Data Storage 01

This KS3 ICT quiz is about data storage. Data storage is important to computers in many ways. The earliest form of data storage was to use cards with holes punched in them. These could then be fed into a computer when they were needed and the data could be processed. Some of the early computers even required cards to contain the instructions that told them what to do with the data. As computers developed, magnetic tape, like that used for tape recorders, was used to store both data and programs. Accessing data like this was slow and the tape reels had to be moved backwards and forwards over a 'head'. The head read the magnetic tape and was fixed in place.

The next development for data storage was to replace the reels of tape with magnetic disks. These were smaller than the tape reels and the data could be accessed faster as they were read by moving both the disk and the head. Hard disk drives are based on this system and are found in almost all computers. These are being replaced by data storage devices like USB flash drives and solid state drives (SSDs). These are faster and more resistant to damage than hard disk drives.