Data storage

Data storage is the process of recording and keeping information. This information is often called data. To hold this data, we use a physical material known as a storage medium.

A medium can be many things, such as magnetic tape or an optical disc. Even handwriting on paper acts as a form of storage. In the world of computers, storing data is a core function.

Without storage, a general-purpose computer could not perform its most important tasks. Digital data is a specific type of information stored in a machine-readable format.

Recording information can happen using almost any form of energy. When we use electronic data storage, we must use electrical power. This power is necessary to both store the data and retrieve it later.

There are several main ways to distribute and store newly created information. These include print, film, magnetic, and optical media. Information can also flow through systems like the telephone, radio, television, or the Internet. Some media are even biological.

Molecules like DNA and RNA are considered biological storage media by some researchers.

Storage media can be categorized by how long they last. Some media are permanent, while others are temporary by nature. For example, smoke signals or skywriting are temporary forms of recording. Even a liquid surface like a lake or a gas like the atmosphere can be temporary media. Some people even use volatile organic compounds to make data expire over time. In the world of art, certain tools act as both equipment and medium. For instance, the wax from a crayon or the charcoal from a stick becomes part of the surface. This makes the material itself the medium.

We can also look at how data is recorded on physical objects like paper. Barcodes are one way to record machine-readable data on a page. Another method is magnetic ink character recognition, often called MICR. These methods allow machines to read information quickly from printed materials. Electronic documents are very efficient because they take up much less space than paper documents. This efficiency helps manage the massive amounts of information produced globally.

History shows a massive shift from analog to digital storage. In 1986, only about 1% of the world's storage capacity was in a digital format. By 1993, this grew to 3%. By the year 2000, digital storage reached 25%. By 2007, it reached 97% of the total capacity.

A 2011 article in Science Magazine noted that 2002 was the beginning of the digital age. This was the era when more information began to be stored on digital devices than on analog ones.

Specific numbers show how fast this growth has happened. In 2002, about five exabytes of new information were produced. About 92% of that data was stored on hard disk drives. During that same year, nearly 18 exabytes of data were transmitted over telecommunications systems. Telephone calls made up 98% of that transmitted information. The total amount of digital data produced actually exceeded global storage capacity in 2007. Researchers estimated that the amount of digital storage doubles roughly every three years.

Today, the scale of data is difficult to imagine. In 2007, the total amount of digital data was 281 exabytes. In 1986, the world held less than three compressed exabytes of digital data. By 2007, that number had grown to 295 compressed exabytes. This growth continues to move forward at a rapid pace. It is estimated that the amount of data generated will reach 181 zettabytes by the year 2025. This shows how central data storage has become to our modern world.