


Even a task, such as browsing the Internet, requires information to be stored on your computer. Without a storage device, a computer cannot save or remember any settings or information and would be considered a dumb terminal.Īlthough a computer can run with no storage device, it would only be able to view information, unless it was connected to another computer that had storage capabilities. In the picture is an example of a woman entering data to a punch card using a punch card machine.Ī hard copy is considered a form of paper storage, although it cannot be easily used to input data back into a computer without the aid of OCR. Today, these forms of storage are rarely used or found. Storing data online and in cloud storage is becoming popular as people need to access their data from more than one device.Įarly computers had no method of using any of the technologies above for storing information and had to rely on paper. USB flash drive, jump drive, or thumb drive.Solid-state storage (flash memory) has replaced most magnetic and optical media as it becomes cheaper because it's the more efficient and reliable solution. This technology is found mostly on extremely large HDDs or hybrid hard drives.Īnother common type of storage is optical storage, which uses lasers and lights as its method of reading and writing data. Today, magnetic storage is one of the most common types of storage used with computers. Below is a full list of all computer storage used over the evolution of the computer. Today, there are three types of media used to store computer data: magnetic storage, optical storage, and solid-state storage. Are storage devices input and output devices?.What storage device has the largest capacity?.
