Different types of Computer Storage Devices

Computers come with RAM for running programs. In addition, they feature large storage capacities for data storage. Computer storage devices have varying capacities and access speeds. There are three main groups of computer storage devices: external, internal, and network access storage.

Internal Storage

Internal storage is often a part of the computer hardware and is often inside the computer. There are two main types of internal storage devices: solid-state hard drive and spinning disk hard disk drive. Spinning disk drives contain platters made of magnetic material that record data on the drive head. Data in a solid-state disk is stored in a flash memory. Unlike the spinning hard drives, solid-state disks are faster and come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. However, solid-state hard drives are more costly than spinning disk drives.

External Storage

There are different types of external storage devices including externally connected hard drives and removable media such as SD cards, optical disks, and USB flash drives, also known as ‘thumb drives’ due to their size. These devices can be used to back up computer data, make copies of user files, and transfer files from one device to another. Today, the use of optical disks is diminishing. However, external hard disks and thumb drives are used in a wide range of applications.

Networked Storage

Network storage includes cloud service, avid shared storage, and network accessible storage devices. These devices or services work in the same way as external hard drives, but can modify the connection mode from USB to a complete network connection. File servers can be added to your local domain to give you control over who is authorized to access files on your server. All computers on your local network can store data and files on it when you plug an NAS device to your router. Some network servers allow you to upload files on another vendor’s server and access them via the internet.

How Online Storage Works

File storage has become an important factor in many organizations due to the widespread use of multimedia such as videos, presentations, and photographs. The normal storage that personal computers had a few years ago are no longer enough to deal with today’s storage demands. Today, online storage providers are addressing the need for space by providing data storage in a shared “cloud” computing environment that allows data be stored remotely and accessed using any Internet-enabled device.