Terminology

Devices that are not used exclusively for recording (e.g. hands, mouths, musical instruments) and devices that are intermediate in the storing/retrieving process (e.g. eyes, ears, cameras, scanners, microphones, speakers, monitors, projectors) are not usually considered storage devices. Devices that are exclusively for recording (e.g. printers), exclusively for reading (e.g. barcode readers), or devices that process only one form of information (e.g. phonographs) may or may not be considered storage devices. In computing these are known as input/output devices.

An organic brain may or may not be considered a data storage device. ^[2]

All information is data. However, not all data is information.

Many data storage devices are also media players. Any device that can store and playback multimedia may also be considered a media player such as in the case with the HDD media player. Designated hard drives are used to play saved or streaming media on home entertainment systems.

Trends

International Data Corporation estimated that the total amount of digital data was 281 billion gigabytes in 2007, and had for the first time exceeded the amount of storage.

Crafting tools such as paint brushes can be used as data storage equipment. The paint and canvas can be used as data storage media.

RNA might be the oldest data storage medium [1], now replaced by DNA in most organisms.