Secondary Storage

Secondary storage is essential to a computer system, it’s the type of memory that retains data after the power is turned off, unlike volatile memory such as RAM.

Types of Secondary Storage

There are three main types of secondary storage: magnetic, optical, and solid state.
Magnetic storage uses magnetised material to store data. Examples include hard disk drives (HDD).
Optical storage uses a laser to read data on the storage medium. CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs are examples of this type of storage.
Solid state storage does not have moving parts and instead relies on electronic circuits to store data. Examples include USB drives and solid state drives (SSD).

Cost, capacity, speed, and portability are all factors to consider when assessing secondary storage devices.
SSDs are fast and durable but more costly compared to HDDs. However, they are more suitable for devices that need to be portable due to their durability.
HDDs may have slow data access speed, however, they can offer larger storage capacity at a cheaper price compared to SSDs.
Optical storage devices such as DVDs may not offer as much storage space as SSDs or HDDs. Still, they are cheaper and excellent for distributing data in a read-only format.

Secondary storage is used to keep large amounts of data safe and accessible. It includes everything from operating systems and application software to user files such as documents, spreadsheets, music, and pictures.
Cameras and smartphones rely on secondary storage (usually in the form of microSD cards) to store pictures and videos.
Servers use secondary storage to keep website data available for visitors and to store large databases of information.
Enterprise settings use secondary storage systems for backup, data archiving, and disaster recovery purposes.