Means of storing information

Save the information in the past

The need to memorize information appeared since ancient times, as every civilization sought to perpetuate its beliefs and ideas and preserve them on the available tools and materials, and among the ancient ways that man devised to memorize information were engravings on stone or clay, and what indicates this method of preserving information is the collection of antiquities that were found in Different places of the world, which are estimated to be three thousand six hundred years BC, but it is not writing but rather inscriptions and drawings that mean different connotations, the most famous of which is the cuneiform writing that was found in the Fertile Crescent region and is related to the Sumerian civilization, and the same applies to the Pharaonic civilization.

Means of keeping information today

Today, with the huge increase in the number of people, and the development taking place in all aspects of life, preserving information has become one of the most important priorities. Today, there are databases that keep the information of every individual in the country, and transfer this information between state institutions and ministries, as well as there are databases that preserve literary, scientific and other information. There are two main ways to save information:

Paper media

Paper media or traditional media are written on paper, and do not need a specific device to read them, and are arranged according to certain standards determined by the person in charge, and they are among the widely used means; Due to its ease of carrying and transportation, and its low material cost, it is approved in many fields, especially in writing reports, bulletins, dictionaries, encyclopedias, newspapers, and magazines, and it is often issued at a certain time, as newspapers are issued on a daily basis, while magazines are monthly.

non-paper media

They are containers in which information is saved and retrieved, and specific devices are needed to write and retrieve information on them. With great development, many types of them are available, and their advantages are:

• The speed of obtaining the required information.
• Small size.
• The possibility of copying them with ease so that identical copies are obtained without error.
• The possibility of modifying it, whether by deletion or addition.

non-paper media formats

There is a wide variety of modern media to save information, and companies are racing to manufacture them in smaller sizes, larger capacities, and higher speeds, and these types are:

• Hard Disk: A unit for storing basic information in a computer. It is a circular, magnetic disk, on which an electromagnetic pickup is installed that writes to and reads from. The hard disk can be external, i.e. it is not inside the computer, but it is connected through a USB connection. It has several types that differ from each other in capacity and rotational speed, namely:
  • SCSI hard disks.
  • IDE hard drives.
  • SATA hard drives.
• Flash memory: It is a memory used for writing and deleting with ease. It is characterized by its great speed, small size, and ease of use. It is found in computers within the device’s boot-up BIOS, as well as in digital cameras and video game consoles.
• CD/DVD CDs: They are laser-powered discs made of aluminum-coated plastic. They have several types, including write-only and then read-only discs, and some that allow writing and reading.