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Data storage on magnetic strips - Layout of Data on magnetic strips

Introduction
Data can be stored on different kinds of storage device. but the most preferable are the magnetic devices such as hard disks, compact disk magnetic stripes and many other. There are different techniques and data storage architecture that are used for storing the large amount of data on the magnetic stripes.

Data storage on magnetic stripes
Data is stored in the form of tracks more commonly three tracks. Total data is laid on the standard magnetic card but the magnetic stripes can have the multiple combinations of these storage tracks. Each track has its own specialties and storage specifications.

Track no 1
Te first track is called as track one standardized. It was firstly developed by the IATA and till now same organization has its total rights of construction. It has the density of 210 bpi and 797 bits characters are allowed. Its encoding scheme with parity bit isn7 bits and its basis is America Standard code for information interchange (ASCII).the reader would be unable to read the data form this track without converting it to the ASCII. All the characters present on the stripes are multiplied by the 20 to get converted into compatible ASCII code. Every byte contains odd parity bit in the end.
Exact format of track 1

Start sentinel	1 byte (the % character)
Format code	1 byte alpha (The standard for financial institutions specifies format code is “B”)
Primary Account number	Up to 19 characters. American Express inserts space characters in here in the same places the digits are broken up on the face of your card.
Separator	1 byte (the ^ character)
Country code	3 bytes, if used. (The United States is 840) This is only used if the account number begins with “59.”
Surname
Surname separator	(the / character)
First name or initial
Space	(when followed by more data)
Middle name or initial
Period	(when followed by a title)
Title	(when used)
Separator	1 byte (^)
Expiration date or separator	4 bytes (YYMM) or the one byte separator if a non-expiring card.
Discretionary data	Optional data can be encoded here by the issuer.
End Sentinel	1 byte (the ? character)
Longitudinal Redundancy Check (LRC)	….Checks for Duplication

Track 2

Data storage track number 2 of magnetic stripes was developed by the AB American Banker Association after some time the first track was developed .the main reason for the development of this track was the online transactions to reduce the redundancy and to enhance efficiency. Its storage density is 75 bpi and 40 -5 bits but only numeric data. Its encoding scheme becomes 5bit after adding the parity bit. ASCII conversion is also requiring in this track and all the numeric are multiplied by 30 for conversion. It has the different format from the first track but the entering data must be

Exact Track 2 format

Start sentinel	1 byte (0x0B, or a ; in ASCII)
Primary Account Number	Up to 19 bytes
Separator	1 byte (0x0D, or an = in ASCII)
Country code	3 bytes, if used. (The United States is 840) This is only used if the account number begins with “59.”
Expiration date or separator	4 bytes (YYMM) or the one byte separator if a non-expiring card
Discretionary data	Optional data can be encoded here by the issuer.
End Sentinel	1 byte (0x0F, or a ? in ASCII)
Longitudinal Redundancy Check (LRC)	1 byte.

Track 3
Track 3 is also used for the financial purposes. The only difference between the track 2 and track 3 is the reading and writing capabilities. Its storage density is higher then the previous track it offer 210bpi and can store 107 numeric digits in single array. The format specification includes the PIN number having country code, units of currency and authorized amount for the transaction.