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Data Storage Device

 
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Data storage device
 
 
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A data storage device is a device for recording (storing) information (data). Recording
Recording

Recording is a process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on a storage medium often referred to as a record....
 can be done using virtually any form of energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, spanning from manual muscle power in handwriting, to acoustic vibrations in phonographic recording, to electromagnetic energy modulating magnetic tape and optical discs.

A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds information is a recording medium.






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A data storage device is a device for recording (storing) information (data). Recording
Recording

Recording is a process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on a storage medium often referred to as a record....
 can be done using virtually any form of energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, spanning from manual muscle power in handwriting, to acoustic vibrations in phonographic recording, to electromagnetic energy modulating magnetic tape and optical discs.

A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds information is a recording medium. Devices that process information (data storage equipment) may either access a separate portable (removable) recording medium or a permanent component to store and retrieve information.

Electronic data storage is storage which requires electrical power to store and retrieve that data. Most storage devices that do not require vision
Visual perception

Visual perception is the ability to interpret information from visible light reaching the eye. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight or vision....
 and a brain to read data fall into this category. Electromagnetic data may be stored in either an analog
Analog signal

An analog or analogue signal is any continuous function Signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e analogous to another time varying signal....
 or digital
Digital

A digital system uses discrete values, usually but not always symbolized numerically to represent information for input, processing, transmission, storage, etc....
 format on a variety of media. This type of data is considered to be electronically encoded
Machine-readable

The term machine-readable refers to information encoded in a form which can be, scanned or sensed by a machine or computer and interpreted by its hardware and software....
 data, whether or not it is electronically stored in a semiconductor
Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material that has electrical conductivity between those of a Electrical conductor and an electrical insulation; it can vary over that wide range either permanently or dynamically....
 device, for it is certain that a semiconductor device was used to record it on its medium. Most electronically processed data storage media (including some forms of computer data storage) are considered permanent (non-volatile) storage, that is, the data will remain stored when power is removed from the device. In contrast, most electronically stored information within most types of semiconductor (computer chips) microcircuits are volatile memory
Volatile memory

Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage or primary storage device, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply....
, for it vanishes if power is removed.

With the exception of barcode
Barcode

A bar code is an optical machine-readable representation of data. Originally, bar codes represented data in the widths and the spacings of parallel lines and may be referred to as linear or 1D barcodes or symbologies....
s and OCR
Optical character recognition

Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or Electronics translation of s of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-editable text....
 data, electronic data storage is easier to revise and may be more cost effective than alternative methods due to smaller physical space requirements and the ease of replacing (rewriting) data on the same medium. However, the durability of methods such as printed data is still superior to that of most electronic storage media. The durability limitations may be overcome with the ease of duplicating (backing-up
Backup

In information technology, backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event....
) electronic data.

Terminology

Devices that are not used exclusively for recording (e.g. hand
Hand

The hands are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm of a human or other primate. They are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, using anywhere from the roughest motor skills to the finest , and since the fingertips contain some of the densest areas of nerve e...
s, mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
s, musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s) and devices that are intermediate in the storing/retrieving process (e.g. eyes, ears
EARS

EARS may refer to:* Electoral software* Emirates Amateur Radio SocietySee also* Ears...
, camera
Camera

A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies. The term comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism of projecting images where an entire room functioned as a real-time imaging system; the modern camera evolved from the camera obscura....
s, scanner
Image scanner

In computing, a scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning....
s, microphone
Microphone

A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or?more recently?mic, is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal....
s, speaker
Loudspeaker

A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an electroacoustical transducer that converts an electricity signal processing to sound....
s, monitor
Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information for visual, tactile or Hearing_ reception, acquired, stored, or transmitted in various forms....
s, projector
Projector

Projector may refer to:* Video projector, a device that projects a video signal from computer, home theater system etc.* Movie projector, a device that projects moving pictures from a filmstrip...
s) are not usually considered storage devices. Devices that are exclusively for recording (e.g. printer
Computer printer

File:Lexmark X5100 Series.jpgIn computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy of documents stored in computer file form, usually on physical print media such as paper or Transparency ....
s), exclusively for reading (e.g. barcode reader
Barcode reader

A barcode reader is an electronic device for reading printed barcodes. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor translating optical impulses into electrical ones....
s), or devices that process only one form of information (e.g. phonograph
Phonograph

The record player, phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing Sound recording and reproduction sound from the 1870s through the 1980s....
s) may or may not be considered storage devices. In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
 these are known as input
Input device

An input device is any peripheral used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system . Input and output devices make up the hardware interface between a computer as a or 6DOF controller....
/output
Output device

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results of data processing carried out by an information processing system to the outside world....
 devices.

An organic brain
Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as cnidarian and echinoderm have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all....
 may or may not be considered a data storage device.

All information is data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
. However, not all data is information
Information

Information as a Conveyed concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control system, data, form, instruction, knowledge, Meaning , stimulation, pattern, perception, and knowledge representation....
.

Many data storage devices are also media players. Any device that can store and playback multimedia
Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that utilizes a combination of different content format. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms....
 may also be considered a media player such as in the case with the HDD media player
HDD media player

An HDD media player is a device that plays videos, music and photos from a hard drive that the user installs themselves . They play formats such as DivX, MP1,2,4, AVI, MP3, JPEG....
. Designated hard drives are used to play saved or streaming media
Streaming media

Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by, and normally presented to, an End-user while it is being delivered by a streaming provider ....
 on home entertainment systems.

Trends


International Data Corporation
International Data Corporation

International Data Corporation is a market research and analysis firm specializing in information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology....
 estimated that the total amount of digital data was 281 billion gigabyte
Gigabyte

Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
s in 2007, and had for the first time exceeded the amount of storage.

Data storage equipment

Any input/output
Input/output

In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world ? possibly a human, or another information processing system....
 equipment may be considered data storage equipment if it writes to and reads from a data storage medium. Data storage equipment uses either:
  • portable methods (easily replaced),
  • semi-portable methods requiring mechanical disassembly tools and/or opening a chassis
    Chassis

    A chassis consists of a Frame that supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animal's skeleton, for example in a motor vehicle or a firearm....
    , or
  • inseparable methods meaning loss of memory if disconnected from the unit.
The following are examples of those methods:

Portable methods

  • Hand crafting
    Arts and crafts

    Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's own hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"....
  • Flat surface
    • Printmaking
      Printmaking

      Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a 'print....
    • Photographic
  • Fabrication
    Fabrication

    Fabrication may refer to:*Various processes in arts, crafts and manufacturing:**Fabrication **Semiconductor fabrication**Optics fabrication...
    • Automated assembly
      Manufacturing

      Manufacturing is the use of machine, tool and labor to make things for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to Industry production, in which raw material are transformed into finished good on a large scale....
    • Textile
      Textile

      A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by Spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands known as yarn....
    • Molding
      Molding (process)

      Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
    • Solid freeform fabrication
      Solid freeform fabrication

      Solid freeform fabrication is a collection of techniques for manufacturing solid objects by the sequential delivery of energy and/or material to specified points in space to produce that solid....
  • Cylindrical
    Cylinder (geometry)

    A cylinder is one of the most curvilinear basic geometric shapes: the surface formed by the points at a fixed distance from a given straight line, the axis of the cylinder....
     accessing
  • Card
    Card

    The term card , primarily refers to cardboard or a piece of this.More generally, the term can refer to any of various small flat objects, typically made from heavy paper or plastic....
     reader/drive
  • Tape drive
    Tape drive

    A tape drive, which is also known as a streamer, is a computer hardware that reads and writes data stored on a magnetic tape data storage....
    • Mono reel
      Reel

      A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core....
       or reel-to-reel
    • Compact Cassette
      Compact Cassette

      The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape Sound recording and reproduction format....
       player/recorder
  • Disk
    Disk storage

    Disk storage is a general category of a computer storage mechanisms, in which data is recorded on planar, round and rotating surfaces . A disk drive is a peripheral device used to record and retrieve information....
     accessing
    • Disk drive
    • Disk enclosure
      Disk enclosure

      A disk enclosure is essentially a specialized chassis designed to hold and power disk drives while providing a mechanism to allow them to communicate to one or more separate computers....
  • Cartridge
    Cartridge (electronics)

    In various types of electronic equipment, a cartridge can refer to one method of adding different functionality or content; for example, a video game played on a video game console; or a method by which consumables may be replenished, such as an ink cartridge for a printer....
     accessing/connecting (tape/disk/circuitry)
  • Peripheral
    Peripheral

    A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer behind the chipset whose primary functionality is dependent upon the host, and can therefore be considered as expanding the hosts capabilities, while not forming part of the system's core computer architecture....
     networking
    Networking hardware

    Networking hardware typically refers to equipment facilitating the use of a computer networking. Typically, this includes routers, network switch, ethernet hub, Gateway , wireless access points, network interface cards, Networking cables, network bridges, modems, Integrated Services Digital Network, firewalls and other related hardware....
  • Flash memory devices
    USB flash drive

    A USB flash drive consists of a Flash memory#NAND memories-type flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk , and most USB flash drives weigh less than an ounce ....


Semi-portable methods

  • Hard disk drive
  • Circuitry with non-volatile RAM
    NVRAM

    Non-volatile random access memory is the general name used to describe any type of random access memory which does not lose its information when power is turned off....


Inseparable methods

  • Circuitry with volatile
    Volatile memory

    Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage or primary storage device, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply....
     RAM
  • Neuron
    Neuron

    Neurons are responsive cell in the nervous system that process and transmit information by electrochemical Signal . They are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves....
    s


Recording medium

A recording medium is a physical material that holds data expressed in any of the existing recording formats
Recording formats

A recording format is a format for encoder data for storage on a storage medium. The format can be container information such as Cylinder-head-sector on a disk, or user/audience information such as analog signal stereo Sound recording and reproduction....
. With electronic media
Electronic media

Electronic media are media that utilize electronics or electromechanical energy for the end user to access the content. This is in contrast to static media , which are most often Desktop publishing, but don't require electronics to be accessed by the end user in the printed form....
, the data and the recording medium is sometimes referred to as "software" despite the more common use of the word to describe computer software
Computer software

Computer software, or just software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, Algorithm and Software documentation that perform some tasks on a computer system....
. With (traditional art
Media (arts)

In the arts, media are the materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work....
) static media, art materials
Art materials

Techniques and materials related to art:...
 such as crayons may be considered both equipment and medium as the wax, charcoal or chalk material from the equipment becomes part of the surface of the medium.

Some recording media may be temporary either by design or by nature. Volatile organic compound
Volatile organic compound

Volatile organic compounds are organic chemical compounds that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere....
s may be used to preserve the environment
Sustainable design

Sustainable design is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment and services to comply with the principles of economy, society, and ecology sustainability....
 or to purposely make data expire over time. Data such as smoke signal
Smoke signal

The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of communication in recorded history. It is a form of visual communication used over long distance....
s or skywriting
Skywriting

Skywriting is the process of using a small aircraft, able to expel special smoke during flight, to fly in certain patterns to create writing readable by someone on the ground....
 are temporary by nature. Depending on the volatility, a gas
Gas

In physics, a gas is a state of matter, consisting of a collection of particles without a definite shape or volume that are in more or less random motion....
 (e.g. atmosphere
Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, by the gravity of the body, and are retained for a longer duration if gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low....
, smoke
Smoke

File:Bling-Bling Skywriting David Shankbone.jpgSmoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrainment or otherwise mixed into the mass....
) or a liquid surface such as a lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
 would be considered a temporary recording medium if at all.

Ancient and timeless examples

La2 Katalogkort
  • Optical
    • Any object
      Physical body

      In physics, a physical body is a collection of masses, taken to be one. For example, a cricket ball can be considered an object but the ball also consists of many particles ....
       visible to the eye, used to mark a location such as a, stone
      Rock (geology)

      In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
      , flag
      Flag

      A flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or Mast , generally used symbolically for signaling or identification. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium....
       or skull
      Skull

      The skull is a bone structure found in the head of many animals. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury....
      .
    • Any crafting
      Arts and crafts

      Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's own hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"....
       material used to form shapes such as clay
      Clay

      Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
      , wood
      Wood

      Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
      , metal
      Metal

      In chemistry, a metal is a chemical element whose atoms readily lose electrons to form positive ions , and form metallic bonds between other metal atoms and ionic bonds between nonmetal atoms....
      , glass
      Glass

      Glass generally refers to a Hardness, brittle, transparency amorphous solid, such as that used for windows, many Glass Bottles, or eyewear, including, but not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovite , or aluminium oxynitride....
      , wax
      Wax

      Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely...
       or quipu
      Quipu

      Quipu or khipu were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andes region. A quipu usually consisted of colored spun and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair....
      .
    • Any branding surface that would scar under intense heat (chiefly for livestock
      Livestock branding

      Livestock branding is any technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding....
       or humans
      Human branding

      Human branding is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent....
      ).
    • Any marking substance such as paint
      Paint

      Paint is any liquid, liquifiable, or mastic composition which after application to a Substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film....
      , ink
      Ink

      An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an , writing, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush or quill....
       or chalk
      Chalk

      Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
      .
    • Any surface that would hold a marking substance such as, papyrus
      Papyrus

      Papyrus is a thick paper material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland Cyperaceae that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
      , paper
      Paper

      Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
      , skin
      Skin

      The skin is the outer covering of the body, also known as the epidermis. It is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of epithelial biological tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and organ s....
      .
  • Chemical
    • RNA
      RNA

      Ribonucleic acid is a type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nucleobase, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate....
    • DNA
      DNA

      Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
    • Pheromone
      Pheromone

      A pheromone is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the opposite gender of the same species. There are alarm signal pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that affect behavior or physiology....


Modern examples by energy used

Graffiti Panorama Rome
Undeveloped Film
Flippy Floppy
Hitachinotebookhd
  • Chemical
    • Dipstick
      Dipstick

      A dipstick is one of several devices dipped into a liquid to perform a chemical test or to provide a measure of quantity of the liquid.A "dipstick" can also be a nickname or slang term for someone who is unintelligent and usually ditzy or dislikeable....
  • Thermodynamic
    • Thermometer
      Thermometer

      The thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles; it comes from the Greek language roots thermo, heat, and meter, to measure....
  • Photochemical
    • Photographic film
      Photographic film

      Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and of the film....
  • Mechanical
    Classical mechanics

    Classical mechanics is used for describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, as well as astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies....
    • Pins and holes
      • Punch card
        Punch card

        A punch card or punched card , is a piece of paperboard that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions....
      • Paper tape
        • Music roll
          Music roll

          A music roll is a storage medium used to operate a mechanical organ, carillon#Musical characteristics or orchestrion. Originally made of paper, modern rolls are sometimes made of thin plastic or PET film ....
      • Music box cylinder or disk
    • Grooves (See also Audio Data)
      • Phonograph cylinder
        Phonograph cylinder

        The earliest method of Sound recording was on phonograph cylinders. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity , these cylinder shaped objects had an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played on a mechanical phonograph....
      • Gramophone record
        Gramophone record

        A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
      • DictaBelt
        Dictabelt

        The Dictabelt or Memobelt was a form of recording medium introduced by the United States Dictaphone company in 1947. It used a stylus to record sounds by pressing a groove into a replaceable plastic belt....
         (groove on plastic belt)
      • Capacitance Electronic Disc
  • Magnetic storage
    Magnetic storage

    Magnetic storage and magnetic recording are terms from engineering referring to the storage of data on a magnetized medium. Magnetic storage uses different patterns of magnetization in a magnetizable material to store data and is a form of non-volatile memory....
    • Wire recording
      Wire recording

      Wire recording is a type of analogue audio storage in which the recording is made onto thin steel or stainless steel wire....
       (stainless steel wire)
    • Magnetic tape
      Magnetic tape

      Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording generally consisting of a thin magnetizable coating on a long and narrow strip of plastic. Nearly all recording tape is of this type, whether used for recording Audio frequency or video or for computer data storage....
    • Drum memory
      Drum memory

      Drum memory is a magnetic data storage device and was an early form of computer memory widely used in the 1950s and into the 1960s, invented by Gustav Tauschek in 1932 in Austria....
       (magnetic drum)
    • Floppy disk
      Floppy disk

      A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangle plastic shell....
  • Optical storage
    Optical storage

    Optical storage is a term from engineering referring to the storage of data on an optically readable medium. Data is recorded by making marks in a pattern that can be read back with the aid of light....
    • Photo paper
      Photo paper

      Photo paper may refer to:* Photographic paper, paper coated with light-sensitive chemicals, used for making photographic prints* Photo printer with properties suited for printing digital images...
    • X-ray
      X-ray

      X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequency in the range 30 Hertz to 30 Hertz and energies in the range 120 Electron volt to 120 keV....
    • Microform
      Microform

      Microforms are any form, either photographic film or paper, containing microreproductions of documents for transmission, storage, reading, and printing....
    • Hologram
    • Projected
      Projector

      Projector may refer to:* Video projector, a device that projects a video signal from computer, home theater system etc.* Movie projector, a device that projects moving pictures from a filmstrip...
       transparency
      Transparency (projection)

      A transparency is a thin sheet of transparency flexible material, typically cellulose acetate, onto which figures can be drawn. These are then placed on an overhead projector for display to an audience....
    • Optical disc
      Optical disc

      In computing, sound reproduction, and video, an optical disc is a flat, circular disc wherein Data is stored in the pits in its flat surface ? sequentially on the continuous, spiral track extending from the innermost track to the outermost track, covering the entire disc surface....
    • Magneto-optical disc
    • Holographic data storage
      Holographic data storage

      Holographic data storage is a potential replacement technology in the area of high-capacity data storage currently dominated by magnetic and conventional optical data storage....
    • 3D optical data storage
      3D optical data storage

      3D optical data storage is the term given to any form of optical data storage in which information can be recorded and/or read with Three-dimensional space Optical resolution ....
  • Electrical
    • Semiconductor
      Semiconductor

      A semiconductor is a material that has electrical conductivity between those of a Electrical conductor and an electrical insulation; it can vary over that wide range either permanently or dynamically....
       used in volatile
      Volatile memory

      Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage or primary storage device, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information, unlike non-volatile memory which does not require a maintained power supply....
       RAM microchips
    • Floating-gate transistor used in non-volatile
      NVRAM

      Non-volatile random access memory is the general name used to describe any type of random access memory which does not lose its information when power is turned off....
       memory card
      Memory card

      A memory card or flash memory card is a solid-state electronic flash memory data storage device used with digital cameras, Personal Digital Assistant and Mobile computers, telephones, music players, video game consoles, and other electronics....
      s


Modern examples by shape

A typical way to classify data storage media is to consider its shape and type of movement (or non-movement) relative to the read/write device(s) of the storage apparatus as listed:
  • Paper card storage
    • Punched card (mechanical)
  • Cams and tracers (pipe organ combination-action memory memorizing stop selections
  • Tape storage (long, thin, flexible, linearly moving bands)
    • Paper tape
      Punched tape

      Punched tape or paper tape is a largely obsolete form of data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data....
       (mechanical)
    • Magnetic tape
      Magnetic tape

      Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording generally consisting of a thin magnetizable coating on a long and narrow strip of plastic. Nearly all recording tape is of this type, whether used for recording Audio frequency or video or for computer data storage....
       (a tape passing one or more read/write/erase heads)
  • Disk storage
    Disk storage

    Disk storage is a general category of a computer storage mechanisms, in which data is recorded on planar, round and rotating surfaces . A disk drive is a peripheral device used to record and retrieve information....
     (flat, round, rotating object)
    • Gramophone record
      Gramophone record

      A gramophone record is an analog signal sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove usually starting near the periphery and ending near the centre of the disc....
       (used for distributing some 1980s home computer programs) (mechanical)
    • Floppy disk
      Floppy disk

      A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangle plastic shell....
      , ZIP disk
      Zip drive

      The Zip drive is a medium-capacity removable disk storage system, introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Originally, Zip disks had a capacity of 100 megabyte, but later versions increased this to first 250 MB and then 750 MB....
       (removable) (magnetic)
    • Holographic
      HDSS

      In late 1995 a joint university, industry and government consortium initiated the Holographic Data Storage System programme, with the initial goals of developing several key components for the system, including a high-capacity, high-bandwidth spatial light modulator used for data input; optimised sensor arrays for data output; and a high-pow...
    • Optical disc
      Optical disc

      In computing, sound reproduction, and video, an optical disc is a flat, circular disc wherein Data is stored in the pits in its flat surface ? sequentially on the continuous, spiral track extending from the innermost track to the outermost track, covering the entire disc surface....
       such as CD, DVD
      DVD

      DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
      , Blu-ray Disc
      Blu-ray Disc

      Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc data storage device medium. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. The disc has the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs....
    • Minidisc
      MiniDisc

      A MiniDisc is a magneto-optical disc-based data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitized sound. Today, in the form of Hi-MD, it has developed into a general-purpose storage medium in addition to greatly expanding its audio roots....
    • Hard disk drive (magnetic)
  • Magnetic bubble memory
  • Flash memory
    Flash memory

    Flash memory is a non-volatile memory computer storage that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products....
    /memory card
    Memory card

    A memory card or flash memory card is a solid-state electronic flash memory data storage device used with digital cameras, Personal Digital Assistant and Mobile computers, telephones, music players, video game consoles, and other electronics....
     (solid state semiconductor memory
    Semiconductor memory

    Semiconductor memory is computer memory implemented on a semiconductor-based integrated circuit. Examples of semiconductor memory include static random access memory, which relies on transistors, and dynamic random access memory, which uses capacitors to store the bits....
    )
    • xD-Picture Card
      XD-Picture Card

      xD-Picture Card is a type of flash memory memory card, used mainly in digital cameras. xD originally stood for extreme Digital. The cards were developed by Olympus company and Fujifilm, and introduced into the market in July 2002....
    • MultiMediaCard
      MultiMediaCard

      The MultiMediaCard is a flash memory memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba's Flash memory#NAND memories, and is therefore much smaller than earlier systems based on Intel Flash memory#NOR memories such as CompactFlash....
    • USB
      Universal Serial Bus

      In information technology, Universal Serial Bus is a Serial communications computer bus standard to electrical connector devices to a host computer....
       flash drive
      USB flash drive

      A USB flash drive consists of a Flash memory#NAND memories-type flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk , and most USB flash drives weigh less than an ounce ....
       (also known as a "thumb drive" or "keydrive")
    • SmartMedia
      SmartMedia

      SmartMedia is a flash memory memory card standard owned by Toshiba, with capacities ranging from 0.5 MB to 128 MB. SmartMedia memory cards are no longer manufactured, and there have been no new devices designed for use with SmartMedia for many years....
    • CompactFlash
      CompactFlash

      CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. For storage, CompactFlash typically uses flash memory in a standardized enclosure....
       I and II
    • Secure Digital
      Secure Digital card

      Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory memory card format developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., SanDisk, and Toshiba for use in portable devices....
    • Sony Memory Stick
      Memory Stick

      Memory Stick is a removable flash memory memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998 , and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks....
       (Std/Duo/PRO/MagicGate versions)
    • Solid-state drive
      Solid-state drive

      A solid-state drive is a data storage device that uses Solid-state Computer storage to store persistent data. An SSD emulates a hard disk drive interface, thus easily replacing it in most applications....


Bekenstein (2003) foresees that miniaturization might lead to the invention of devices that store bit
Bit

A bit is a binary numeral system numerical digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1. Binary digits are a basic unit of information Computer data storage and transmission in digital computing and digital information theory....
s on a single atom
Atom

|-! bgcolor=gray | Properties|-||}The atom is a basic unit of matter consisting of a dense, central atomic nucleus surrounded by a electron cloud of electric charge electrons....
.

  • Science magazine article about perspective usage of sapphire in digital storage meadia technology


See also


Bibliography



External links