5. Storing data

1 Before you start

What information can you store on a computer?

Where can you store your documents or files?

2 Reading

Read the text quickly. Write the number of the paragraph that tells you about:

a computer directories 

b organizing personal files 

с where you can store data 

1. Computers store letters, reports, pictures, music and video as data.. You can store data on floppy disks but they are too small to hold most pictures or videos. You can store these on a CD-ROM but you need a CD-re-writer to copy the data. People often use portable removable disks, which can store up to one gigabyte of data and do not need any expensive hardware. Most computer owners store their data on the hard disk but because computers can crash, they often use other disks to make back-up copies.

2. Computers store program files on the hard disk, which is usually the C: drive in the Windows OS (operating system) or the Macintosh Hard Disk in Apple computers. Computers store program files in folders and organize these folders in a directory (see below). The plus sign (+) means that the folder contains other folders or files. Clicking the plus sign next to the icon opens the other folders and files in it. Clicking the minus (-) sign closes the folder.

3 It is important to organize your files. Windows has a folder called My Documents to help you do this. It contains other folders called My Music, My eBooks, My Videos and My Pictures. Saving files on your hard disk without any order makes them difficult to find.

3 Write short answers to these questions.

1 Name four ways you can store computer data.

a ____________ с ____________

b ____________ d ____________

2 Name the open folder in the diagram.

____________

3 How many folders are in My Computer in the diagram?

____________

4 What is the hard disk called in Apple Macintosh computers?

____________

5 Where will you find My Videos in the Windows OS?

____________

4 Match the questions (1-5) with the answers

1 Why can't a floppy disk store videos?

2 What are removable disks?

3 Where do computers store program files?

4 Why do you need to organize your files?

5 What happens if you click the plus sign?

a Portable data storage disks.

b Other folders or files appear.

с So that you can find them easily.

d On the hard disk.

e Because it can't hold a lot of data.

Vocabulary

5 Find the words in the text that mean:

1 computer information (paragraph 1) ___________

2 when computers stop working (1) ___________

3 a second copy of a file (1) ___________

4 to put in neat order (2) ___________

5 a list (2) ___________

Speaking

6 Work in pairs. Look at the files below. How would you organize them

so that you can find them easily? Add more files to the list.

music files ■ history essays ■ games ■ pictures of my friends ■ videos ■photos of my family ■ my science reports ■letters to my friends ■ letters to my family ■ my English language lessons ■desktop pictures ■ screen savers

Get real

Ask people in your family or your friends' families who have their own computers how they organize their personal files. Ask them what categories they use and how they decide what files go into each category. Make a class list of the types of data they store.