A Geek's Dream Come True: The Probable Future of Mass Storage

25 years ago, those who worked in the computer data storage industry were optimistic about the future. In 1986, Maxell's Vice President Ted Ozawa declared, "While we expect floppy disks to continue as a major industry factor for at least the next ten years, new technologies offering more portability or more storage capacity are being developed more quickly than previously anticipated." The floppy disks he was referring to were the old 5-1/4" squares that truly were "floppy", and had a whopping 360K capacity. But even his wildest visions likely fell short of reality.

Flash Drives. The latest trend in mass storage has been the USB-applicable flash drive (sometimes called a "thumb drive"). As a data medium, they seem affixed to the computer culture as we know it - almost all computers, and now many smart phones, are USB equipped.

Smart Phones. Once mainstream connectivity has been established vis-a-vis computers and cell phones, our telephones will serve as flash drives. While there will still be a robust market for Swiss Army flash drives and so forth, many people who are "wired" will find this to be of great convenience, with one less doodad to keep track of, at work or at home.

Servers. File transfer protocol (FTP) has made it easy for companies to exchange tremendous amounts of data online. With PCs offering more memory than ever, they can act as digital warehouses in which one party can upload files, which can then be downloaded from any other location. This is useful in the building and printing industries, as rolls of plans or massive print files can be moved with ease from one office to the other.

Video Games. With the Xbox 360 offering USB output for data portability, video can be saved and uploaded to an external hard drive, and can be later plugged into other computers, or even arcade versions of the game. Songs, videos and photos can be imported for screen viewing through the game console.

Optical Drives. Whereas magnetics are the primary mode of mass data storage when it comes to disks and hard drives, optics come into play when the medium is saved onto a CD or DVD. It’s still one of the most efficient means of storing removable information, and should continue to be going forward. As we see with USB interface storage devices, the technology remains beholden (if not shackled) to the designs of today’s mass-produced computers.

GPS. The latest Garmin model GPS does not require the Garmin protocol in order to transfer data to and from your computer; instead, it simply exchanges file information in the same manner as would a USB flash drive. Proprietary apps allow for communication with the GPS Exchange (.gpx), the geographical standard for GPS devices. They are also able to come up with distance-saving route adjustments on the fly.

Holographic Data. Most storage devices fill up their space in serial format - one byte after another. Data is converted into a two-dimensional bitmap, and then projected onto a holographic medium, with reference waves causing interference patterns that can be saved and later illuminated for future retrieval. In effect, one is taking a 3D image of the information and “stacking” it onto the device. More information could be stored in these “apartment buildings” than could be on our current “houses” platforms. Much work remains to be done in this field, and nobody is certain as to when it will become viable in the marketplace.