What is Storage? Why we use storage? and different types of storage

What is Storage?

You must have heard that data is the new oil. Just as oil had created a new era, in the same way data is playing the main role in the digital age. We are all aware of content and data’s huge role in our daily lives. Producing and exchanging millions of data packets every day. By collecting and analyzing this data, we are getting very good results. We are creating data day by day. As you know, we store data in memory chips. The capacity of these memory chips has also been developed in the last few years. Nowadays, we are using cloud storage to access data from anywhere.

Just think and see how much data today’s social media platforms and search engines like Google keep. And all of them must also arrange for storage to store them.

As we understood that consumers keep their data in physical or virtual space. they interact with or exchange permanently or temporarily based on their needs. This storage space also allows them to access the data whenever they need it. A  few examples that are the most common types of storage spaces are USB drives, Hard disk drives, cloud storage units, etc.

So we can say that Storage is an integral part of computer hardware as it stores information/data to process the result of any computational work. Now computer or electronics devices cannot keep data without storage. Now, let’s focus more specifically on why we need storage-devices.

Why Do We use Storage | Need of Storage

There are some key points why we need Storage

1. Storage provides great flexibility to keeps huge amount of data at a synchronized place with data security features.
2. Storage allows cross checking and auditing of the data records easily.
3. With the advancements of storage spaces, you can now not only store your own data and access it but also share it and work on the stored data with others in real time.
4. Storage spaces and the data stored in them can help you in analyzing the market scenario and give a further push to your business in out winning the competition.
5. We find more information by Analysis stored data and make policies accordingly.

As we have seen how many applications and advantages there can be storage management. One of the most important advantage is, the reduction in the overall cost that is incurred on carrying out transactions or activity in day to day life. Now we discuss many many types of storage-spaces available. So, let’s look at some of them.

Types of Storages

Mainly we can talk about 4 types of storage spaces. These are Magnetic Storage Devices, Optical Storage Devices Flash Memory Devices and finally Online and Cloud Storage spaces. All of these storage spaces are of different types.

Magnetic Storage Devices

Nowadays we don’t use these devices. They are still being used in some places. They were the first types of storage devices accessible to users. A huge amount of data can be stored in these devices using magnetic mediums. These storage devices include: Hard drive, Zip disk, Magnetic card and Super disk etc.

Optical Storage Devices

These storage devices were famous in the early 2000s and used lasers and lights to identify and store reading and writing data. These storage devices include: CD ROM, BLU RAY DISK, DVD and CD-R etc.

Flash Memory Devices

These are a kind of advanced device. Nowadays most of them are also being used. They also work fast and have more storage capacity. These devices have replaced magnetic and optical storage devices as they are both convenient to carry and use more advanced technology.  These include the following devices : USB drive, Memory card, Memory stick and SD card etc.

 Online and Cloud storage

Today we are living in the age of internet. That’s why everyone needs virtual storage spaces. Because we can access and exchange data anytime anywhere with the help of internet.  We know this as cloud storage. Cloud storage is a cloud computing model that stores data on the Internet through a cloud computing provider who manages and operates data storage as a service. It’s delivered on demand with just-in-time capacity and costs, and eliminates buying and managing your own data storage infrastructure. Examples : Gdrive, Onedrive, Adobe Creative Cloud and AWS etc.

Discussed above were some of the storage spaces that we use these days. According to our requirement or according to the computational work, we choose the storage device. And with every technological advancement that comes our way, these storage-devices will undergo proportionate updates and upgrades. I hope you understand the basic concept of storage, its necessity and its various types to you guys. I hope that this article would have cleared out your doubts.