Hence, we keep demanding more and more of technology.

While the data storage devices at present meet our data storage needs, they are bound to soon run out of their capacity to please us. Therefore, what options do we have for our future data storage needs?

The Need for Better Data Storage Devices

Data storage technologies have to continue to improve in order to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for data storage. The consumers these days are not only demanding data storage devices that can store large amounts of data but they are also expecting these devices to come at a price that does not hurt their wallet.

The traditional magnetic and optical data storage devices are fast approaching the end of the road. The capacity as well as the access times offered by the magnetic and optical storage media these days will be rendered completely ineffective by the new processors that are going to emerge shortly in the future.

These traditional technologies use magnetic or optical changes on the surface of the recording medium to store bits of data. However, since these technologies are using just the surface and not the entire medium, these technologies will lose their popularity very fast with the emerging digital data storage devices. These digital data storage devices not only promise high-speed data storage, but also promise to offer a cost advantage to the consumers.

Types of Digital Data Storage Devices

There are primarily three types of digital data storage devices that will emerge in the future. These include:

• Holographic Memory

• Molecular Memory

• MRAM Chips

We will discuss each of these in detail in our following section.

Holographic Memory

Holographic memory stores data in a volumetric approach using laser beams. The actuators in disk drives are affected by inertia and hence, cannot be moved very fast. However, since there is no inertia involved while using the laser beams, it is easy to move the laser beams very fast. This allows holographic memory data storage devices to have fast access times. Holographic memory also offers high storage density.

Molecular Memory

Our growing data needs are not the only challenge for the information technology industry. While we are demanding electronic devices that allow us to store large amounts of data, we are also demanding that these devices be small and user-friendly. The demand for smaller computers has put a lot of pressure on the good old semiconductor chip.

As we all know, the semiconductor chip, made of silicon, is the brain of the computer. In order to make the computers faster, cheaper, and smaller, more and more transistors and other devices are being squeezed into a postage-stamp sized semiconductor chip. However, reducing the size of semiconductor will not be as easy in the future since the miniaturisation has already reached a physical limit.

Therefore, technology experts are now using organic molecules, only a few nanometers in size, instead of pieces of silicon. Even the large organic molecules measure only a few nanometers. These can be used to create an integrated circuit that could contain trillions of electronic devices. Therefore, this technology can allow and offer a million times more storage density than the traditional semiconductor chips.

The molecular memory allows the user to store large amounts of data at a very low price. It also has the ability to sustain a wide range of temperature, which has always been a concern for the user when he or she uses the traditional semiconductor chip.

MRAM Chips

Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) chip technology stores data using magnetic properties. It is a non-volatile computer memory (NVRAM). The traditional RAM chips in most of the electronic devices used today tend to lose their memory as soon as the power is switched off. However, the MRAM chips are capable of holding the data even when the power is switched off.

Flash memory, like MRAM chips, also holds the data when the power is switched off. However, unlike flash memory, the MRAM chips offer faster ‘read and write’ speeds and they do not degrade with time. The industry experts believe that MRAM chips could be the next state-of-the-art solution for your PC to store the operating system. The MRAM chips can allow the computer to start up much faster when it is switched on.