Secondary Storage

• File Compression

File compression is used when sending a file from one computer to another over a connection that has limited bandwidth. It makes the file smaller and, therefore, the sending of the file is faster. It includes software programs that will archive your files and extract archived files such as ZIP and RAR files.

• Head Crash

A serious disk drive malfunction. A head crash means that the head has scratched or burned the disk. If the head becomes misaligned or if dust particles come between it and the disk, it can touch the disk. When this happens, you usually lose much of the data on the hard disk and will need to replace both the head and the disk.

• Internet Hard Drive

Internet hard drives have served to meet this need, offering a creative new solution to the issue of data storage. The purpose of an Internet hard drive is to offer a means of accessing your computer files from any computer, as long as that computer has access to the Internet.

• Optical Disc Drive

Optical disk is an electronic data storage medium from which data is read and written to by using a low-powered laser beam. It  retrieve or store data on optical discs like CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. They hold much more information than the floppy disk. Most optical drives can play or record onto a large number of different disc formats.

• Solid-State Storage

Solid-state storage is a nonvolatile, removable storage medium that employs integrated circuits rather than magnetic or optical media. The advantage of solid-state storage is it contains no mechanical parts. Data transfer to and from solid-state storage media takes place at a much higher speed than is possible with electromechanical disk drives. The example of solid-state storage is flash memory Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices.

Input and Output

• Ergonomic keyboard

An ergonomic keyboard is a keyboard designed to minimize muscle strain and a host of related problems. There is no precise definition an ergonomic keyboard, it is more comfortable than a standard flat keyboard.

• Ink-jet Printer

A type of printer that works by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper. It can produce copy with a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch ( dpi ). Some inkjet printers can make full color hard copies at 600 dpi or more. The price of ink-jet printers is lower than laser printers.

• Laser Printer

A type of printer that uses a laser beam to produce an image on a drum. The light creating an electrostatic image of the page onto a charged photoreceptor, which in turn attracts toner in the shape of an electrostatic charge. It produce better quality black text documents than ink-jets.

• Magnetic-ink character reader (MICR)

Magnetic Ink Character Reader (MICR) is an input device widely used by banks to process large volume of checks and deposit forms written everyday. It consists of special ink called magnetic ink. It is used to write characters on the check and deposit forms to be processed by an MICR.

• Optical-character Recognition (OCR)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a process of converting printed materials into text or word processing files that can be edited and stored. It requires both hardware and software. The technology has enabled such materials to be stored using much less storage space than the hard copy materials.

• Optical-mark Recognition (OMR)

OMR technology scans a printed form and reads predefined positions and records where marks are made on the form. It is useful for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed quickly and with great accuracy.

The System Unit

• Flash Memory

Flash memory refers to electronically erasable programmable read only memory. It is a memory chip that maintains stored information without requiring a power source. It is often used in portable electronics, like MP3 players, and in removable storage devices.

• Graphic card

The graphics components control and enhance how graphics  are displayed on your computer screen. The graphics components are on a separate card that plugs into a slot on the motherboard, which is the main part of the computer.

• Sound Card

A sound card  processes audio files in order to provide high-quality playback through computer speakers. It plays voice as well as music files, and can handle various audio file formats including .wav, .mp3 and .cda to name but a few.

•          Network interface card (NIC)

A network interface card referred to as a NIC, it is a device that allows computers to be joined together in a LAN, or local area network. The network interface card acts as the liaison for the machine to both send and receive data on the LAN.

•           Plug & Play

Plug and Play (PnP) is a capability developed by Microsoft for its Windows 95 and later operating systems that gives users the ability to plug a device into a computer and have the computer recognize that the device is there. The user doesn't have to tell the computer.

•     Bus line

The bus lines are the communicating electronic lines that connect different parts of the CPU to various other parts. In addition, the bus lines also link the CPU to different parts on the system board of your computer. The data flows in the form of bits along the bus lines.

•   HDMI

HDMI supports both audio and video data components. It supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video as well as multi-channel digital audio on a single industry standard cable. It is capable of carrying any type of compressed audio data. It can carry a bandwidth of 5 Gbps (gigabits per second) too.

•           Cache memory

Cache memory is extremely fast memory that is built into a computer’s central processing unit (CPU).  The CPU uses cache memory to store instructions that are repeatedly required to run programs, improving overall system speed.