A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds information is a recording medium. Devices that process information (data storage equipment) may either access a separate portable (removable) recording medium or a permanent component to store and retrieve information. However, a storage medium is any technology (including devices and materials) used to place, keep, and retrieve data. A medium is an element used in communicating a message; on a storage medium, the "messages" - in the form of data - are suspended for use when needed. The plural form of this term is storage media. Although the term storage includes both primary storage (memory), a storage medium usually means a place to hold secondary storage such as that on a hard disk or tape.
2. Tape---Audio recording, tape was invented for recording sound by Fritz Pfleumer in 1928 in Germany, based on the invention of magnetic wire recording by Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. Pfleumer's invention used an iron(III) oxide(Fe2O3) powder coating on a long strip of paper. This invention was further developed by the German electronics company AEG, which manufactured the recording machines and BASF, which manufactured the tape. In 1933, working for AEG, Eduard Schuller developed the ring shaped tape head. Previous head designs were needle shaped and tended to shred the tape. An important discovery made in this period was the technique of AC biasing which improved the fidelity of the recorded audio signal by increasing the effective linearity of the recording medium. Due to the escalating political tensions, and the outbreak of World War II, these developments were largely kept secret. Although the Allies knew from their monitoring of Nazi radio broadcasts that the Germans had some new form of recording technology, the nature was not discovered until the Allies acquired captured German recording equipment as they invaded Europe in the closing of the war. It was only after the war that Americans, particularly Jack Mullin, John Herbert Orr, and Richard H. Ranger were able to bring this technology out of Germany and develop it into commercially viable formats.A wide variety of recorders and formats have developed since, most significantly reel-to-reel and Compact Cassette.Video recording, the practice of recording and editing audio using magnetic tape rapidly established itself as an obvious improvement over previous methods. Many saw the potential of making the same improvements in recording television. Television ("video") signals are similar to audio signals. A major difference is that video signals use more bandwidth than audio signals. Existing audio tape recorders could not practically capture a video signal. Many set to work on resolving this problem. Jack Mullin (working for Bing Crosby) and the BBC both created crude working systems that involved moving the tape across a fixed tape head at very fast speeds. Neither system saw much use. It was the team at Ampex, led by Charles Ginsburg, that made the breakthrough of using a spinning recording head and normal tape speeds to achieve a very high head-to-tape speed that could record and reproduce the high bandwidth signals of video. The Ampex system was called Quadruplex and used 2-inch-wide (51 mm) tape, mounted on reels like audio tape, which wrote the signal in what is now called transverse scan. Later improvements by other companies, particularly Sony, lead to the development of helical scan and the enclosure of the tape reels in an easy-to-handle cartridge. Nearly all modern videotape systems use helical scan and cartridges. Videocassette recorders are very common in homes and television production facilities though many functions of the VCR are being replaced. Since the advent of digital video and computerized video processing, optical disc media and digital video recorders can now perform the same role as videotape. These devices also offer improvements like random access to any scene in the recording and "live" time shifting and are likely to replace videotape in many situations.
Magnetic stripe card---First used in the early 1960s, magnetic stripe technology, occasionally called "magstripe," remains as an effective form of information storage. While other technologies have come onto the market, magnetic stripe cards are still a cheap, easily implemented system that is seen and used by millions of people every day. The information that is encoded onto the stripe is usually unique to the cardholder and helps to identify that person.
Debit and Credit Cards
Perhaps the most commonly thought of use of magnetic stripe cards is in debit and credit cards. A user's banking information is encoded onto the card that is accessed when the card is swiped. In the past, most cards required an additional pin number entry or signature to authorize a purchase, but fewer and fewer cards require that as embedded chip technology, known as Smart cards, is coupling with the magnetic stripe information to verify sales.
ID Cards
Cards with magnetic stripes are often seen on identification cards such as drivers licenses, student and employee ID cards or even bus passes. In many cases, these cards are simply shown to confirm identity, with the information being stored on the card as a precautionary measure and not always needing to be swiped. They may also be used as time cards that an employee uses to log his time at the beginning and end of his shift.
Airline Ticket and Boarding Pass
The Air Transport Association began using magstripe technology in 1983. Plane ticket information would be printed on the front of the ticket and encoded on the magnetic stripe on the back of the ticket so it could be quickly scanned by the computer at the airport. This has allowed for faster processing of customers and caused less delays as the technology improved over the decades.
Keycards
Sometimes magstripe cards are used simply as keys to access restricted areas such as a dorm room for students or an office. The card is swiped by an electronic card reader connected to the door to unlock it. These kinds of cards are useful as day passes to get around offices but not as personal identification cards.
Smart cards---provide identification, authentication, data storage and application processing.
The benefits of smart cards are directly related to the volume of information and applications that are programmed for use on a card. A single contact/contactless smart card can be programmed with multiple banking credentials, medical entitlement, driver’s license/public transport entitlement, loyalty programs and club memberships to name just a few. Multi-factor and proximity authentication can and has been embedded into smart cards to increase the security of all services on the card. For example, a smart card can be programed to only allow a contactless transaction if it is also within range of another device like a uniquely paired mobile phone. This can significantly increase the security of the smart card. Governments gain a significant enhancement to the provision of publicly funded services through the increased security offered by smart cards. These savings are passed onto society through a reduction in the necessary funding or enhanced public services. Individuals gain increased security and convenience when using smart cards designed for interoperability between services. For example, consumers only need to replace one card if their wallet is lost or stolen. Additionally, the data storage available on a card could contain medical information that is critical in an emergency should the card holder allow access to this.
Microfilm and microfiche ---Systems that mount microfilm images in punched cards have been widely used for archival storage of engineering information. For example, when airlines demand archival engineering drawings to support purchased equipment (in case the vendor goes out of business, for example), they normally specified punch-card-mounted microfilm with an industry-standard indexing system punched into the card. This permits automated reproduction, as well as permitting mechanical card-sorting equipment to sort and select microfilm drawings. Aperture card mounted microfilm is roughly 3% of the size and space of conventional paper or vellum engineering drawings. Some military contracts around 1980 began to specify digital storage of engineering and maintenance data because the expenses were even lower than microfilm, but these programs are now finding it difficult to purchase new readers for the old formats. Microfilm first saw military use during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. During the Siege of Paris, the only way for the provincial government in Tours to communicate with Paris was by pigeon post. As the pigeons could not carry paper dispatches, the Tours government turned to microfilm. Using a microphotography unit evacuated from Paris before the siege, clerks in Tours photographed paper dispatches and compressed them to microfilm, which were carried by homing pigeons into Paris and projected by magic lantern while clerks copied the dispatches onto paper. Additionally, the US Victory Mail, and the British "Airgraph" system it was based on, were used for delivering mail between those at home and troops serving overseas during World War II. The systems worked by photographing large amounts of censored mail reduced to thumb-nail size onto reels of microfilm, which weighed much less than the originals would have. The film reels were shipped by priority air freight to and from the home fronts, sent to their prescribed destinations for enlarging at receiving stations near the recipients, and printed out on lightweight photo paper. These facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mails were then delivered to the addressee. Use of these microfilm systems saved significant volumes of cargo capacity needed for vital war supplies. An additional benefit was that the small, light weight reels of microfilm were almost always transported by air, and as such were much quicker than any surface mail services. Libraries began using microfilm in the mid-20th century as a preservation strategy for deteriorating newspaper collections. Books and newspapers that were deemed in danger of decay could be preserved on film and thus access and use could be increased. Microfilming was also a space-saving measure. In his 1945 book, “The Scholar and the Future of the Research Library,” Fremont Rider calculated that research libraries were doubling in space every sixteen years. His suggested solution was microfilming, specifically with his invention, the microcard. Once items were put onto film, they could be removed from circulation and additional shelf space would be made available for rapidly expanding collections. The microcard was superseded by microfiche. By the 1960s, microfilming had become standard policy. Visa and National City use microfilm to store bank statements, and produce microfilm, from digital records, that is placed into storage. The 2011 UK census data will be stored on microfilms due to lack of storage space.
Enterprise storage---computer storage designed for large-scale, high-technology environments of the modern enterprises. When comparing to the consumer storage, it has higher scalability, higher reliability, better fault tolerance, and much higher initial price.
From the salesperson's point of view, the four main enterprise storage markets are:
- Online storage - large disk array solutions, minimizing access time to the data, and maximizing reliability;
- Backup - off-line storage for data protection, with a smaller price per byte than online storage, but at a cost of higher average access time; often uses sequential access storage, such as tape libraries;
- Archiving - technically similar to backup, but its purpose is long-term retention, management, and discovery of fixed-content data to meet regulatory compliance, litigation protection, and storage cost optimization objectives;
- Disaster recovery solutions, used to protect the data from localized disasters, usually being a vital part of broader business continuity plan.
memory card or flash card---electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles. They are small, re-recordable, and able to retain data without power.
USB flash drive---consists of a flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g (1 oz). Storage capacities in 2010 can be as large as 256 GBwith steady improvements in size and price per capacity expected. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles and offer a 10-year shelf storage time. USB flash drives are often used for the same purposes for which floppy disks or CD-ROMs were used. They are smaller, faster, have thousands of times more capacity, and are more durable and reliable because of their lack of moving parts. Until approximately 2005, most desktop and laptop computers were supplied with floppy disk drives, but floppy disk drives have been abandoned in favor of USB ports.
Expresscard module---new technology that slots into a computer system to allow the addition of hardware capabilities. The Expresscard was introduced by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) in 2003 and is a thinner, lighter and faster modular expansion for users of desktop and notebook computers. Hardware capabilities such as extra memory, wired and wireless communication tools and security devices can be added by inserting these modules into the system. The Expresscard module comes in two sizes. The Expresscard/34 is 34 mm wide, while the Expresscard/54 is 54 mm wide. The modules are both 5 mm high and 75 mm long. The 34 mm module has the advantage in that it can fit into the slot designed for the 54 mm card, but not vice versa. The Expresscard simply slots into a USB interface that is already integrated on most desktop computers and notebooks. All the existing capabilities of a PC card will be available as an Expresscard, but using only half the size of a PC card. The Expresscard will also have the power, thermal dissipation and circuit board size to provide a range of extra applications, including multimedia applications such as television tuners, video grab and multiple monitors. It will also have storage facilities, such as solid state (flash) and small rotating magnetic and rotating micro-drives.
4. Compact Disc (also known as a CD)---optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage (CD-ROM), write-once audio and data storage (CD-R), rewritable media (CD-RW), Video Compact Discs (VCD), Super Video Compact Discs (SVCD), PhotoCD, PictureCD, CD-i, and Enhanced CD. Audio CDs and audio CD players have been commercially available since October 1982. Standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres (4.7 in) and can hold up to 80 minutes of uncompressed audio or 700 MB (700 × 220 bytes) of data. The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres (2.4 to 3.1 in); they are sometimes used for CD singles, storing up to 24 minutes of audio or delivering device drivers.
Picture CD and archive disc---product by Kodak, following on from the earlier Photo CD product. It holds photos from a single roll of color film, stored at 1024×1536 resolution using JPEG compression. The product is aimed at consumers. Software to view and perform simple edits to images is included on the CD. Most digital minilabs and many Kodak Picture Kiosks are capable of producing Kodak Picture CDs from either film or digital pictures. The Picture CD is a standard recordable CD with Kodak software prerecorded. Images are burned onto the CD using a standard CD-R drive. In addition, Picture CDs are also available with thumbnails printed onto the label.
DVD---optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions. Pre-recorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD. Such discs are known as DVD-ROM, because data can only be read and not written nor erased. Blank recordable DVDs (DVD-R and DVD+R) can be recorded once using a DVD recorder and then function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable DVDs (DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM) can be recorded and erased multiple times. DVDs are used in DVD-Video consumer digital video format and in DVD-Audio consumer digital audio format, as well as for authoring AVCHD discs. DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs.
Blu-ray Disc (official abbreviation BD)---optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The disc diameter is 120 mm and disc thickness 1.2 mm plastic optical disc, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB (23.31 GiB) per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB), the norm for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL Blu-ray re-writer drives. Currently movie production companies have not utilized the triple or quadruple layer discs, most consumer owned Blu-ray players will not be able to read the additional layers, while newer Blu-ray players may require a firmware update to play the triple and quadruple sized discs.
5. inkjet printer is a type of computer printer that creates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers are the most commonly used type of printer[1] and range from small inexpensive consumer models to very large professional machines, that can cost up to thousands of dollars. The concept of inkjet printing originated in the 19th century, and the technology was first extensively developed in the early 1950s. Starting in the late 1970s inkjet printers that could reproduce digital images generated by computers were developed, mainly by Epson, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Canon. In the worldwide consumer market, four manufacturers account for the majority of inkjet printer sales: Canon, HP, Epson, and Lexmark, a 1991 spin-off from IBM. The emerging ink jet material deposition market also uses inkjet technologies, typically printheads using piezoelectric crystals, to deposit materials directly on substrates.
photo printer is a peripheral which produces a text and/or graphics of documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are attached by a printer cable or, in most newer printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network printers, have built-in network interfaces, typically wireless and/or Ethernet based, and can serve as a hard copy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time. In addition, a few modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such as memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax machines in a single unit, and can function as photocopiers. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes called multifunction printers (MFP), multi-function devices (MFD), or all-in-one (AIO) printers. Most MFPs include printing, scanning, and copying among their many features.
laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.
Multifunction peripherals are devices that are designed to take the place of single function devices in connection with the operation of a network or stand alone desktop computer. By definition, a multifunction peripheral will perform at least two different tasks that in times past would require at least two different devices. Many homes as well offices today rely on the use of a multifunction peripheral to accomplish tasks quickly and easily. In most cases, a multifunction peripheral or MFP will provide the functions of at least two of these stand alone pieces of equipment: fax machine, scanner, printer, or copy machine. The multifunction peripheral can work as a stand-alone device, without an active connection to a network. However, many models are configured specifically for network connectivity, allowing print jobs to be sent electronically to a printer/copier that will automatically print and collate multiple copies of a given document. This eliminates the need for a hard copy to be printed and physically placed on the copier.
thermal printer (or direct thermal printer) produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image. Two-color direct thermal printers can print both black and an additional color (often red) by applying heat at two different temperatures. Thermal transfer printing is a related method that uses a heat-sensitive ribbon instead of heat-sensitive paper.
plotter is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were widely used in applications such as computer-aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers, and it is now commonplace to refer to such wide-format printers as "plotters," even though they technically aren't.
large-format printers (contrast to vector-rendering "plotters") are generally accepted to be any printer with a print width between 17" and 100". Printers over the 100" mark may be called Super-Wide or Grand format. Wide format printers are used to print banners, posters and general signage and in some cases may be more economical than short-run methods such as screenprinting. Wide format printers generally use a roll of print material rather than individual sheets and may incorporate hot-air dryers to prevent prints from sticking to themselves as they are produced.
label printer is a computer printer that prints on self-adhesive label material and/or card-stock (tags). Label printers with built-in keyboards and displays, for stand-alone use (without a computer), are often called label makers. Label printers are different from ordinary printers because they need to have special feed mechanisms to handle rolled stock, or tear sheet (fanfold) stock. Common connectivity for label printers include RS-232 serial, Universal Serial Bus (USB), parallel, Ethernet and various kinds of wireless. Label printers have a wide variety of applications, including supply chain management, retail price marking, packaging labels, blood and laboratory specimen marking, and fixed assets management.
