How do the computers, phones, hard drives, USB pen drives, and even cloud drives get storages? How is it produced or manufactured? Why is it in the power of 2s?
In: Technology
Let’s start with the basics: data stored is stored in bits – a bit can have two states: 0 or 1. When you combine these bits, you’ll inevitably end with a system that works in the powers of 2’s, as you put it.
Now, why 0 or 1? Because its the easiest way to express data through magnetic or electrical charge. This is where the material used in storage comes in: you can use magnetic disks, that retain a positive or negative charge over a long time, to store sequences of 1’s and 0’s. This can also be done with circuits that keep a charge, same principle.
Okay so how does that become a hdd, for example? Well, hard disk drives are relatively primitive, essentially its multiple disks of that magnetic material stacked over another, with a motor attached to spin them and an arm with a sensor on it for ever disk, swinging over it to read the disk – its as mechanical as it gets.
But how did we compress that tech into usb-sticks? We took the mechanical component and made it digital: microscopic transistors that can hold a charge, even when no power us applied, are used to simulate what the hdd does via its magnetic disks.
Bonus fact: thats why these solid state drives are faster than any hdd – there’s no physical step in the process of reading storage.
I hope this answers your questions somewhat.
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