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6. State with reasons which secondary storage media would you use to transfer files from the school
computer to your personal computer at home.
Answers
Explanation:
Secondary storage is storage for noncritical data that will not be frequently accessed. While primary storage typically requires costly, high-performance storage systems, secondary storage systems can function effectively on economical, lower-performing devices that are more appropriate long-term storage. Data that is accessed less frequently can be migrated to secondary storage devices to free up space, improve performance on primary storage devices and lower overall storage costs. Types of secondary storage include devices that can accommodate noncritical data, backup and disaster recovery (DR) data sets, and archival data. Secondary storage may also be referred to as auxiliary storage.
Three types of secondary storage
Secondary storage initially referred to the class of media used to store the data. Today, the term is also about the management of noncritical data rather than the hardware on which that data resides. While secondary storage does not need to be accessed as frequently as primary data, recovery of the data can prove crucial to replacing the information and applications that a business needs.
Generally, there are three types of secondary storage. Each has its own usage characteristics that may determine the type of storage media and storage system that is best suited to the particular task.
Backup and DR. Backup and DR data may reside on a variety of media and systems, usually determined by its volume and how easily and quickly it can be restored. Both processes rely on restoring secondary data to recreate files and applications lost because of user error, malicious attacks or natural events, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and fires. In situations where data is highly sensitive or mission-critical, it may be backed up to redundant arrays to ensure against data loss.
Archival. Archival data is information that is no longer accessed with any regularity but must be maintained and be accessible if needed, such as data related to internal governance or legal compliance regulations. Because access to archival data is infrequent and doesn't require immediate turnaround, archival storage systems -- e.g., optical storage or removable magnetic media, such as tape -- may not be online at all times.
Noncritical active data. Many companies have stored data that may not be accessed very frequently but still needs to be close at hand when needed. Some examples of noncritical active data may include recent documents, database records and emails. This data may be maintained on less expensive, lower-performing storage, but it must be online and readily available. So, tape or optical wouldn't be appropriate for this use case.
Benefits of secondary storage
There are two main benefits to moving infrequently used or backup and DR data from primary storage to secondary storage: to free capacity on primary storage and to lower overall storage costs. An additional benefit is that a secondary storage system can be isolated from the main computing network or situated at a remote site to provide an additional layer of security.
Secondary storage provides a lower-cost, higher-capacity storage tier than primary storage, although the data stored may not be as immediately accessible. This tradeoff is worthwhile in some cases, such as for a backup disk appliance or cloud-based backup. Backup appliances and cloud backup services can store vast amounts of data, but getting access to it requires dedicated backup software. Similarly, optical discs and backup tapes must first be mounted onto their respective libraries before they can be read.
Data sets stored on secondary storage include backup data, test/development data, reference data, archived data and other older operational data that no longer requires daily access. Organizations may still gain value from this data by running analytics against it, or it may need to be stored only to meet regulatory requirements.
Data is often archived for long-term preservation. Whether to meet regulatory compliance or maintain business transaction records, some businesses need to store data for years or indefinitely. Because this data isn't frequently accessed or changed, it is more cost-efficient to store it on high-capacity secondary storage.
Some businesses store archival data in a third tier, separate from the storage tier used for backup and accessed even less frequently. This is called cold storage -- or, sometimes, tertiary storage -- but it is important to note that secondary storage is a blanket term for all nonprimary storage.