Data Storage Types

Data storage literally means that files and documents are recorded digitally and saved in a storage system for future use. Storage systems may rely on electromagnetic, optical or other media types to preserve and restore the data as per retention requirements. Data can be recorded and stored in three main forms namely file storage, block storage and object storage

• File Storage: File storage is a hierarchical storage technique employed to organize and store data on a computer hard drive or on network attached storage (NAS) devices. In this data storage arrangement, data is stored in files, the files are organized in folders, and the folders are organized under a hierarchy of directories and sub-directories.
• Block Storage: Block-storage is a technology that is employed to store data files on storage area network (SAN) or sometimes cloud based storage environments. And it breaks up data into blocks and then stores those blocks as separate pieces, each with a unique identifier. Furthermore, it also decouples data from user environments and thereby allowing that data to be spread across multiple environments. Additionally, this creates multiple paths to the data and allows the user to retrieve it quickly and efficiently.
• Object Storage: Objective storage is a type of data storage architecture for managing large amounts of unstructured data. This is a data that does cannot be organized easily into the traditional relational database with rows and columns.

Additional data storage devices that are related to the data storage types include the following:

• Direct Attached Storage (DAS): DAS includes types of data storage that are physically connected to your computer and is generally accessible to only a single machine. DAS solutions are suitable for establishing local backups and can be more affordable than NAS solutions, but sharing data between machines can be cumbersome
• Network Attached Storage (NAS): NAS allows for multiple machines to share storage over a networked environment and it has the ability to centralize data and improve collaboration among servers.
• Storage Area Network (SAN): SAN is a specialized, high-speed network that attaches servers and storage device. Besides, SAN is a high-speed network that provides block-level network access to connect servers to their logical disk units (LUNs).