Future Storage

FUTURE STORAGE

There are an array of futuristic data storage solutions that have been envisaged. These include:

•       Carbon nanoballs – where carbon cages with metallic compounds embedded in them have their structures manipulated on a supra-molecular scale to make them capable of storing and reading data.
•       Holographic storage – where data is stored in multiple layers, rather than on a single flat plane and encoded using thousands of miniscule holograms.
•       Bacterial storage – attaching data to the DNA of bacteria (up to 100 bits per organism) in order to preserve it.
•       Molecular memory – rather than like today’s semi-conductor chips, integrated circuits could be made using molecules to create tiny supercomputers with a million times more storage capacity.
•       DNA encoding – digitizing data and using a chemical process to store it within DNA, which has the potential to last for millions of years. Researchers envisage that just 1.5 milligrams of DNA could be used to store one petabyte (1,000 terabytes or I million gigabytes) of data.

With business storage requirements doubling every couple of years, there would seem to be no end in sight for the evolution of data storage. It may just be a matter of time before one or more of these concepts (or something not yet thought of) becomes the norm for storing our ever-increasing amounts of data.

Example of Storage

5 TYPES OF STORAGE DEVICE

1. Random Access Memory (RAM)

- Used for storing information temporarily. When the computer is switched off, the information on the RAM is wiped off. The access rate of RAM is much higher. They are more expensive than the other types of primary storage devices.

2. Floppy Discs
-This is a magnetic storage device, which is set in square plastic shell. They are available in different sizes, like 8 inches, 5 ¼ inches and 3 ½ inches. In the initial days floppy discs were very popular, however, with the advancements they got over shadowed by the other computer storage devices.

3. USB Flash Drive

- Consist of a NAND type flash memory.  It has an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. They are non-volatile and data can be rewritten on them. They are very small in size, but have very large memory space. There are some of the USB drives, where 1 million erase and write cycles can be carried out. On the other hand, some of them are known to retain data for as long as 10 years.

4. Memory Cards

- Data is stored in digital format on the memory cards. They can be used in various electronic devices from hand held computers, mobile phones, cameras, etc. They are also rewritable. Although they are small in size, they can store a high amount of data.

5. Read Only Memory (ROM

- It is used to permanently store data. Data can be stored on ROM, either when the computer is been manufactured or by the computer user. However, the disadvantage of this type of memory is that the data stored on ROM cannot be changed. The access rate necessary to get to the memory is much lesser as compared to the access rate of the RAM. Unlike the RAM’s, ROM’s are not expensive.

What is a Storage?

STORAGE

Since the first hard drive was created way back in 1956 (inside a computer the size of two large refrigerators), data storage has been steadily improving, perpetually allowing more data to be stored in less space.

Storage's function are to hold data, instructions and information for future use.

A storage medium is the physical material on which a computer keeps data, instructions and information.

Storage today

Today we talk in terms of terabytes (1,000 gigabytes) rather than bytes or megabytes and everyday computer hard drives have shrunk to the size of postcards.

Large companies now store their data on disks and magnetic tapes and hire data protection services to keep it safe for them, in order to prevent data loss.

Businesses are also storing more and more information in the cloud, where they can archive vast amounts of data virtually and access it from anywhere at any time.