Chapter goals

Portability

• Data can be made portable by storing it on a removable storage medium or device.
• Portable devices typically have slower access speed than permanently installed devices and those with non-removable media.

Cost and capacity

• An increase in speed, permanence or portability generally comes at increased cost if all other factors are held constant.

Storage Device Characteristics

Primary storage devices

• Random access memory (RAM) is a generic term for storage device that
• Microchip implementation using semiconductors
• Ability to read and write with equal speed
• Random access to stored bytes, words, or larger data units