Data Storage Evolution

Data storage has come a long way starting from the basic DNA and RNA strands that can hold a large about of information about various properties and characteristics of an organism. The specialty of this is that the data contained in each strand of the DNA is unique for each individual organism, and this makes it even more special. Moving over from organism, we can see data storage happening in the non digital form, in the case of books, paintings, canvas etc. There is also storage of data that happens on analog storage devices like tape drivers, optical film that is used in analog cameras etc. Finally there is digital storage that happens digitally.

The first form of digital data storage happened in the form of tape drives, which made use of magnetic tapes for storage of data. These were available in large capacities and were best suited for archival storage of data, which made it more preferred for storing archival data. The next type of storage media that became popular instantly was the floppy disk. The floppy diskette was small in size, and hence easy to carry. But this device was capable of holding only a limited quantity of data, which made it lose its popularity.

In the present day, there are two storage media, which are leading the data storage market. One is the hard drive, and the other the flash drive. There are various types of hard drive that are available, starting from the basic fixed hard drive, to the most advanced external hard drives. Similarly, flash drives are another important data storage media that is being used widely, due to the wide support for this storage media.

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