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{{short description|Recording of information in a storage medium}}
{{about|all forms of data storage|data storage on computers in particular|Computer data storage}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2018}}

[[File:EdisonPhonograph.jpg|thumb|Edison cylinder phonograph {{Circa|1899}}. The [[phonograph cylinder]] is a storage medium. The phonograph may be considered a storage device especially as machines of this vintage were able to record on blank cylinders.]]
[[File:Reel-to-reel recorder tc-630.jpg|thumb|On a [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel-to-reel tape recorder]] (Sony TC-630), the recorder is data storage equipment and the [[magnetic tape]] is a data storage medium.]]
[[File:PersonalStorageDevices.agr.jpg|thumb|Various electronic storage devices, with a coin for scale]]
[[File:RNA-comparedto-DNA thymineAndUracilCorrected.png|thumb|upright|[[DNA]] and [[RNA]] can be considered as biological storage media.<ref name="rna">{{cite journal|title=The RNA World|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|first=Walter|last=Gilbert|author-link=Walter Gilbert|date=Feb 1986|pages=618|volume=319|doi=10.1038/319618a0|issue=6055|bibcode=1986Natur.319..618G|s2cid=8026658|doi-access=free}}</ref>]]
{{Memory types}}

'''Data storage''' is the recording (storing) of [[information]] ([[data]]) in a '''storage medium'''. [[Handwriting]], [[Phonograph record|phonographic]] recording, [[magnetic tape]], and [[optical disc]]s are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as [[RNA]] and [[DNA]] are considered by some as data storage.<ref name="rna"> </ref><ref>{{cite web|title=DNA seen through the eyes of a coder|first=Bert|last=Hubert|url=https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/amazing-dna/|date=9 January 2021|accessdate=12 September 2022}}</ref> Recording may be accomplished with virtually any form of [[energy]]. Electronic data storage requires electrical power to store and retrieve data. 

Data storage in a digital, machine-readable medium is sometimes called ''digital data''. Computer data storage is one of the core functions of a [[general-purpose computer]]. [[Electronic document]]s can be stored in much less space than paper [[document]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.seas.gwu.edu/~shmuel/WORK/Differences/Chapter%203%20-%20Sources.pdf|title=The Difference between Electronic and Paper Documents|last=Rotenstreich|first=Shmuel|website=[[George Washington University]]|access-date=12 April 2016|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220013803/https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~shmuel/WORK/Differences/Chapter%203%20-%20Sources.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Barcode]]s and [[magnetic ink character recognition]] (MICR) are two ways of recording machine-readable data on paper.

==Recording media==<!--Recording medium, record medium and others redirect here-->
A recording medium is a physical material that holds information. Newly created information is distributed and can be stored in four storage media–print, film, magnetic, and optical–and seen or heard in four information flows–telephone, radio and TV, and the Internet<ref name="Berk2003">{{cite web
 |url=http://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/archive/how-much-info-2003/
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208212331/http://groups.ischool.berkeley.edu/archive/how-much-info-2003/printable_report.pdf
 |archive-date=December 8, 2017
 |title=HOW MUCH INFORMATION 2003?
 |last1=Lyman  |first1=Peter
 |last2=Varian |first2=Hal R.
 |date=October 23, 2003
 |publisher=UC Berkeley, School of Information Management and Systems
 |access-date=November 25, 2017 }}</ref> as well as being observed directly.  Digital information is stored on [[electronic media]] in many different [[recording format]]s.

With [[electronic media]], the data and the recording media are sometimes referred to as "software" despite the more common use of the word to describe [[computer software]]. With ([[Media (arts)|traditional art]]) static media, [[art materials]] such as [[crayon]]s may be considered both equipment and medium as the wax, charcoal or chalk material from the equipment becomes part of the surface of the medium.

Some recording media may be temporary, either by design or by nature. [[Volatile organic compound]]s may be used to [[Sustainable design|preserve the environment]] or to purposely make data expire over time.  Data such as [[smoke signal]]s or [[skywriting]] are temporary by nature. Depending on the volatility, a [[gas]] (e.g. [[atmosphere]], [[smoke]]) or a liquid surface such as a [[lake]] would be considered a temporary recording medium if at all.

==Global capacity, digitization, and trends==
A 2003 [[UC Berkeley]] report estimated that about five [[exabyte]]s of new information were produced in 2002 and that 92% of this data was stored on hard disk drives. This was about twice the data produced in 2000. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Amount of new information doubled in last three years, UC Berkeley study finds|first=Kathleen|last=Maclay|date=28 October 2003|url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/28_information.shtml |access-date=2022-09-07 |website=[[University of California, Berkeley]]}}</ref> The amount of data transmitted over [[telecommunications system]]s in 2002 was nearly 18 exabytes—three and a half times more than was recorded on non-volatile storage. Telephone calls constituted 98% of the telecommunicated information in 2002. The researchers' highest estimate for the growth rate of newly stored information (uncompressed) was more than 30% per year.

In a more limited study, the [[International Data Corporation]] estimated that the total amount of digital data in 2007 was 281 exabytes and that the total amount of digital data produced exceeded the global storage capacity for the first time.<ref>{{cite web|first=Adam|last=Theirer|title=IDC's "Diverse & Exploding Digital Universe" report|date=14 March 2008|url=https://techliberation.com/2008/03/14/idcs-diverse-exploding-digital-universe-report/|access-date=2008-03-14}}</ref>

A 2011 ''[[Science Magazine]]'' article estimated that the year 2002 was the beginning of the digital age for information storage: an age in which more information is stored on digital storage devices than on analog storage devices.<ref name="HilbertLopez2011">{{cite journal|last1=Hilbert|first1=Martin|last2=López|first2=Priscila|year=2011|title=The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=332|issue=6025|pages=60–65|bibcode=2011Sci...332...60H|doi=10.1126/science.1200970|pmid=21310967|s2cid=206531385|url=http://www.martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html/|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1986, approximately 1% of the world's capacity to store information was in digital format; this grew to 3% by 1993, to 25% by 2000, and to 97% by 2007. These figures correspond to less than three compressed [[exabytes]] in 1986, and 295 [[Data compression|compressed]] exabytes in 2007.<ref name="HilbertLopez2011"/> The quantity of digital storage doubled roughly every three years.<ref name="Hilbertvideo2011">{{cite web|first=Martin|last=Hilbert|url=http://ideas.economist.com/video/giant-sifting-sound-0|title=Video animation on The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information from 1986 to 2010|date=15 June 2011| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118072720/http://ideas.economist.com/video/giant-sifting-sound-0|archivedate=2012-01-18}}</ref>

{{as of|2023|alt=It is estimated that around 120 zettabytes of data will be generated in 2023}}, an increase of 60x from 2010, and that it will increase to 181 zettabytes generated in 2025.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=https://explodingtopics.com/blog/data-generated-per-day
 |title=Amount of Data Created Daily (2023) |last=Duarte |first=Fabio |date=April 3, 2023 |access-date=August 28, 2023}}</ref>

==Mass storage==
{{excerpt|Mass storage}}

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Archival science]]
* [[Blank media tax]]
* [[Computer data storage]]
* [[Computer memory]]
* [[Content format]]
* [[Data retention]]
* [[Data transmission]]
* [[Digital dark age]]
* [[Digital preservation]]
* [[Digital Revolution]]
* [[Disaggregated storage]]
* [[Distributed block storage]]
* [[Disk drive performance characteristics]]
* [[Disk storage]]
* [[Electronic quantum holography]]
* [[External storage]]
* [[Format war]]
* [[Flip-flop (electronics)]]
* [[Fuzzy bit]]
* [[Information Age]]
* [[IOPS]]
* [[Library]]
* [[Magnetic tape]]
* [[Media (communication)]]
* [[Media controls]]
* [[Medium format (film)]]
* [[Memristor]]
* [[Nanodot]]
* Nonlinear medium ([[random access]])
* [[Plant-based digital data storage]]
* [[Recording format]]
* [[Semiconductor memory]]
* [[Software-defined storage]]
* [[Volatile memory]]
* [[Visual arts]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |last = Bennett |first=John C. | title = 'JISC/NPO Studies on the Preservation of Electronic Materials: A Framework of Data Types and Formats, and Issues Affecting the Long Term Preservation of Digital Material | publisher = British Library Research and Innovation Report 50 | year = 1997 | url = http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers/bl/jisc-npo50/bennet.html }}
* [http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/timeline/A Timeline of Milestones in Storage Technology] at [https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/ Computer History Museum]
* [http://www.remosoftware.com/info/history-of-storage-from-cave-paintings-to-electrons/ History of Storage from Cave Paintings to Electrons]
* [https://www.securedatarecovery.com/infographics/the-evolution-of-data-storage The Evolution of Data Storage]

{{Data}}
{{Computer files}}
{{Magnetic storage media}}
{{Optical storage media}}
{{Paper data storage media}}
{{Primary storage technologies}}
{{Writing}}
{{Memory Cards}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Data storage| ]]
[[Category:Data management]]
[[Category:Film and video technology]]
[[Category:Mass media technology]]
[[Category:Recording]]
[[Category:Sound production technology]]