External storage

Data storage outside a computer's own hardware In computing, external storage refers to non-volatile (secondary) data storage outside a computer's own internal hardware, and thus can be readily disconnected and accessed elsewhere. Such storage devices may refer to removable media (e.g. punched paper, magnetic tape, floppy disk and optical disc), compact flash drives (USB flash drive and memory card), portable storage devices (external solid-state drive and enclosed hard disk drive), or network-attached storage. Web-based cloud storage is the latest technology for external storage. In recent years, analysts have noted that the rapid growth of cloud-based external storage has shifted emphasis from physical media toward distributed, service-based architectures used by both consumers and enterprises. History Today the term external storage most commonly applies to those storage devices external to a personal computer. The terms refer to any storage external to the computer. Storage as distinct from memory in the early days of computing was always external to the computer as for example in the punched card devices and media. Today storage devices may be internal or external to a compute