Basic Concepts

The basic concepts of data storage are discussed below. A portion of this chapter also discusses subjects that, at first, seem somewhat unrelated to the main subject of the book. Nevertheless, to understand digital storage technology one needs to know what an analog signal is and its limitations, how the analog signal is converted into its digital equivalent, and the problems inherent in this process. Some understanding of a binary system of notations is also helpful and is discussed below.

The Modern Computer

From the application point of view, there are up to four large groups of computer systems available today that have different needs for processing power, memory, size and weight, network computing capabilities, and, what ...

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