Secondary storage devices

Modern computers employ a hierarchy of storage devices which may be broadly divided into two categories: ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ systems.

What is secondary storage? The bulk of data can’t be stored in the main memory as this memory is costly and naturally some other cheaper memory devices are required. These cheaper memory devices, called Secondary Storage Devices can store bulk of data at very less cost.

Devices such as flash memory, the hard disk, floppy disk, and writable optical disk, provide with examples of secondary storage devices. These offer larger storage capacity than primary storage devices, but operate more slowly. Flash RAM, sometimes embedded within solid-sate drives, provides the fastest access at the highest cost. Optical discs offer the slowest but cheapest storage method.

The secondary stored devices allow permanent storage of data and instructions. The data stored on a secondary storage device can be accessed, depending upon how it its stored on the device.

The benefits of secondary storage including:
*Non-Volatility
*Large capacity
*Reliable
*Convenience
*Low cost
*Re-usability
*Portability
Secondary storage devices