ALSO READ: DISADVANTAGES OF MAGNETIC DISK
MAGNETIC DISK: Magnetic disk is the most popular direct access secondary device. They are also the most popular online secondary storage device. A magnetic disk is a circular plate made of metal or plastic and coated on both sides with a recording material that can be magnetized such as iron oxide.
ADVANTAGES OF MAGNETIC DISK: Advantages of magnetic disk in points are:
- Magnetic disk support direct access of data making them more suitable for a wider range of applications. Recall the magnetic tapes support only sequential access of data.
- Data transfer rate for a magnetic disk system is normally higher than a tape system.
- Any information desired from disk storage can be accused in a few milliseconds because it is a direct access storage device.
- Except for fixed type Winchester disk, storage capacity of other magnetic disk is virtually unlimited because as many disks as required can be used for very large data sets.
- Due to their low cost and high data densities, cost per bit of storage is low for magnetic disks. An additional cost benefit is that magnetic disks can be erased and reused many times.
- Floppy disk and zip disks are being compact in size and light in weight are easy to handle and store.
- Floppy disk and zip disks are also easily portable from one place to another. They are often used for transfer of data.
- Magnetic disk are suitable for both online and offline storage of data.
- Due to random access property, Magnetic disk are often used by multiple users as a shared device.
- Magnetic disk are less vulnerable to data corruption due to careless handling.
