Removable Media

1. Removable Media

2. Floppy Disk Drives Almost a dead deal

3. The Basics • Media/plastic/media • Spins at 360 rpm • Read/Write heads contact the disk surface – so don’t pull a floppy while the activity light is on

4. Formatting • Electronic map for storing data/files on the disk • Concentric circles – tracks • Slice up tracks to get sectors; each sector holds 512 Bytes of data • Sets up four areas: boot record, File Allocation Table (FAT), Root Directory and Data Area • Formatting is different for different devices (PCs, Macs, Sewing Machines, …)

5. Mac and PC disks • Mac drives have two motors: spindle and eject/insert • Spindle motor is variable speed on Macs • Macs can read and write PC disks • PCs can’t read or write Mac disks

6. Types of Disks • You can still find Double-sided, Double density (760 Bytes) disks – DD for short • Most are Double-sided, High density – HD at 1.44 MB • So much hassle over formatting that they come already formatted now

7. Installing Floppy Drives • A: or B: - reserved by Windows for floppy drives • Connect with 34-pin ribbon cable

8. Installing, cont. • Red stripe is Pin 1 • Get the connector backwards, drive light will stay on, but drive won’t work. No harm to system. • Be careful with power connector – get that upside down and you cook the drive

9. CMOS • Should automatically detect drive • Swap Floppy Device setting allows A to B swap – only if you have two drives • Boot Up Floppy Seek – disable to save two seconds during POST

10. Boot Sequence • Where will I find an OS? • I set CD first, then floppy then hard disk drive • Often have to poke around in CMOS to find where you set this

11. Maintenance • I keep a floppy drive cleaner disk • Too much use, or too little use and drive heads will need cleaning • Don’t poke around with a Q-Tip

12. Troubleshooting • Drive won’t read floppy disk • Take disk to another computer • Try another floppy disk (known good) • Clean the read/write heads • Replace the drive

13. USB floppy drives • Popular for laptops • Can’t boot from them – need USB drivers to load first

14. Flash Memory Drives • Thumb drive, Jump Drive, Flash drive • Gaining in popularity daily • Have replaced Zip/floppy drives • Is 32GB still the upper limit? No?

15. CompactFlash (CF) • Oldest, most complex and physically largest of memory cards. • Can also get a microdrive in CF II form factor • About extinct now

16. SmartMedia • After CF • Used in digital cameras for a while • Almost extinct now

17. Secure Digital (SD) • Newest on the block • Most common format used today • SD and SDIO formats – not interchangeable • Mini and Micro show up in cellular phones

18. Card Readers • Can be external to PC or mounted internally (in 3.5” bay) • 5 to 7 to 9 slots for different media types

19. CD,DVD and Blu-Ray Media Optical Drives

20. Definitions • CD-ROM – Compact Disk, Read Only Media/Memory; this is how programs come to you • DVD – Digital Versatile/Video Disk

21. How it lays out • This time the data is INSIDE the disk: Label, or not 1 0 Data Location Laser

22. ISO 9660 • Also called: High Sierra for the hotel in Colorado where standard got developed • Joliet – Microsoft’s extension(s); Mac and Linux support these also. • Rock Ridge – UNIX file system support • El Torito – Bootable CD media • Apple Extensions – Apple’s HFS file system

23. CD Speed • 1x : Original (and still) audio standard: 150,000Bps or 150KBps • 4x : 600KBps • 24x : The “magic line” • Below this drives and connections were proprietary – and often to sound card • These drives were single speed – always on • At and above 24x • Variable speed – spin up, read, spin down • Uniform connection method (ATAPI-6)

24. To Burn a CD • Second, more powerful laser (10x read) • Two CD-R formats: 72-minute (650 MB) and 80-minute (700 MB) • Burns organic dye to create pits (0’s) • Need burning software below XP • CD-R is write once, read many • CD-RW is write often, read often (can be erased) • Speeds are <write><re-write><read>; 16x10x40x for mine

25. UDF • Universal Data Format, replacement for 9660 • Vista supports this but not XP • Supports packet writing • Roxio’s DirectCD and Nero’s InCD allow disk to feel like a hard/floppy disk

26. DVD • Big step up in capacity: 4.37 GB • Smaller pits, more dense than CD • Single-sided or double-sided • Single layer or double layer • You need decoder (MPEG-2) to watch movies on your PC – most DVD drives ship with them • DVD+R, -R, +RW and –RW

27. Blu-Ray • Uses blue laser (405 nm) vs. red (650 nm) • Capacity of 25 GB and multiples • Still on the pricy side of things ($50+)

28. ISO files • A complete copy of the contents of an optical disk • Win 7 will “burn an ISO” i.e. make a disk from the ISO file (not copy the iso to disk) • Need software for XP and Vista – find free on the Internet

29. Region Codes • Attempt to limit distribution/bootlegging • Can only change four times then stuck • Region 0: all regions • Region 1: US and Canada • Region 8: Cruise ships and airlines

30. Installation • Master or Slave • Ribbon (data) cable • Power • You can still find SCSI drives • Most optical drives are SATA today

31. Buffer Underrun • Fortunately, it is a thing of the past (16x burn rate and slower drives) • No, you don’t see a spec on the buffer size on the drive’s box • BURN-Proof seems to be the maiden name for underrun protection

32. Troubleshooting • I have had zero luck with trying to clean an optical drive to get it functioning again • Sometimes it’s a compatibility issue… but rare today • Replace the drive, they are not that expensive