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2. Data Storage

Raw data often enters the computer system by means of an input device such as a keyboard or scanner. For example you enter text into a wordprocessing application with a keyboard.

The CPU then processes data and then one or two things happen - the data is sent directly to an output device such as the computer monitor and / or it is stored for later use.

Data is normally stored as a named file on whatever storage device is to be used.

Exactly how the data is stored depends on a number of factors such as:

Capacity

- the amount of data to be stored / size of the file

Speed

- how quickly the user needs to be able to access the data from the storage device

Portability

- whether the data needs to be moved from one place to another such as from home to school

Durability

- How long the storage media can reasonably be expected to last.

Reliability

- whether the data can always be accessed reliably and in the format in which it was saved.

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