Summary
One, two, three, four, we declare a thumb drive war! Learn the basics of peripheral data storage devices in this BrainPOP technology extravaganza. Tim and Moby will tell you about binary, the special language made of 1’s and 0’s that all digital devices use to communicate and store data. They’ll also demystify bits and bytes for you, explaining just how much code these units of binary measurement represent. Next, you’ll find out about optical media like CDs and DVDs, how they store data as microscopic bumps, and how a player reads that data. Tim will also teach you about USB flash memory, the kind of storage used in those handy thumb drives, and how those drives are related to memory cards you might find in a digital camera. So save whatever you’re working on and check out this rad movie!
Viewer safety
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A few questions to talk through after watching Data Storage Devices:
- What is one new thing you learned about data storage devices?
- Can you explain it to a partner in your own words?
- Where might you see this in the real world?
- What is one question you still have?
Quick work-a-long
Try it:
- Write one sentence explaining data storage devices.
- Draw or give one example of your own.


