At any given moment, most information a computer holds is not being used: programs not being run; files not being worked on. These “wait their turn” in storage, often called mass storage.
Storage is larger and more permanent than main memory. Speed is less critical than size, reliability, cost, and data integrity. The co-evolution of processors, memory, and storage dramatically improved computers.
Hard disk storage has become denser at an exponential rate over the last 50 years, just like main memory. The dramatic increase in capacity and speed of both has fueled the increasing power of computers.View Artifact Detail
=Evolving Storage Solutions =
Since the invention of writing, people have found ways to store information. The methods have changed over the millennia, but the goals have remained the same: a medium that’s long lasting, affordable, easy to use, reproducible, and holds lots of data.
In the computer age, a succession of technologies has offered those qualities. Each brought unique strengths, from the simple readability of punched cards, to the low cost of magnetic tape, the fast, random access of disk drives, and the easy duplication of optical disks.