What is Data storage device?
[[File:PersonalStorageDevices.agr.jpg|200px|thumb|Many different consumer electronic devices can store data.]] [[File:EdisonPhonograph.jpg|200px|thumb|'''Edison cylinder phonograph''' ca. 1899. The Phonograph cylinder is a storage medium. The phonograph may or may not be considered a storage device.]] [[File:Reel-to-reel recorder tc-630.jpg|thumb|200px|A '''reel-to-reel tape recorder (Sony TC-630)'''. The magnetic tape is a storage medium. The recorder is data storage equipment using a portable medium (tape reel) to store the data.]] [[File:Painting Thangka Lhasa Tibet Luca Galuzzi 2006.jpg|200px|thumb|Crafting tools such as paint brushes can be used as data storage equipment. The paint and canvas can be used as data storage media.]] [[File:RNA-comparedto-DNA thymineAndUracilCorrected.png|thumb|290px|[[RNA]] might be the oldest data storage medium,<ref>{{cite journal|title=The RNA World|journal=[[Nature (Journal)|Nature]]|first=Walter|last=Gilbert|authorlink=Walter Gilbert|date=Feb 1986|pages=618|volume=319|doi=10.1038/319618a0|s2cid=8026658}}</ref> now replaced by DNA in most organisms.]] A '''data storage device''' is a [[device]] for [[recording]] (storing) [[information]] (data). Recording can be done using virtually any form of [[energy]]. People have been storing data for thousands of years, by [[picture]]<nowiki/>s and [[writing]]. Modern storage device may hold information, process information, or both. Most often the term is used with [[computer]]s. Data storage devices can permanently hold data, like [[computer file|file]]s. ''Electronic data storage'' is storage which requires [[electricity]] to store and get back that data. Most storage devices that do not require [[Visual perception|visual]] optics to read data fall into this category. Electronic data may be stored in either an [[Analog signal|analog]] or [[digital]] signal format. ==Terminology== An organic '''[[brain]]''' may or may not be considered a data storage device.<ref>Ray Bradbury, ''Fahrenheit 451'', 1950, 1953 pp:150-152, {{ISBN|0345