page_title: Computer data storage
hierarchical_section_title: Computer data storage
caption_attribution_description: English: Moved image to a different wikiname. Original is: File:Sdlt 160 tape.jpg. Description: Photograph of a Super DLT I tape cartridge (capacity 160 GB). Tape cartridge shown with US Quarter to demonstrate scale. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/redjar/112892972/in/set-72057594082724421 Photograph taken by Jared C. Benedict (aka redjar on Flickr) on 20 September 2004. Copyright: © Jared C. Benedict. Licensed under the [Creative Commons] license by photographer Jared C. Benedict (myself).
context_page_description: Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
  The central processing unit of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. In practice, almost all computers use a storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options close to the CPU and slower but less expensive and larger options further away. Generally the fast volatile technologies are referred to as "memory", while slower persistent technologies are referred to as "storage".
  Even the first computer designs, Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine and Percy Ludgate's Analytical Machine, clearly distinguished between processing and memory. This distinction was extended in the Von Neumann architecture, where the CPU consists of two main parts: The control unit and the arithmetic logic unit. The former controls the flow of data between the CPU and memory, while the latter performs arithmetic and logical operations on data.
context_section_description: Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
  The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations.  In practice, almost all computers use a storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options close to the CPU and slower but less expensive and larger options further away. Generally the fast volatile technologies (which lose data when off power) are referred to as "memory", while slower persistent technologies are referred to as "storage".
  Even the first computer designs, Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine and Percy Ludgate's Analytical Machine, clearly distinguished between processing and memory (Babbage stored numbers as rotations of gears, while Ludgate stored numbers as displacements of rods in shuttles). This distinction was extended in the Von Neumann architecture, where the CPU consists of two main parts: The control unit and the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The former controls the flow of data between the CPU and memory, while the latter performs arithmetic and logical operations on data.
caption: 160 GB SDLT tape cartridge, an example of off-line storage. When used within a robotic tape library, it is classified as tertiary storage instead.
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