subject: What is Data Storage? [print this page] What is Data Storage? What is Data Storage?
Data storage is defined as any device that records, reads, retrieves, information from any medium. The most familiar types of data storage devices today are hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, media players and cell phones. Data storage devices range in size, capability and weight to meet the needs of the customer. There is a wide array of data storage devices but they all must accomplish one important task; they must protect the customer's data.
From the corporate aspect data storage comes in the form of data centers, a centralized repository for storing and maintaining information, these data centers can be virtual or physical but generally archives all the operations and intellectual property of a business. These data centers are typically rooms filled with racks of hard drives and computers processing and storing the data the company's information.
Electronic Data is the Way of the Future
Data is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects in the corporate and non- corporate sector. As technology advances, people's lives become more dependent on data storage devices. They retain our memories in the form of photographs and videos and our intellectual property in the form of documents and programs. It is apparent that now is the digital age.
Our lives have become progressively dependent on devices such as cell phones, computers, and media players. Emails have almost completely replaced letters, and people have swapped their CDs for MP3s. The need to store all this digital data increases as hard copies of information quickly become replaced with digital copies. The shift will continue, and in order to stay current we must embrace the data storage industry.
Why Invest in Data Storage Devices?
We live in a digital age, so in order to continue to profit in this period we must shift our investments into industries like data storage devices. As the popularity of smart phones, net books and solid-state hard drives grows so do our investment opportunities. We can embrace this digital shift and profit from it. These types of devices are not fads that will catch the media's attention for a short period of time; they are permanent fixtures in the future of society.
Current technological trends include a shift towards higher capacity storage, portability, and energy conservation. With the popularity of high-definition devices there is an increased need for greater capacity in data storage, and as the quality of media grows so will the need for more efficient, portable, and reliable data storage.