Question

Which of the following is not true of a magnetic disk?

• A. It is expensive relative to magnetic tape
• B. It provides only sequential access to stored data
• C. Users can easily update records by writing over the old data
• D. It does not provide an automatic audit trail
• E. All of the above are true

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

It provides only sequential access to stored data

It provides only sequential access to stored data is not true of a magnetic disk.

Sequential access memory. In computing, sequential access memory (SAM) is a class of data storage devices that read stored data in a sequence. This is in contrast to random access memory (RAM) where data can be accessed in any order. Sequential access devices are usually a form of magnetic storage or optical storage.

Magnetic storage is one of the most affordable ways to store large amounts of data. Magnetic storage uses the two types of magnetic polarities to represent the binary information consisting of zeros and ones. Commonly used devices that use magnetic storage include magnetic tape, floppy disks and hard-disk drives.