Data storage device facts for kids

Many different consumer electronic devices can store data.

Edison cylinder phonograph ca. 1899. The Phonograph cylinder is a storage medium. The phonograph may or may not be considered a storage device.

A reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630). The magnetic tape is a storage medium. The recorder is data storage equipment using a portable medium (tape reel) to store the data.

Crafting tools such as paint brushes can be used as data storage equipment. The paint and canvas can be used as data storage media.

RNA might be the oldest data storage medium, now replaced by DNA in most organisms.

A data storage device is a device for recording (storing) information (data). Recording can be done using virtually any form of energy. People have been storing data for thousands of years, by pictures and writing. Modern storage device may hold information, process information, or both. Most often the term is used with computers. Data storage devices can permanently hold data, like files.

Electronic data storage is storage which requires electricity to store and get back that data. Most storage devices that do not require visual optics to read data fall into this category. Electronic data may be stored in either an analog or digital signal format.

Data storage equipment

Any input/output 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, or
inseparable methods meaning loss of memory if disconnected from the unit.

The following are examples of those methods:

Portable methods

Hand crafting
Flat surface
- Printmaking
- Photographic
Fabrication
- Textile
Cylindrical accessing
Memory card reader/drive
Tape drive
- Mono reel or reel-to-reel
- Compact Cassette player/recorder
Disk accessing
- Disk drive
- Floppy disk
Cartridge accessing/connecting (tape/disk/circuitry)
Peripheral networking
Flash memory devices

Semi-portable methods

Inseparable methods

Volatile RAM
Neurons

Recording medium

A recording medium is a physical material that holds data expressed in any of the existing recording formats. With electronic media, the data and the recording medium is sometimes referred to as "software" despite the more common use of the word to describe computer software.

Ancient and timeless examples

The Gutenberg Bible displayed by the United States Library of Congress, demonstrating printed pages as a storage medium.

Optical
- Any object visible to the eye, used to mark a location such as a, stone, flag or skull.
- Any crafting material used to form shapes such as clay, wood, metal, glass, wax.
  - Quipu
- Any branding surface that would scar under intense heat (chiefly for livestock or humans).
- Any marking substance such as paint, ink or chalk.
- Any item that would hold a marking substance such as, papyrus, paper, skin.
Chemical
- RNA
- DNA
- Pheromone

Modern examples by energy used

Graffiti on a public wall. Public surfaces are being used as unconventional data storage media, often without permission.

Photographic film is a photochemical data storage medium

Chemical
- Dipstick
Thermodynamic
- Thermometer
Photochemical
- Photographic film
Mechanical
- Pins and holes
  - Punch card
  - Paper tape
    - Music roll
  - Music box cylinder or disk
- Grooves (See also Audio Data)
  - Phonograph cylinder
  - Gramophone record
  - DictaBelt (groove on plastic belt)
  - Capacitance Electronic Disc
Magnetic storage
- Wire recording (stainless steel wire)
- Magnetic tape
- Drum memory (magnetic drum)
- Floppy disk
Optical storage
- Photo paper
- X-ray
- Hologram
- Projected transparency
- Optical disc
- Magneto-optical disc
- Holographic versatile disc
- 3D optical data storage
Electrical
- Semiconductor used in volatile RAM microchips
- Floating-gate transistor used in non-volatile memory cards

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)
Tape storage (long, thin, flexible, linearly moving bands)
- Paper tape (mechanical)
- Magnetic tape (a tape passing one or more read/write/erase heads)
Disk storage (flat, round, rotating object)
- Gramophone record (used for distributing some 1980s home computer programs) (mechanical)
- Floppy disk, ZIP disk (removable) (magnetic)
- Holographic
- Optical disc such as CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc
- Minidisc
- Hard disk drive (magnetic)
Magnetic bubble memory
Flash memory/memory card (solid state semiconductor memory)
- xD-Picture Card
- MultiMediaCard
- USB flash drive (also known as a "thumb drive" or "keydrive")
- SmartMedia
- CompactFlash I and II
- Secure Digital
- Sony Memory Stick (Std/Duo/PRO/MagicGate versions)
- Solid-state drive