Without hard disk drives (HDDs), the world couldn’t run as efficiently as it does today. HDDs are critical to allow airlines, retail establishments, banks, ATMs and other financial institutions to complete transactions, to allow movies to be offered on airplanes, to allow security cameras to record footage, and to allow your car to help you get from Point A to B. The lack of HDDs to store data would affect everything in your life down to individual business transactions.
In the past, security cameras used tape for storage. Tape is inconvenient because the reels have to be frequently changed, and the tape is subject to wear and breakage. The transition from tape to HDDs was originally made to increase performance and longevity of the data being stored. Today, hard drive technology is even more suitable for the type of media we use, the speed at which we require it and the length of time we want to store it. Now, we use HDDs in security applications because they give you great capacity without the hassles of having to keep up maintenance on the tape reels. Movie studios and entertainment providers store films on HDDs for their massive capacity, fast and reliable access, as well as long-term durability. For some time, HDDs have been a seamless way to store information and images for many security and entertainment applications.
Without HDDs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, would not have cost-efficient capacity to store your profile information, photos or conversations online. Websites, including banking and shopping sites, would not have the cheap storage necessary to operate.
Also, games consoles such as Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation rely on inexpensive storage to keep track of your personal records and achievements, which make gaming an engaging experience.
To keep our world running as smoothly as it does, Toshiba looks extensively at the storage technologies needed to deliver the optimum performance, durability and capacity for the application it serves. Toshiba is the only manufacturer capable of making hard disk drives, solid state drives, and NAND Flash, technologies that not only are pervasive today, but lead to a better and more efficient tomorrow.
The views expressed on this post are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TAEC or Toshiba.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.