Difference Between Magnetic Tape and Magnetic Disk

Magnetic Tape vs Magnetic Disk
 

Magnetic tapes and magnetic disks are devices used to store data. Magnetic disks are metal discs that are coated with special material to store data. Magnetic tapes are polymers that are coated with special material to store data. Magnetic tapes and magnetic disks are widely used in fields such as audio cassettes, video cassettes, computer hard disc drives, floppy drives and many other applications. There are several advantages in both of these storage media, and they are important in understanding the hardware mechanics of devices that use them. In this article, we are going to discuss what magnetic tapes and magnetic disks are, their underlying principles, the advantages and disadvantages of magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, in what applications magnetic disks and magnetic tapes are used, the similarities between these two and finally the difference between magnetic tapes and magnetic disks.

Magnetic Tapes

A magnetic tape is a thin and a long plastic strip coated with a magnetizable material. The recorder orders the magnetizable material on the magnetic tape according to the incoming signal. The reading process is simply done by sending the tape near a coil which produces a current which can be decoded to the original source. Magnetic tapes are also used as computer data storage. These were used before hard disc drives were invented. Magnetic tapes are still used to archive large amounts of data for non-frequent usage. The magnetic tape is a sequential storage device. The data can only be read as a serial input. Magnetic tapes are mostly used in Audio cassettes and video cassettes. Magnetic tapes are used as digital data storage devices as well as analog data storage devices.

Magnetic Disks

A magnetic disk operates the same way a magnetic tape does, but magnetic disks can usually store a large amount of data than the magnetic tapes. The main advantage of the magnetic disk is that data can be read from anywhere. A magnetic disk is also more portable than the magnetic tape. Computer hard disc drives are the main devices that use magnetic disks. Magnetic disks are not shockproof. A shock can change the current magnetic condition of a material. However, since magnetic tapes are not solid, the chance of a shock is minimal. Magnetic disks are used as digital data storage devices rather than analog data storage devices. A certain area on the disk is known as a block. The net magnetic orientation of a block decides whether it is a digital 0 or a 1.

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