# Data storage?



## chrispenycate (Mar 17, 2010)

Someone must just love standards; they've made so many of them.


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## mosaix (Mar 17, 2010)

Don't get me going about standardisation in the computer industry, Chris!

Over the years since I've worked in the industry (47) I've been driven absolutely nuts by it (or the lack of it). It started off with punch cards (80 column or 96?), then paper tape (5, 6 or 7 rows?). 

I thought there was a brief moment of sanity when the industry standardised on the number and size of platters on removable discs, except IBM decided to drive there's anti-clockwise. 

Then there's Cobol, C (myriad versions), Unix (multiple shells). Multiple SQL database implementations - everyone written to industry standard, well apart from just one or two minor... 

And the one that really drove me to distraction - cables!   Although it looks like finally the USB has brought some sanity to this field.


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## Overread (Mar 17, 2010)

As a user I have to agree!
I get the feeling that the computer industry moves just way too fast for most people to get comfortable with it - we've only just got used to DVDs and now BlueRay is trying to push in (at least that HDDVD And BlueRay fight was over with quick). I also get the impression that the companies all want to make their mark on the industry - hence the lack of standardisation.


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## Pyan (Mar 17, 2010)

Don't forget these - the ultimate dead end!


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## chrispenycate (Mar 17, 2010)

Actually I have some SCSI hard disks, formatted fat32, with files in industry _standard_ broadcast wav – so obviously I should be able to recuperate the data without any difficulty if I've got something that reads SCSI, right?

Wrong.


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## Lenny (Mar 17, 2010)

I've somehow managed to pick up a SCSI hard drive in my time at Uni. It's currently acting as a very effective paperweight.

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With things slowly moving to the Cloud, I guess it means that the days of physical (and portable) storage are numbered. Shame, really - I'm quite fond of my USB pens.


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## Overread (Mar 18, 2010)

I suspect one will never totally get rid of the idea of home storage - even if the Cloud (I assume you refer to global internet data storage) works many people will still want to keep data on some form of hard home medium for protection. I suspect the days of the backup harddrive (or whatever replaces it should it be replaced) are going to be long indeed.


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## Lenny (Mar 18, 2010)

I agree that it will take time, but not that long - a couple of generations at the most? If people grow up with the Cloud as their main data storage, then when they replace those of us from the old, physical storage era in various jobs in the industry, the Cloud will see even more widespread usage.

As for the general public, well, they'll believe anything if someone in a suit with a fancy title tells them! Look how many people bought a PC or laptop with Vista installed.

I must admit that, as much as I love the idea of Cloud computing (I'm tempted to try and do a Masters based around some part of it), it will never fully replace my hard disks and USB pens. Yeah, I might eventually move from platters to solid-state storage, but I won't throw everything up onto the Cloud and leave it at that. I'm happy to use a stateless system like Chrome OS for browsing, and simple tasks (the accessibility is a huge turn on - I already have various versions of Chrome on different PCs, all of which sync with my Google Account for access to my bookmarks and browsing history anywhere), but my work, and most of my personal files, will stay on my rig in my bedroom.


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## GrownUp (Mar 18, 2010)

The cloud is seeping in as a backup for so many little things, just in the simple way of sending  notes and documents to yourself on gmail. 

But oh, the tortures of backing up astronomical data. 

Remember dat tapes and zip drives? I mean, what else could have had the backup speed necessary? No matter how big cheap storage gets, it's the transfer rate that kills you.


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## Ursa major (Mar 18, 2010)

I, for one, am not going to rely on a remote cloud if I can possibly avoid it.


Just imagine how useful having centralised data is going to be for those who would like to rewrite history.






By the way, I'm wearing my SF hat, not my paranoid hat (and not only because _they _stole the latter  ).


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## Lenny (Mar 18, 2010)

And Google said, "Let there be light", and there was light.

If the right company... no, I'll rephrase - if the wrong company becomes Cloud Overlord, through owning a majority of the servers, or providing a lot of the apps, then things could go pear-shaped very quickly.

However, the right company, or a collection of right companies, could make it beautiful.

In an ideal world, the Cloud would be a decentralised, free entity. In this day and age, though, it will more than likely turn commercial.

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You wonder what type of standards are going to be in place for the Cloud - your own 1.44mb corner of the Internet; a Virtual 3.5" Floppy? I mean, who wouldn't want to upload a third of a picture to the Cloud?


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## Overread (Mar 18, 2010)

I do find it funny how people worry about photographers in the street, government CCTV and all the monitering on us 0 and then Google makes their googlemaps and nobody bats an eyelid 

Google - out to rule the world - and we don't even notice! ;0


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## Ursa major (Mar 18, 2010)

The owners aren't the only problem, Lenny. There are its employees**. And people who work out how to break in.







** - A firm I used to work for bought a US company part of whose sales pitch was that external security was all well and good but half - I think it was 50%+ - of the instances where data was corrupted/changed deliberately or stolen involved employees. (How true their figures were is another matter.)


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