Listening skills

• Sue is in a shop. Listen to the conversation and answer these questions.

1. What type of disks did Sue want to buy – hard or floppy?

2. Did she mention a particular make of disk?

3. What size disk did she ask for?

4. How much information can be held in the high density disks mentioned in the conversation?

5. How much was a pack of ten high density disks?

6. How much did she pay altogether?

• Paul is interested in CD-ROMs. He has gone to his local computer shop to ask for some information.

Read the sentences below, and as you listen put a cross next to those which contain a technical mistake. Then listen again and rewrite these sentences with the correct information.

1. A CD-ROM disk is very different from a compact music disk.

2. You need a hard disk to read CD-ROM disks.

3. The data on a CD-ROM is read with a laser beam.

4. A typical CD-ROM disk can hold 100 MB.

5. The data on a CD-Rom can be changed or ‘written’ to.

6. A CD-ROM is a good way of storing large amounts of information (images, sounds, applications, etc.).

7. CD-ROM drives cannot play audio CDs.

D iscussion

Working in pairs make up dialogues

deciding which of the products would be most

suitable for the purposes below. Discuss the pros and cons with a partner.

Products available

CD-ROM drive (each CD disk holds650 MB)

Removable cartridge drive (when you need additional storage you simply add another 45or 88 MB transportable hard disk enclosed in a plastic cartridge)

Hard disk drive (superfast 12ms hard drive. Capacity ranges from 40 to 500 MB)

Erasable optical disk system (Rewritable 3.5’’floptical disks with a storage capacity of 128 MB)

DAT Data tape drive (digital audio tape drives to store computer data. Used for back-up purposes. Slow access. Huge amounts of information)

Problems to decide

1. To store data and programs at home.

2. To hold large amounts of information in a big company.

3. To store an illustrated encyclopedia for children.

4. To store historical records in the National Library.

Useful expressions

For personal use, I would recommend…because…

In a big company, it would be a good idea to…

However, …is good for an encyclopedia because…

Well, that depends on…

I agree/ disagree with you. CD-ROMs…

Besides, …

S upplementary reading

SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.7

Over the last three years, hardware enthusiasts have watched with increasing disappointment as Seagate took the respected Barracuda name and slapped it onto successive series of drives featuring more and more mundane performance. Though the Barracuda ATA IV and V featured impressively low noise floors, their performance trailed category leaders Western Digital and Hitachi by significant margins. A user purchasing a Barracuda ATA drive did so for its low noise, not its leading performance.

With the serial ATA 'Cuda V, Seagate finally debuted a drive featuring an 8-megabyte buffer as well as the only drive to eschew a PATA-to-SATA bridge. While this first attempt exhibited some improvement over the standard parallel ATA (2-meg) unit, the SATA Barracuda nonetheless trailed WD's and Hitachi's disks by a significant margin.

In a fashion that surprised some watchers, Seagate quickly followed up on the Barracuda ATA V with the Barracuda 7200.7. The former series, with its 60 gigabyte platters, represented somewhat of a transitional product as Seagate ramped up production of units with 80 GB platters, a size regarded as more "standard" by the industry.

The Barracuda 7200.7 family delivers a somewhat confusing array of varying configurations. All feature 80 gigabytes per platter and specified 8.5 millisecond random read seek times. The standard ATA-100 units, available in sizes from 40 GB to the flagship 160 GB, come with a 2-megabyte cache. The ATA-100 "Barracuda 7200.7 Plus" comprises 120 GB and 160 GB models with 8-megabyte buffers. Finally, serial ATA versions spanning 80 GB to 160 GB come standard with 8 megabytes. Notably absent on the 7200.7 is the "SeaShield," a metal plate found on earlier models that protected electronics mounted along the underside printed circuit board. Keep in mind that the SATA 7200.7 does not feature a traditional 4-pin molex power connector but rather requires the new L-shaped SATA power connector either incorporated on the power supply (rare) or through an adapter (found in some retail SATA controller kits).