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Icons key:
For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation Teachers notes included in the Notes Page
Learning objectives
Understand that computers store binary digits. Know the difference between bits and bytes. Know the difference between ROM and RAM. Understand that there are different types of storage devices which hold varying amounts of data.
Icons key:
For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation Teachers notes included in the Notes Page
The computer uses a code to understand what each bit pattern means. Using the ASCII code, for instance, the letter F is 70 and has a bit pattern of 01000110.
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ASCII
ASCII for Capital Letters
65 A 78 N
66
67 68 69 70 71 72 73
B
C D E F G H I
79
80 81 82 83 84 85 86
O
P Q R S T U V
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ask-ee) is a code which represents English characters as numbers. Each letter is assigned a number. For example, A = 65.
74
75 76 77
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J
K L M
87
88 89 90
W
X Y Z
Most computers use ASCII codes. This makes it possible to transfer data from one computer to another by changing the ASCII code into a binary pattern.
ASCII
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128s
64s
32s
16s
8s 1
4s 0
2s 1
1s 0
So 1010 in binary is 8 plus 2 = 10. 128s 64s 32s 16s 1 11010 would be 16 plus 8 plus 2 = 26. 8s 1 4s 0 2s 1 1s 0
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Binary patterns
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Binary patterns
All computer data is stored in binary form.
This not only includes text, but images, sounds and movies as well. The more complex the data, the more memory is used to store it.
as this.
Data storage
The amount of data stored is measured in kilobytes (KB).
Confusingly, 1KB is actually 1,024 bytes (210), not 1,000 as you might expect, but most people think in multiples of 1,000. 1 megabyte (MB) is 1,000 KB (220) 1 gigabyte (GB) is 1,000 MB (230) 1 terabyte (TB) is 1,000 GB (240).
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Removable hard drives plug into the USB port and can be used for backup or transfer of data to another computer.
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CD-ROMs are read only you can read data from them but cant write more data to them. CD-Rs allow you to write data once, but you cant write over it. CD-RWs allow you to write data and then record new data over it. DVD-Rs and RWs follow the same pattern. You need special software to write to CDs and DVDs you cannot simply copy files to them.
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Optical or magnetic
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Storage capacity
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Fixed storage
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Removable storage
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Summary
Data is stored using binary code (0 and 1). Computer memory is measured in kilobytes. Read Only Memory (ROM) is non-volatile because it cannot be changed. Random Access Memory (RAM) is volatile because it only works when the computer is switched on. There are three types of storage device: those that use magnetic media, others that use optical media, and those that use flash memory. Different types of media have different storage capacities. Storage devices can also be divided into those that are fixed and those that are removable.
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