Everything your computer does—from sending e-mails to playing music—couldn't happen if it didn't have a place to keep that data. We'll talk about your options for storing digital files, the stability of various media, and how you can be sure you won't lose irreplaceable data.
Guests
Alexander Saint Croix
Alexander Saint Croix
Alex graduated in 2003 from the University of Minnesota with a degree in English and an emphasis on writing poetry. He now works for the University as an Academic and Distributed Computing Services (ADCS) technology helpline and training consultant. He also conducts independent research and development in enterprise Java system architectures and open source software.
Professor David Du
Professor David Du
David is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He is an IEEE Fellow and a fellow of the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute for Digital Simulation and Advanced Computation. Among other things, he's researched multimedia computing, high-speed networking, and mass storage systems.
For Your Files
Alex Saint Croix explained that even though CDs and DVDs may look the same, they are completely different storage systems:
"The primary difference between a CD and DVD is the size. A CD is 700 megabytes. A DVD has 4.7 gigabytes. So that's more than six times larger."
He also showed us some of the smallest and most versatile storage devices around:
"These are called memory sticks; sometimes they're called flash drives or jump drives. And these are the same as CDs or DVDs—you can store data on them—only the beautiful part about it is that inside of these things there are actually no moving parts. Everything is solid state and so you don't have to worry about bumping them or shaking them while they're being used.
Alex also warned users to make sure to clean any personal data off of a hard drive before selling it or giving it to someone else:
"There are programs that you can either buy or get off the Internet. There are many out there if you shop around or look around, that will actually run on a CD-ROM. Put the CD in, start your computer up, follow the instructions, and it will actually go through and wipe your hard drive off many, many times."
David Du, a professor of computer science and engineering at the U, spoke with us about backing up important files:
"The most valuable thing is the data itself. The storage devices are just keeping it. And any of the storage devices can fail or be lost. So you need to keep multiple copies at different locations from time to time."
He explained the shelf life of hard drives and CDs:
"We have basically two types of hard drives: one called the ATA drive, used on the personal computer; and for business use, we have SCSI drives. So the ATA drive is more or less warranted for three years. There's a very good possibility after three years—even before three years—your hard drive can fail. It can fail in the first year even. Your CD can be sitting there for a very long time. The thing you worry about more is the device reading that CD— it may become obsolete over time."
Finally, Professor Du touched on some of the ways researchers are hoping to get more out of storage devices:
"Storage device are fairly 'dumb' today. You can read out a block of data, you can write a block of data to that storage device. So the challenge now is, we have these huge amounts of data and lots of duplication on different devices. And how we manage that data is becoming a key issue. So the direction we are going is trying to put more intelligence into the storage device so the storage device can behave like a search engine. If you want to discover certain things, the storage device can look for you."
Flash Drive
A small, lightweight, removable storage device that is usually plugged into a USB port on a computer. Flash drives can hold anywhere from 32 megabytes to several gigabytes of data.
Intelligent Storage
Storage devices that have built-in tools to help users find information more easily.
Solid State
Any storage device that uses no moving parts. This includes flash drives and other types of storage cards. Solid state components are usually considered more durable and resistant to shock.