Storage Media

Floppy disks are readily portable, and are very popular for transferring software from one PC to another. They are, however, very slow compared to hard disks and lack storage capacity. Floppy disks are damaged by magnetic field if they are constantly exposed to magnets for a long period of time. There are times when people do not even know that they are exposing their floppy disks to a magnetic field. Floppy disks are 3.5" in diameter. They are protected from damage by being contained within vinyl or plastic sleeves which inhibit dust or fingerprints from coming into contact with the disk's surface.

Floppy disks are the perfect solution for backing up small files, or for copying files for use on another computer that is not on your network. Due to the small amount of data they can hold, however, it would seem as if floppies are on their way out. Floppy disks are also, unlike hard disks, handled and seen; even a novice user can identify a floppy disk. Because of all these factors, the image of the floppy disk has become a metaphor for saving data, and the floppy disk symbol is often seen in programs on buttons and other user interface elements related to saving files. Floppy disks are slower to access than hard disks and have less storage capacity, but they are much less expensive.

Floppy disks are the removable devices that you stick in slots in the front of the machine. I know, they look square, not disk-shaped, and they don't look floppy at all, but they are indeed floppy disks. Floppy disks are not a very reliable medium for storing valuable data, so it is essential to keep one or more copies (backups) of important files. An easy way of doing this is to make a copy of an entire disk. Floppy disks are no longer considered a safe means of storing your files. The Help Service has dealt with many situations where students, usually close to submission time, have stored all their files on one floppy disk and have either physically lost the disk or the disk has become corrupted and unreadable.

Think about what you've read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about Storage Media? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?

Floppy disks are cheap and easy to replace. If you can't re-use the floppy disks to store other classified data, just destroy them, using the procedures in OPNAVINST 5510.1, DON Information and Personnel Security Program Regulation. Floppy disks are not very durable. The functional part of a floppy is a flimsy plastic circle coated with magnetic material. Floppy disks are useful for taking copies of work from the hard disk, as a backup, and for transferring work between machines.

Floppy disks are notorious for the tendency to fail with little warning. A disk can work for years and suddenly becoming inoperable, or not work at all even the first time.

DVD-R and RW use the same principles but hold even more data at 4.7 GB and 4.4 GB respectively. Only a limited number of workstations are available  around the University that have DVD drives. DVDs (digital video disks), which can hold entire movies on a single disk, have a pretty good chance of replacing videotape cassettes, when the economies of scale kick in to make them less expensive. CD-RW drives are demonstrating that CDs can be just as good a recording medium as both audio and video cassettes.

CD-ROMs and computer disks are cataloged according to their content. The cataloger should determine if the item is a monograph, serial, database or software program and catalog it in the books (bks), serial (ser) or computer file (mdf) format as appropriate. CD-ROMs provide huge information sources, some of which are the equivalent of volumes and volumes of text. Others have pictures, animated explanations or spoken commentary; they tell favourite stories, simulate flying round the world, or take you inside the human body. CD-ROMs are particularly useful for large amounts of static, often multimedia, data. The WWW excels at delivering smaller amounts of regularly updated data to a wide audience.