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Secondary storage
2. Storage devices and media
Secondary Storage Device
A secondary storage device is the physical hardware that carries out the storage action. For instance a DVD writer is a 'storage device'.
A hard disk or a Solid State Drive are secondary storage devices.
Storage Media
Some storage devices come with removable media. For example a DVD writer burns a blank DVD. The DVD itself is an example of storage media.
Storage media is the physical object used to actually store the data.
Another storage media example is a magnetic tape cartridge. This is loaded into the magnetic tape recorder / reader (the storage device). The storage media can be removed and kept somewhere else for safe-keeping.
Some secondary storage devices do not have separate media. For example a hard disk or a Solid State Drive are self-contained with no external media.
Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Data storage media examples