Computer Games Design and Development

Backing Storage

Hard Disk Drives• Capacity varies from 20 Gb to 2 Tb.

• The read/write heads fly on a very thin layer of air on the disk.

• The closer the heads are to the disk, the narrower the magnetic track and hence the more data that can be fitted onto the disk. 

Demonstration on how this works

Solid State Drives

• The big advantage of a SSD is that unlike a hard disk it contains no moving parts making them much faster than traditional hard disks. 

• Disadvantage is they are more expensive that HDD.

SD Cards

• SD Cards or Secure Digital Cards are used by a variety of portable devices. For example Nintendo DS and PSP.

• Capacity ranges from 1 MB – 32 GB

XBOX 360 Storage

• The Xbox 360 comes in two versions, one with a hard drive and one without.

• Storage capacity ranges from 4GB – 250 GB.

Wii Internal Storage• Wii comes equipped with 512 MB of

internal storage in the form of built-in NAND non-volatile memory flash memory.

• This is not a lot of memory for most users therefore there is an option to use SD Cards.

Which is the most expensive?• Use the internet to help you arrange the following

backing storage in order of price ( Lowest - Highest)

• Make sure state the name, picture, platform, Price- 1TB PC Desktop HDD

- 4 GB SD Card

- 1TB Solid State Desktop storage

- 250GB Xbox Storage

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Task 2

• Looking at the two platforms you have chosen in other tasks. Choose one and write about the following things:

• What name or type of backing storage does it have?

• What minimum and maximum capacity does it have?

• Can you buy them separately? If so how much?