第八章计算机专业英语2008年影印版word.docVIP

P213 SECONDARY STORAGE Introduction Secondary storage devices are used to save, to back up, and even to transport files consisting of data or programs from one location or computer to another. Not long ago, almost all files contained only numbers and letters. The demands for saving these files were easily met with low-capacity floppy disk drives and hard-disk drives. Data storage has expanded from text and numeric files to include digital music files, photographic files, video files, and much more. These new types of files require secondary storage devices that have much greater capacity. Secondary storage devices have always been an indispensable element in any computer system. They have similarities to output and input devices. Like output devices, secondary storage devices receive information from the system unit in the form of the machine language of Os and Is. Rather than translating the information, however, secondary storage devices save the information in machine language for later use. Like input devices, secondary storage devices send information to the system unit for processing. However, the information, since it is already in machine form, does not need to be translated. It is sent directly to memory (RAM), where it can be accessed and processed by the CPU. Competent end users need to be aware of the different types of secondary storage. They need to know the capabilities, limitations, and uses of floppy disks, hard disks, optical discs, and other types of secondary storage. Additionally, they need to be aware of specialty storage devices for portable computers and to be knowledgeable about how large organizations manage their extensive data resources. 辅助存储设备保存，备份，甚至数据或程序从一个位置或计算机传送到另一个。前不久，几乎所有的文件只包含数字和字母。保存这些文件的要求很容易满足低容量的软盘驱动器和硬盘驱动器。 不断扩大，从文字和数字文件的数据存储，包括数字音乐文件，照相文件，视频文件，以及更。这些新类型的文件需要有更大容量的二级存储设备。 P214 STORAGE An essential feature of every computer is the ability to save, or store, information. As discussed in Chapter 6, random-access memory (RAM)