Data storage

Recording of information in a storage medium / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are considered by some as data storage.[1][2] Recording may be accomplished with virtually any form of energy. Electronic data storage requires electrical power to store and retrieve data.

RNA-comparedto-DNA_thymineAndUracilCorrected.png
DNA and RNA can be considered as biological storage mediums.[1]
PersonalStorageDevices.agr.jpg
Various electronic storage devices
EdisonPhonograph.jpg
Edison cylinder phonograph c. 1899. The phonograph cylinder is a storage medium. The phonograph may be considered a storage device especially as machines of this vintage were able to record on blank cylinders.
Reel-to-reel_recorder_tc-630.jpg
On a reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630), the recorder is data storage equipment and the magnetic tape is a data storage medium.
Computer memory and data storage types
General
Volatile
RAM
Historical
Non-volatile
ROM
NVRAM
Early-stage NVRAM
Analog recording
Optical
In development
Historical

Data storage in a digital, machine-readable medium is sometimes called digital data. Computer data storage is one of the core functions of a general-purpose computer. Electronic documents can be stored in much less space than paper documents.[3] Barcodes and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) are two ways of recording machine-readable data on paper.