Memory • Optical - Solid - Magnetic
The Differences
What Is Optical Memory?
Optical storage is another way of storing something. It writes and reads with a laser to archive and backup purposes. It's used for CD's and DVD's. The write and read speeds are really quite slow compared to hard drives even. When you normally write to a CD and read from one, they use a red laser, for Blu-Ray content they use a blue laser.
What's it purpose in a system?
Optical Storage/Memory is used in DVD/CD Drives, without it, it would be next to impossible to read from the data of a CD/DVD.
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What is Solid State Memory?
SSD's. They have actually become a lot more popular in the last 4-5 years. SSD stands for Solid State Drive. Solid State meanings there are no moving parts meaning it's a lot more reliable and uses a flash memory so it's faster.. Like a lot faster than your typical 7200RPM HDD. The Image below is a SSD connected to the motherboard using PCI. But you can also buy SATA SSD's aswell.
What's it purpose in a system?
SSD's are mostly used as boot drives for any operating system. Mainly because are a lot faster than typical hard drives. This means windows boots miles faster and programs and apps are ready to use straight away.
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What Is Magnetic Storage?
Magnetic storage, was really popular 10 to 15 years ago. They use a magnetic field to send audio to the disk. They come in a lot of physical sizes. The biggest being 8 inches, and the smallest being 2 inches. They are quite large but don't hold a lot of data. Some hold 1MB and it only goes upto 1.44MB.. Also they are made of plastic and metal, which are not very durable.
What's it purpose in a system?
Magnetic Storage is used in floppy disks to transfer data. It is painfully slow, and was only really used to transfer 1 Audio track or some power points.
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The Differences
Optical Storage - It uses lasers to transfer data
Optical Storage - Slow compared to all modern storage.
Optical Storage - Found in all DVDs/CD players/writers.
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SSD - Quite fast compared to other modern storage's. But not faster then RAM or Cache.
SSD - Can be either connected via SATA or PCI.
SSD - No Moving Parts, No Noise, More Reliable.
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Magnetic Storage - Old/Dated Technology
Magnetic Storage - Can hold up to 1.44MB of data
Magnetic Storage - Made of plastic, not very durable.