Storage:
Storage types
Thinking about storage will always end in a thought about time. Everything on earth is finite. This includes the existence of things, too. We have thousands of years experience in managing things which were encoded in informations. The only thing what has been changed is the way the information is stored. It became more and more abstract over the years. Starting with the things itself - let's say the fire or something to eat - ends in storing information bashed in stone which results in books some years later. Now there are hard disks etc. However, we have invented great stuff storing books etc. in a robust way. But we are often in Stone Age storing digital encoded informations in a robust way: Digital Age....Anyway, this article is about digial network storage solutions. When I start searching a solution, I searche similar utility models in an omnipresent well working environment. I looked around and noticed, that my room concept is quite practical and robust. Let us transferre my room concept into the digital world starting with some definitions:
| Rarely: | Somewhere in a box on the attic |
|---|---|
| Often: | A typically shelf for books etc. |
| Frequent: | Mobile File Cabinet or something near the desk |
| Continual: | Right on the desk |
| Permanent: | Writing pad or what ever material for one's work |
| On demand: | A shelf somewhere in the house |
Now I thought about the things which are digital encoded. There are several text documents, fotos and music etc. I start creating the following table to get everything sorted:
| Use | Writing | Reading | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rarely | On demand | Rarely | Backup |
| Often | On demand | Often | Music, Movies, Fotos |
| Frequent | Often | Frequent | OS, Profiles, Documents |
| Continual | Continual | Continual | Current Work |
| Permanent | Permanent | Permanent | Cache |
Where "Writing" and "Reading" denote the way the information is typical accessed. As you can see, there is no just read type. Widespread outcry by some of you? - Even a "Backup" has its life cycle!
However, now we have to select a device. I am not a friend of DVDs and all these devices which are prone to wear and tear after a while. Let us think about the good old "Redundant Array of Independent Disks" (RAID) using hard disc drives (HDDs). Now you have to think about money and the usage. How many do you like to invest? How many computers try to access the storage solution simultaneous?