2012, Jeju Island, Korea, November 28-December 2, 2012. Proceedings. Berlin: Springer. Mike D. (2006). The Shortcut Guide to Managing Disk Fragmentation. Real-time Publishers. Parsons, J. J., & Oja, D. (2009). New Perspectives on Computer Concepts 2010, Brief. NY: Cengage Learning. Tucker, A. B. (2004). Computer science handbook (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, Fla.: Chapman & Hall/CRC. Read More