Vocabulary: Output Devices

n. controls maximum resolution energy consumption aspect ratio screen size image width colour depth refresh rate safety standard power-saving feature on-screen menu quality quantity output operation feedback connection application plasma discharge electron beam electrical current luminance electroluminescence candela Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) high-definition TV OLEDs video graphics adapter (VGA) digital video interface (DVI) thin film transistor (TFT) video projector viewing angle backlight

v. provide incorporate depend on make up flicker reduce adjust run glow strike(struck) require emit stimulate consume adj. instant (non-)harmful noble analogue digital tiny flexible adv. relatively automatically conj. i.e.( Latin: id est ) – which is to say, in other words

Unit 5. ………….Storage Devices

Listening 6. Buying a disc.

Task 1. In pairs, discuss these questions.

1. What do CD and DVD stand for?

2. What is the main advantage of using DVDs instead of CDs?

Task 2. Make sure you know these terms.

1. polycarbonate plastic

2. an aluminium layer

3. to coat, f.e. coated with an aluminium layer

4. internal structure

5. content

6. backward-compatible writer (не исключающий использование прежних версий или модификаций)

Task 3. Paul wants to buy some blank discs. Listen to his conversation with the sales assistant and check your answers to task 1. Listen again and decide whether these sentences are true or false. Correct the false ones.

1. A DVD is an optical digital disc that can be used for video, audio and data storage.

2. The dimensions of a CD and a DVD are the same: 1.3 mm thick and 13 cm in diameter.

3. The data on a DVD is read with a laser beam.

4. A basic DVD can hold 3.7 gigabytes.

5. You need a hard drive to read DVDs.

6. DVD-Video discs can hold full-length movies.

7. A DVD Writer is not compatible with old CD-ROMs.

Reading.

There are many different kinds of storage devices for computers, and developments are taking place all the time. Read the texts and complete the table, comparing different storage devices.

Medium	Advantages	Disadvantages
Floppy disk
Fixed hard disk
Removable hard disk
Magnetic tape
CD-disc
DVD-disc
Blu-Ray
Flash Memory

А Magnetic storage devices store data by magnetizing particles on a disk or tape. A disk drive spins the disk at high speed and reads its data or writes new data onto it.

Floppy disk drives, which are becoming rare, use 3.5" disks (diskettes). Floppies conform to a standard and you can use them to carry data from one place to another. Floppies are also very cheap, but they are slow and have a limited capacity.

Almost all desktop computers have hard disks. They are fast and can store much greater amounts of data than floppies, but they are fixed inside the computer and you cannot use them to transfer data.

You can move data from place to place using removable hard disks. They are almost as fast as fixed hard disks and also have high capacities, but they are relatively expensive. They do not all conform to one standard and they are not very common.

Magnetic tape is a cheap medium. You can use it to store very large amounts of data, but it does not allow random access. Every time you read or write a piece of data, you start at the beginning of the tape. Tape drives are slow. Therefore, it is only suitable for doing backups.

B Optical drives use a laser to read and write data, so they are not affected by magnetic fields; but they are slower than hard drives.

CD-discs (compact discs) are very common and conform to a standard. They are removable, can hold large amounts of data and also cheap to make. However, they are slow compared to hard disks. CDs come in three different formats: CD-ROMs (read-only memory), CD-R (recordable once) discs, CD-RW (rewritable) discs .

DVD-discs (digital video/versatile discs) are similar to CDs. However, they are very different in internal structure (have more tracks and more pits (tiny holes) per track) and have bigger data capacity. They exist in the same formats as CDs: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW.

Blu-ray disc provides five times more-data storage than a DVD, with a capacity of 25 GB (single-layer), 50 GB (dual-layer) and 100 GB (four-layer). Blu-ray discs use a blue-violet laser (which is where the format gets its name) unlike CD / DVDs, which use a red laser to read and write data. Blu-ray discs can record and play back high-definition television and digital audio, as well as computer data. Blu-ray Disc players are fully backward compatible with CD/DVD formats.

C Removable flash memory. Flash memory is solid-state, rewritable, non-volatile memory that can be electronically erased and reprogrammed. This technology is primarily used in flash memory cards (found in cameras, PDAs and music players) and USB flash drives (connected to a USB port of the computer) for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products. Flash memory offers fast read access times and better kinetic shock resistance than hard disks. Another feature of flash memory is that when packaged in a "memory card," it is enormously durable, being able to withstand intense pressure, extremes of temperature, and even immersion.

Note: disk (magnetic storage media); disc (optical media)

Speaking. Using the table above the text, ask and answer questions like these:

• What are the advantages of floppy disk?

• What are the disadvantages of magnetic tape?

• Do CD-ROMs conform to a standard?

Language work: Linking Words

Linking words and phrases are used to join ideas and help us organize our writing. They can be used for:

• making contrasts:

however but whereas although on the other hand

• showing that the next idea is a reason

for this reason because

• explaining the results or effects of something

as a result so thus therefore consequently