Storage Standards:

In addition to the debate over appropriate data format and
structure, there is no industry consensus on the design of
archivally stable storage media.  With each corporate
pronouncement of technical advancement, storage devices continue
to shift from "industry standard" to "industry standard".  In
fact, there are virtually no standards in terms of the structure
and design of the physical medium, the data format, and
compression routines.  In regard to storage media, recent
developments beyond the ubiquitous 5.25" disks (360k and 1.2k)
and high density fixed disks (10 to 80 meg hard drives) have
involved 3.5" disks (720k and 1.44k), tape drives, WORMs, CD-ROM,
laser disks, magneto-optical disks, and fixed drives of ever
higher capacity.  Additional developments have included the
"smart card" optical film technology as an appropriate medium for
portability and data stability, and the continuing initiative for
high density magnetic storage and the miniaturization of storage
hardware.  Within each of the removable storage types there are a
number of competing physical configurations and data structure
formats.  This means that the WORM, laser disk, CD-ROM, and
magnetic storage cartridges or disks are seldom transportable
from the devices of one manufacturer to those of another. 

<cfile56>   Data Storage
<cfile61>   Optical Disk Storage