Media storage devices are capable of preserving data, images, audio and video files of large sizes in a comparatively small area. The evolution of the media storage devices right from the 64 KB floppy disk with its huge size (5 ¾ inches) to the present day pen drives having a capacity 80GB has taken place within this decade.



Since many of the media storage devices which were very popular a few years ago have now become totally obsolete, we will start from the hard disk and zip drive which set a trend in removable media storage device.

Hard disk is a fixed media storage devices lacking portability. When you buy a personal computer you decide what should be the capacity of the hard disk which is fixed inside the personal computer. The storage capacity of the hard disk is gradually increasing as the days goes by – earlier, a decade ago, 2 GB hard disk was the largest storage capacity possible. Now there are hard disks available with a capacity to store 1 TB (Tetra Byte – equivalent to 1024 GB).

Zip drive or disk is one the most popular portable media storage device. Even though the highest capacity available is around 600 MB, its portability made it very popular. It can be attached to any personal computer without much of a hassle.

Writeable and rewriteable compact disks (what a mouthful) or popularly known as CDR and CDRW media storage devices have a capacity to store around 800 MB of data, audio, or video files. Since most of the personal computers are configured to have a CD ROM Drive, it is very easy to transfer or read the files from any personal computer. The CDRW media can be reused again and again after deleting the files written earlier.

The wonder of wonders among the media storage device is the Pen Drive. It is also known as a USB Drive. The pen drive can be connected very easily to the Universal Serial Bus Port (USB port) of the personal computer and once connected; it becomes another external drive of the system.

The latest Pen Drive has the capacity to store around 80 GB of information. Some of the fancier Pen drives are available with a built in MP3 player and a voice recorder too. Conversations can be recorded in WAV format and later on can be transcribed to text using the voice recognition software.

Files can be written, deleted, transferred and rewritten in Pen Drives very easily. Among all the media storage devices, a Pen Drive is the most compact, easy to use and functionally versatile device.

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