As silicon chips are becoming more and more efficient in storage capacity, we find that the once bulky and heavy media storage devices are becoming much more miniature. Every quarter, we are seeing different media devices coming out in different forms and in increasing sizes. With the value of computer data in our personal and office lifestyles, storage media has evolved from an obtrusive tool to a streamlined must-have for everyone. Just imagine how movies once stored in VHS and Betamax are now carried by USB Flash drives and memory cards.
The biggest obstacle that laptop and PDA manufacturers and designers faced was not the lack of processing power, but the lack of capable portable storage media. Now that we have crossed this hindrance, we now find storage media coming in different shapes and sizes.
An emerging media solution expected to be popular in 2008 is the Blu-ray disc. Hailing from the technology developed by Sony for Playstation 3, Blu-ray discs have been recently adapted by major film studios as the primary storage medium that will replace DVD's and other optical media. The blu-ray disc allows recording, rewriting, and playback of high definition content that can hold up to 25 GB for single-layer disc and 50 GB for double layer disc. Blu-ray disc can also be a viable data storage device once blu-ray readers become standard desktop hardware. However, its real market is for movie buffs and video gamers. In five years, blu-ray will replace the dominance of DVD's in households.
The more pervasive storage solution for computer data is USB flash disks. These disks integrated with a universal serial bus connector have a capacity of 64 MB up to 16 GB. USB flash disks are very portable and reliable, allowing 1 million write or erase cycles with 10 year data retention. At the same time, USB drives are easily detected by the computer once plugged in. For on-the-go data storage for students and professional, the USB device is the most practical solution. USB flash drives are also used in MP3 and portable movie players. With this cheap form of storage, the price for MP3 players and other portable media are falling.
For backup solution and high storage capacity, external hard drives are used. External hdd has virtually unlimited storage capacity and come in different shapes and sizes. There are various technologies that apply to External hdd, one of which is solid state drive (SSD) which is used in laptops like MacBook Air and Asus EEE. External hdd are basically used to backup the internal hard drive, and can also extend the desktop's storage capability that will allow users to download and store movies and songs. External hdd can also be booted up with an operating system and run your computer from there. And with storage devices going smaller, External hdds are becoming more portable, usually attached to laptops that have meager storage capabilities.
There are still decade-old storage technologies used such as floppy disk drives and zip disks. These oldies have a carrying capacity of up to 25 MB. Looking back, data storage is indeed one of the must underrated technology advancements today.
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