Chapter 2

Working with Disks and Other

Removable Media2

Understanding and Selecting Storage

• Save files to a variety of media types, including:– Floppy disks.– Flash random access memory (RAM) devices.– CDs and DVDs.– Hard disks.

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Disk Drives

Hard disk drive

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Disk Drives

• A disk drive is a mechanical device that reads and writes disks.

• The internal hard disk drive for a system has spinning disk platters. A read/write head works with the operating system to retrieve and store files on the platter.

• External hard disks are portable and can be used with multiple systems.

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Disk Drives

• A hard disk is magnetic. It stores data using positive and negative magnetic polarity.

• CD-R and DVD-R discs are optical discs. They store data by using greater and lesser reflectivity on the disc surface.

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Removable Disks

• Disk types such as CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks are removable from the drive.

• For these disk types, the disk and drive are separate.

• A hard disk drive is different. It combines a hard disk and a hard drive. No hard disk is separate from the hard drive.

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Flash RAM

• Flash RAM is static (nonvolatile) memory.

• The device retains its content even when it is unpowered.

• The most common type of flash RAM device is a USB flash drive, also called a thumb drive or jump drive.

• Use a flash card reader drive to read and write data on wafer-style flash memory cards like those from a digital camera.

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Getting Information About Disks

• Click Start, Computer to open the Computer window.

• The Computer window shows all the built-in drives plus any external drives connected via USB ports or other ports.

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Computer Window

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Getting Information About Disks

• Windows assigns drive letters automatically:– A and B. Floppy drives, if present.– C. Primary hard disk drive.– D through Z. Other drives.

• The disk icon reflects the drive type. A generic name or custom volume label also identifies the disk.

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Disk Capacity

• Computers store data in binary format—a collection of 1s and 0s.

• Each individual 0 or 1 is a bit.• Each group of eight bits is a byte, or a single

character of information.• The capacity of a disk, size of a file, or

amount of memory are all expressed in bytes.

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Disk Capacity

• Kilobyte (KB). 1,024 bytes. 210 bytes. • Megabyte (MB). 1,048,576 bytes. A

kilobyte of kilobytes. • Gigabyte (GB). 1,073,741,824 bytes. A

kilobyte of megabytes. • Terabyte (TB). 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

A kilobyte of gigabytes.

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Disk Capacity

• Right-click a drive icon and then click Properties to see its exact amount of total space used and remaining capacity.

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Assigning a Volume Label

• You can assign a volume label or descriptive name to a hard or floppy disk.

• The volume label may be up to 11 characters, but may not include any of these: * ? = + [ ] | \ /

• In the Computer window, right-click the drive icon, click Properties, enter the volume label in the top text box of the General tab, and click OK.

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Working with Flash Media

• Plug a USB flash drive into a USB port, or insert other flash media into a slot on your PC or a card reader.

• An AutoPlay window appears to ask what to do with the newly detected storage.

• In most cases, the correct choice is Open folder to view files.

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Copying an Item to a Flash Drive

• Flash drives, being removable, are useful for moving files from one PC to another.

• You can open separate Computer windows for the source folder and flash drive and drag and drop selected files or folders between them.

• You also can copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) files or folders. Or, right-click the selection, click Send To, and click the name of the flash drive.

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Safely Removing Flash Media

• In most cases, you can simply disconnect a removable storage device such as a USB flash drive or external hard disk. Wait 30 seconds after the last file operation before disconnecting.

• Eject the device before removing it for added safety.

• Right-click the device in a Computer window and click Eject. Or, right-click the Windows Explorer icon in the notification area and click the device’s Eject command.

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Working with CD and DVD Media

• Most PCs have at least one optical drive, such as a CD or DVD drive.

• Optical media vary depending on the type, number of readable sides, capacity per side, and whether and how many times it can be written.

• An AutoPlay window prompts you to choose an activity.

• Use Control Panel to choose an AutoPlay setting for a particular disc type, so it will play automatically.

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Copying Files to a Writable CD or DVD

• When you insert a new blank, writable CD or DVD disc, an AutoPlay window asks whether you want to burn an audio CD or data disc.

• Choose Burn files to disc using Windows Explorer to have Windows 7 walk you through the process of preparing the disc.

• Choose Live File System to write multiple instances to the disc.

• Then drag files to the disc’s Explorer window to burn (write or copy) them to the disc.

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Viewing Disk Usage Information

• The Computer window graphically indicates disk usage with a blue bar.

• When a hard disk is selected, the details pane at the bottom shows usage and the file system.

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Turning on Disk Compression

• Disk compression enables the drive to store files so that they take up less space.

• Windows 7 runs a compression algorithm—a mathematical formula—to remove wasted space in a file so it uses less disk space.

• Use the Compress this drive to save disk space check box in the disk Properties dialog box to apply the compression.

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Checking a Disk for Errors

• Hard disks (and other disks) may develop errors over time.

• Errors may be physical spots on the disk or logical errors created when files are closed improperly.

• Use the Check Now button on the Tools tab of the drive’s Properties dialog box to run the Check Disk utility, which finds and fixes disk errors.

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Checking Disk Partitioning

• Dividing a physical hard disk drive into logical disk drives, each with its own drive letter assigned, is called partitioning.

• Each disk must have a primary (bootable) partition, which can contain one logical drive.

• A physical disk also can have an extended partition containing multiple logical drives.

• Use the Disk Management utility from Control Pane to view hard disk partition information.

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Working with an External Hard Disk

• An external hard disk appears as a hard disk in the Computer window, but connects via USB or FireWire cable.

• An AutoPlay window may appear when you connect an external hard disk.

• Use Eject to stop an external hard disk before disconnecting it.

• Some external hard disks connect to a network and are called network addressable storage (NAS).

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Wrap Up

• A disk drive reads and writes disks.

• Disks can be magnetic or optical.

• Flash RAM storage is nonvolatile.

• View disk usage information, the volume label, and file system in the Computer window.

• Removable media, such as USB flash media, enable you to store and move files.

• To copy from a hard disk to a removable device, copy and paste or drag and drop between two Computer windows.

• To avoid data corruption, use the Eject feature.

• Use compression to save space on a hard disk.

• The Check Disk utility finds and fixes disk errors.

• A hard disk may be partitioned.

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