Personal storage for mobile applications

Vast and inexpensive digital storage provided by hard disk drives,. ash memory and other storage devices has changed the face of mobile consumer electronics over the last 10 years and will continue to do so in the future. Elements of the mobile digital storage hierarchy can be combined together to create combinations capable of more than either device by itself. By integrating applications into storage device more cost effective, higher performance and more reliable devices may be constructed. Sharing of content will create much greater demand for storage since a shared. le can be multiplied many times over. Likewise demand for higher resolution content and for capturing ever greater details of the life of family members will drive increases in commercial as well as personal content storage demand. The growth of storage in and around the home will require an integrated storage network for managing, backing up and indexing all of this content. If such an integrated storage utility can be put into most homes there will be a huge demand for storage in consumer devices and in the local and remote networks that support the retention of this content. This demand will drive the proliferation storage devices such as hard disk drives. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.