Storage

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• See also:  Backup ...
• See also: Clone/Cloning ...
  • iDrive ...
• See also: On-line virtual disk space ...
• See also: Utilities / Tools ...
• See also: Windows Topics ...
• The Music Industry’s ’90s Hard Drives Are Dying | WIRED
• Cloud Storage = On-line virtual disk space = Cloud Storage
• PC = Personal Computer info
  • Always leave your computer turned on...
• CrystalDiskInfo - Crystal Dew World
• How to Check Your Hard Drive's Health | PCMag
• How to revive your old computer
  • Hard Disk Sentinel Trial version - HDD health and temperature monitoring
  • Pure Battery Analytics, Save & Extend Battery Life - Microsoft Store Apps
  • Uninstall or remove apps and programs in Windows
  • How to disable apps from running at startup on Windows 11 | Windows Central
  • SSD
• The Problem with Big Hard Drives | PCMag
  • Up to and including Windows XP 32-bit (using 32-bit block addressing) (MBR = Master Boot Record)
    • Big = more than 2.19TB = 2³² logical blocks of 512 bytes = 2,199,023,255,552 bytes = 2.2*10¹² = 2.19TB
  • Newer OSs (using 64-bit block addressing) (GPT = GUID Partition Table) or (EFI)
    • Logical blocs of 4KB = logical blocks of 4096 bytes
    • Big = more than 9.4 zettabytes = 9.4 trillion gigabytes = 2⁶⁴ logical blocks of 4096 bytes = 9.4ZB = 9.4*10²¹ = 9,400,000,000,000TB
• Thrashing disk drive - Does your hard drive start working like crazy for no apparent reason when you aren't even using it? - Disk Thrashing
• CD & DVD burning
• Diskette label remover
  • LPS solvent / Label-off
  • D-Solvit
  • Goof-off
• DNA
  • DNA is itself a four-letter code for passing along information about an organism. DNA molecules are made from four types of bases, or nucleotides, each identified by a letter: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). They are the basis of all DNA code.
  • Need Some Extra Storage? Try DNA | PCMag
  • DNA data storage might sound futuristic, but it's on the immediate horizon | TechRadar
  • What is DNA Storage? | "The Wizard of Oz" Stored In DNA
  • DNA storage promises 10 million times storage capacity boost
  • Technology alliance boosts efforts to store data in DNA
  • DNA: The Ultimate Data-Storage Solution - Scientific American
  • DNA could store all of the world's data in one room | Science | AAAS
• The Best Storage Mediums of All Time - ExtremeTech
• The Worst Storage Mediums of All Time - ExtremeTech
• Disk Drives = HDD
  • SSD = Solid State Disk Drive
  • The hard drive is dead; long live solid-state storage -  The right to repair @ AskWoody (subscription)
  • Helium drives don't need a breather hole to equalize pressure between the interior of a drive and the ambient air pressure. On air-drives the ambient air moves through a filter, but no filter is perfect.  Helium drives are sealed at the factory so there's no way external contaminants can enter the drive. With lower running temps and a sealed enclosure, HGST expects to see significantly improved reliability.
  • Brands
    • Acer, Blixem, Fanxiang, Fledging, FYUU, GIGABYTE, Inland, KingSpec, Kingston, Leven, ORICO, PNY, Sabrent, Silicon Power, TEAMGROUP, Timetec, and on and on.
    • Crucial (aka Micron)
    • HGST is a now-discontinued Western Digitial sub-brand.
    • SK Hynix (part of the South Korean chaebol SK Group)
    • Intel (SSD interests sold to SK Hynix)
    • Kioxia (spun off from Toshiba)
    • Samsung
    • Seagate
      • Internal and Specialized Hard Drives (HDD) | Seagate Canada
      • Internal and Specialized Solid State Drives (SSD) | Seagate Canada
      • BarraCuda and BarraCuda Pro Internal Hard Drives | Seagate Canada
      • NAS
    • WD = WDC = Western Digital Corporation and its subsidiary SanDisk.
      • WD | Western Digital Store
      • NAS
      • What Is WD Discovery? Should I Use It? - Tech News Today
      • Products
        • Green
        • Blue
        • Red (personal & SMB), Red Pro (Enterprise, Commercial), NAS
        • Purple - surveillance, video
        • Gold - enterprise class
        • Black - Data Centre, gaming performance
  • Hard Drive Reliability | ExtremeTech
    • Report: Most HDDs Die After Almost 3 Years,... | ExtremeTech
      • Drives tend to become more unreliable over time.
      • The study bluntly states that conventional magnetic recording (CMR) drives are more reliable than newer shingled magnetic recording (SMR) drives, which have overlapping tracks. SMR drives also offer worse benchmark performance than CMR drives and have recently been a hotbed of controversy.
    • HAMR = heat-assisted magnetic recording
  • Backblaze
    • New Backblaze Hard Drive Report Shows the Effect of Time on HDD Failures - ExtremeTech
    • AFR = annualized failure rate
      • Generally, the annualized failure rate (AFR) data follows the “bathtub curve.” Some hard drives will fail almost immediately after being put into service. After those defective units are replaced, a fleet of spinning drives will experience very low failure rates until they’ve been used for a couple of years. That’s when the failure rate again increases, revealing which drives are the most reliable.
    • Seagate drives tend toward higher failure rates, with some 12-14TB models hitting an AFR of 4-5%.  On the other hand, Seagate drives are also cheaper
    • Reliability (in order):  WD -> HGST -> Toshiba -> Seagate  |  WD is the most reliable drive
    • The Backblaze Blog - Adventures in the Cloud
      • Backblaze Blog » What Hard Drive Should I Buy? - 2014-01-21
    • Hard Drive Backup, Failure Rates, Prices - Backblaze
    • Backblaze Publishes Lifetime Failure Rates for SSDs | ExtremeTech
      • The SSD Edition: Drive Stats Review
  • Breaking through the storage barrier: Researchers create 5D disc with 360 TB capacity | ZDNet - 2016-02-18
  • Intel Optane drives | Intel’s Reinvention of the Hard Drive Could Make All Kinds of Computers Faster - 2015-08-15
  • Who makes the most reliable hard drives? (updated) | ExtremeTech - 2015-04-10
  • NVM = Non-Volatile Memory
    • SCM = storage class memory that can be used as storage because it is persistent (= non-volatile)
    • SDM = Software Defined Memory
    • DRAM = Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)
    • SSD
    • SSD = Solid-state drive - Wikipedia
    • NAND - Flash memory - Wikipedia - NAND = Not-AND
      • NOR - Flash memory - Wikipedia = NOR = Not-OR
      • 3D XPoint - Wikipedia = Optane NVM by Intel
        • Intel Kills Its Consumer-Facing Optane Products - ExtremeTech
    • NVDIMMs = Non-Volatile DIMMs (dual in-line memory module)
      • JEDEC Announces Support for NVDIMM Hybrid Memory Modules | JEDEC
      • Hybrid NVDIMMs = DRAM and NAND flash together
    • The non-volatile memory revolution | ZDNet
    • NVMW 2016 | General Information
      • Integrating 3D Xpoint with DRAM
  • NAS = Network-attached storage
    • NAS Device vs. DAS Enclosure: Which Should You Buy?
      • DAS = direct-attached storage - Thumb drives, internal hard drives, portable drives—these products plug into your computer, so they are considered direct-attached storage. 
      • A DAS device plugs into your computer, a NAS device connects to your local network. NAS are far slower than DAS.
    • Ways to Use Old Hard Drives
      • USB enclosure for Portable USB drives
      • The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices
      • Ventoy - open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files.
        • The Ultimate USB Boot Drive: Here's How
    • Hardkernel Is Launching a 2-Bay NAS for $65 | PCMag
    • NAS Security Guide: 7 Best Practices for Keeping Your Data Safe - Techopedia
    • The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices | PCMag
      • Channel-bonding = NIC-bonding = using two Ethernet connections to enhance speed
        • Link aggregation - Wikipedia
      • Personal Cloud = Your NAS can serve as your own private Dropbox or Google Drive, but with much more storage capacity - and no monthly bill.
    • How to Set Up and Use a Network Drive | PCMag.com
    • QNAP
    • The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices | PCMag
    • Seagate NAS drives - IronWolf (personal & SMB), IronWolf Pro (Enterprise, Commercial)
    • Western Digital NAS drives
      • See also WD
      • In 2023, Western Digital shut down remote access for My Cloud and prompted users to manually enable LAN access. Those who failed to enable LAN were locked out of My Cloud and couldn't access their files.
        
    • Should You Use SSDs For Your NAS? - YouTube - 15m21
    • Synology
      • Zero-Click Flaw Exposes Potentially Millions of Popular Storage Devices to Attack | WIRED
      • Synology BeeStation Review: Say Goodbye to Dropbox and Google Photos
    • OpenMediaVault vs TrueNAS Scale: Which free NAS OS comes out on top?
  • ioSafe - Internal and External Hard Drives and Network Storage (NAS) Solutions | Fireproof | Waterproof
  • PCIe SSD HHHL
    • AIC = Add-in Card
    • HHHL = half height, half length
    • NVMe = Non-Volatile Memory express
      • What is NVMe (non-volatile memory express)? - Definition from WhatIs.com
    • PCIe 3.0 slot | not (U.2 2.5")  = (SFF-8643)
    • 6Mbps = SATA3
    • A PCI Express expansion card that served as a high-speed uptick from a Serial ATA hard drive or solid-state drive (SSD). It was meant for desktop-PC upgraders looking for the most possible speed from a single boot drive—more than any one SATA-based SSD could provide—but who didn’t have a late-model motherboard with a slot for the emerging “M.2” form factor of SSDs. (That includes, well, most people running a desktop PC more than a year old.)
    • PCIe SSD product survey 2015: New form factors emerge - 2015-04-01
    • PCIe SSD flash storage roundup: The few become fewer - 2013-11-01
    • Micron Technology, Inc. | Memory and Storage Solutions
      • Micron unveils super-fast, high-capacity PCIe enterprise SSDs | ZDNet
    • Plextor PX-256M5P | PCMag
      • Plextor SSD Storage Solutions
    • Intel SSD DC Family for PCIe
    • Samsung SSD 960 Pro (512GB) Review | PCMag
      • Samsung 950 PRO 256GB and 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Review - YouTube
      • World's fastest consumer SSD - Samsung 950 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD unboxing and install - YouTube
• Are RAM Drives Faster Than SSDs? 5 Things You Must Know
• SSD = Solid State Disk Drives - (SLC, MLC, TLC, QLC)
  • See also -- Backup & Clone/Cloning ...
  • See also: NVM - (NAND, etc.)
    • What Is 3D NAND? | Types, Pros & Cons | ESF
  • How Do SSDs Work? | Extremetech
    • 3D XPoint - Wikipedia = Optane
  • Cells = density level of NAND flash memory
    • SLC = single-level cell, where each NAND cell stores just a single bit of data. (2D NAND = Planar NAND) = $$$$
    • eMLC = enterprise MLC
    • MLC = multi-level cell, where each NAND cell stores two bits. (Both 2D and 3D NAND come in MLC.) = $$$
      • MLC = short for Multi-Level Cell = one memory cell can store 2 bits of data. Samsung SSD Pro
      • Samsung 860 PRO 1TB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD (MZ-76P1T0BW) [Canada Version] : Amazon.ca: Electronics
      • SSD 860 PRO SATA III 2.5 inch | MZ-76P1T0BW | Samsung CA
    • TLC = three-level-cell, where each NAND cell stores three bits — but possibly at the expense of reduced durability. = $$
      • TLC = Triple-Level Cell = one memory cell can store 3 bits of data. Samsung SSD EVO
      • Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD (MZ-77E1T0B/AM) [Canada Version] : Amazon.ca: Electronics
      • SSD 870 EVO SATA III 2.5 inch | Samsung Canada
        
    • QLC = four-level-cell = $
      • QLC = Quad-Level Cell = one memory cell can store 4 bits of data.   e.g. Samsung SSD QVO
      • Intel Launches First Consumer QLC NAND SSD - ExtremeTech
        There's no way to boost storage capacity by increasing the amount of data stored per cell without simultaneously whacking performance.
      • Samsung 870 QVO-Series MZ-77Q1T0B/AM 2.5" SATA III Internal SSD Single Unit Version 1TB : Amazon.ca: Electronics
      • Samsung 870 QVO 1TB SATA 2.5" internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-77Q1TB/AM) | Samsung CA
    • PLC = five-level-cell = 2025?
      • PLC = Penta-level cell with five bits per cell. These drives would not perform as well as TLC but would offer much higher capacities.
  • What Is SSD DRAM, and How Does It Affect SSD Performance?
    • DRAM = Dynamic Random Acces Memory = "cache memory' or "buffer memory."
      • On average, drives with DRAM will be at the upper end of the performance charts.
    • HMB = Host Memory Buffer - HMB leverages the system's RAM for caching.  
  • Best SSD
    • Best SSDs: Reviews and recommendations | PCWorld
    • SSD UserBenchmarks - Solid State Drives Compared
  • Utilities for SSD
    • CrystalDiskInfo
      • CrystalDiskInfo download | SourceForge.net
      • CrystalDiskInfo - Crystal Dew World [en]
    • PowerShell (in Windows) ...
    • Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select Wear
      • PowerShell > Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select Wear > Wear=5 means the SSD is about 5% worn out
  • Samsung Is the Latest SSD Manufacturer Caught Cheating Its Customers - ExtremeTech
  • Neo Semiconductor Claims It Can Deliver QLC Density, SLC Performance - ExtremeTech
    • In NAND storage, density, durability, and performance form the three points of the typical "iron triangle" that companies attempt to optimize. It's a classic case of a "You can have any two of these three features" scenario. We can build very durable NAND with incredible performance and low density (single-level cell, abbreviated SLC) or NAND with excellent density and low durability and performance (quad-level cell, abbreviated QLC). Companies are now exploring penta-level cell (PLC) NAND, but it's still not clear if such designs are commercially viable.
  • Windows 10 to Start Warning Users of Imminent SSD Failure | PCMag
    • Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20226 - Settings > System > Storage > Manage disks and volumes > Properties (where the Drive Health information is located).
      • Not available yet??
  • SSD vs. HDD: What's the Difference? - YouTube
  • SSD Life Expectancy - YouTube
  • SSD Optimization Tips for Windows 10 You May Want to Know
  • Solid State Drive (SSD) Tweaks for Windows 7
    • 10 Tips for SSD Optimization in Windows 7 - Part 1
    • 10 Tips for SSD Optimization SSD in Windows 7 - Part 2
    • 10 Tips for SSD Optimization SSD in Windows 7 - Part 3
    • Disable restore points? Not really a good idea.
    • Disable "Windows Search"? Not really a good idea.
    • Disable "SuperFetch"? Not really a good idea.
    • Disable "EnablePrefetcher"?
  • UserBenchmark | Best SSD
  • SSD reliability in the real world: Google's experience | ZDNet - 2016-02-25
    • The SSD is less likely (than a HDD) to fail during its normal life, but more likely to lose data.
    • MLC drives are as reliable as the more costly SLC "enteprise" drives.
  • CyberTrend.com | Why It May Be Time To Move To Flash
  • ExtremeTech explains: How do SSDs work? | ExtremeTech
  • The best SSDs of 2014: A buyers guide | ExtremeTech - 2014-10-15
  • What you need to know about today's SSDs | Data Explosion - InfoWorld - 2013-10-22
  • Enable or Disable TRIM Support for Solid State Drives in Windows 10 | Tutorials
  • SSD White Paper | Samsung SSD - SMART Attributes - 2015 Archive.org
    • Samsung SSD Documents | Samsung SSD - Documents
  • SSD Reliability: Can You Really Rely on Your SSD?
  • SSD form factor is the size of SSD.
  1. Standard form factors (3.5", 2.5", 1.8") for direct replacement of traditional HDD,
  2. Standard card form factor (mSATA and M.2) for use in space-constraint applications like Ultrabook or tablet, and
  3. PCIe card form factor adopted by enthusiast- and enterprise-class SSD solution.
     • AIC = Add-in card = expansion card
• How to Upgrade From a Smaller SSD to a Larger One | Extremetech
• Should You Use SSDs For Your NAS? - YouTube - 15m21
• SSD | Stop using SSDs now (do this instead…) - YouTube
  • Cloud drives = online backup = virtual storage - monthly fee
  • Self-built solutions
    • NAS
    • Tape backup
    • Local SSD
      • Crucial X10 Pro (recommended)
      • SanDisk (avoid)
      • SSDs deteriorate over time.  Can fail. Not good for long-term storage. Data can be deleted or corrupted. SSDs can be lost, stolen, damaged, destroyed.
        • 3-2-1 backup rule: always have three copies of your data stored on two different types of media with one copy kept off-site.
• Five Technologies to Make Sure Your Data Live Forever
  • Solution: Archive-quality optical disks
    • CD - Conventional CDs are a terrible way to store data
    • DVD
    • BD - Based on tests, manufacturers claim lifespans in the 1-3 century range. For maximum data density, you can pick up archival Blue Rays for about 2.5 gigabytes per dollar, with a projected lifespan of 200 years. Accelerated aging tests aren’t a sure thing, but it’s probably safe to count on them for a century or so. As a bonus, unlike magnetic tape, they require no special equipment to read and write, so startup costs are minimal.
  • Microsoft Project Silica: Glass Plates That Store Data for 10,000 Years | Extremetech
  • 5D Optical Disc Could Store 500TB for Billions of Years | Extremetech
  • Researchers Beef Up DNA Storage Density By Adding More Letters | Extremetech
  • The Music Industry’s ’90s Hard Drives Are Dying | WIRED
• RAID / Synchronization / Backups / Cloning ...
• USB drives
• Wipe your disk ...
• Virtual Storage

Virtual Storage = Cloud Storage  (on-line virtual disk space)

• Cloud drives = online backup = virtual storage - monthly fee
• See also: Backup ...
• See also:  Synchronization software ...
  • Sync.com (recommended) - $$$
• Backblaze.com - (recommended) - $$$
• Box.net
• Dropbox
• Google Drive - Privacy is an issue with Google. Data are shared and used for ads and for government agencies.
• iCloud
• iDrive
• OneDrive ...
• Password Managers - necessary when using long secure, passwords.
  • Keeper Security | Password and Secrets Management
• The BEST Cloud Storage - Dropbox vs Google Drive vs iDrive vs Sync vs pCloud vs OneDrive - YouTube
• PCMag | ZIFF Davis
  • The Best Cloud Storage and File-Sharing Services | PCMag
  • Google Drive Review | PCMag
  • OneDrive (included in Microsoft Office 365)
  • Box (Personal) Review | PCMag
  • ZDNet | Technology News, Analysis, Comments and Product Reviews for IT Professionals | ZDNet - Ziff Davis
• Four cost-effective alternatives to public cloud storage | ZDNet | Enterprise
• Syncing Showdown: Google Drive vs. Dropbox vs. OneDrive - Lifehacker
• Amazon.ca Cloud Drive - Unlimited $60/yr
• How can I be sure no-one will snoop into my cloud-based data? | ITBusiness.ca
• BoxCryptor | On-the-fly Encryption for cloud storage - US$48/user/year
  • Boxcryptor | Easy to use encryption for cloud storage | boxcryptor.com - Boxcryptor supports all major cloud storage providers (such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive)
• ***
• What Is A Virtual Server, And What Can You Do With One?
• Cloud Storage | IT Business
• ADrive | Online Storage, Online Backup, Cloud Storage
• Amazon Cloud Drive
• Backblaze.com - $6/TB/month
• Box.com | Simple Online Collaboration: Online File Storage, FTP Replacement, Team Workspaces
• Box.net - Online File Storage, Internet File Sharing, Online Storage, Access Documents & Files Anywhere, Backup Data, Send Files
  • Box - 100GB/CDN$6.65/user/month=100GB/CDN$80/user/year, unlimited/$20/user/month=unlimited/$240/user/year
• CertainSafe - Secure Cloud Storage
  • CertainSafe - 100GB/user/$12/month=100GB/user/$144/year
• Compare Best Cloud Storage | Best VPN | Web Hosting & More
• Dropbox.com ...
• Flickr - Photo Sharing
• Google Drive
  • Google Drive: Free Cloud Storage for Personal Use - 15GB/$0, 100GB/$20/year, 200GB/$30/year
  • Google Drive: 10 Reasons to Choose Another Cloud Data Storage Service
    • Problems:  Google's service, Security (& Integration), Reliability, Terms of Service, Inadequate storage space, no support for BlackBerry 10, etc.
• iCloud ...
• iDrive ...
• iFloppy.net "Your Free Internet Floppy Disk" (free/cheap Internet file storage)
• JustCloud - see MyPCBackup
• Kodakgallery.com - Upload photos and pictures to your online photo albums at Kodakgallery.com
• Livedrive | Cloud Storage and Unlimited Online Backup for Home | Livedrive
  • Backup:  Automatic backup, Unlimited storage space for one PC/Mac device, View files online, Secure ($6/month)
  • Briefcase:  2TB, Appears as an extra drive (on ALL your devices), Secure online sharing, Accessible anywhere ($12/month)
  • Add extra space for $7.95 per TB.
  • Mobile App available - optimised for BlackBerry
  • Cloud Storage and Unlimited Online Backup for Home | Livedrive#CompareProducts
• MediaFire | Free Cloud Storage
• MiMedia
• My Docs Online! - Easy Access to Your Stuff (20MB free storage)
• MyPCBackup - Online backup, computer backup and pc backup from MyPCBackup
  • MyPCBackup :: Online Backup Features
  • How much does Mypcbackup cost? - $7/month/unlimited
• Nextcloud
  • ?Nextcloud Box: A cloud for your office or living room | ZDNet
• Picasa 3: Free download from Google
• Proton - Encrypted cloud storage - US$9.99/month/500GB, US$23.99/month/3TB
  • See also iCloud Drive ...
  • Proton Drive for Windows allows you to sync any folder between your Windows desktop and the cloud. Your files are encrypted before being uploaded to our secure cloud servers. If you change, add, or remove a file in your desktop’s synchronized folder, those changes will be reflected in Proton Drive.
  • Proton | BGR
• SkyDrive - Microsoft
• SkyDesk (@Backup, SkyFiler, etc.)
• SugarSync | Cloud File Sharing, File Sync & Online Backup From Any Device
• Symform | Free Online Backup Service – Start with 10 GB Free Cloud Storage
• Sync.com | Secure Cloud Storage — Privacy Guaranteed - Canadian - $8/month/2TB
• Transfer Big Files - Free - Email Large Files
• Wiredrive | Media sharing for creative companies - $$$!! - >$400/month!! - Not for individuals.  Only for businesses. - Thanks to Allison Peters for recommending this site.
• Wuala - Secure Cloud Storage - Backup. Sync. Share. Access Everywhere.

• A Hard Disk Drive for the IBM 305 RAMAC, the first IBM 'SUPER' computer released in September 1956.
  This HDD weighed over a ton and stored an "astonishing"  5 MB  of data. (= 0.005 GB = 0.000005 TB)
  In other words, if you have one of those old original Apple iPhones from 2009 with only 32 GB of storage, it holds 6400 times as much data as this huge drive from 1956.
  In other words, if you have a computer with a hard drive containing 2 TB (= 2000 GB = 2000000 MB) of storage, it holds 400000 times as much data as this huge drive from 1956.