Storage master types
| Master Type | Acronym | Long Name | Year Introduced | Internal? | External? | General Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optical | CD-ROM | Compact Disc - Read Only Memory | 1982 | ✔ | ✔ | Music, software, small data backups |
| DVD | Digital Versatile Disc | 1995 | ✔ | ✔ | Movies, software, larger data storage | |
| BD | Blu-ray Disc | 2006 | ✔ | ✔ | High-definition movies, data backup | |
| ODD | Optical Disc Drive (generic) | 1982+ | ✔ | ✔ | Reading/writing optical discs | |
| Tape | LTO | Linear Tape-Open | 2000 | ✔ | ✔ | Enterprise backup, archival |
| DLT | Digital Linear Tape | 1984 | ✔ | ✔ | Backup/archival | |
| DAT | Digital Audio Tape | 1987 | ✔ | ✔ | Backup, music (rare) | |
| QIC | Quarter-Inch Cartridge | 1972 | ✔ | ✔ | Data backup (legacy) | |
| HDD (Fixed) | HDD | Hard Disk Drive | 1956 | ✔ | Desktops, servers, workstations | |
| SAS | Serial Attached SCSI | 2004 | ✔ | Enterprise servers/storage | ||
| SATA | Serial ATA | 2003 | ✔ | Consumer/internal drives | ||
| HDD (Removable) | USB HDD | External Hard Disk Drive | 2000 | ✔ | Portable storage/backup | |
| eSATA | External SATA | 2004 | ✔ | High-speed external HDD | ||
| SSD | SATA SSD | Solid State Drive (SATA) | 2007 | ✔ | ✔ | High-speed storage (general use) |
| NVMe | Non-Volatile Memory Express | 2011 | ✔ | Ultra-fast internal storage | ||
| USB SSD | External Solid State Drive | 2012+ | ✔ | Portable SSDs | ||
| Floppy | 8" Floppy | 8-inch Floppy Disk | 1971 | ✔ | Legacy computers | |
| 5.25" Floppy | 5.25-inch Floppy Disk | 1976 | ✔ | Early PCs | ||
| 3.5" Floppy | 3.5-inch Floppy Disk | 1982 | ✔ | ✔ | Late PCs (1990s) | |
| ZIP | Iomega ZIP Disk | 1994 | ✔ | ✔ | Removable data storage | |
| LS-120 | SuperDisk | 1996 | ✔ | ✔ | Floppy replacement |
HDD Form Factor
| Form Factor | Profile | Platter Size (in) | Width (in) | Depth (in) | Height (in) | Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.25" | Full-Height | 5.12 | 5.75 | 8.0 | 3.25 | All drives in early 1980s; Large capacity drives with many platters as late as the mid-1990s |
| Half-Height | 5.12 | 5.75 | 8.0 | 1.63 | Early 1980s through early 1990s | |
| Low-Profile | 5.12 | 5.75 | 8.0 | 1.0 | Quantum Bigfoot, mid-to-late 1990s | |
| Ultra-Low-Profile | 5.12 | 5.75 | 8.0 | 0.75 - 0.80 | Quantum Bigfoot, mid-to-late 1990s | |
| 3.5" | Half-Height | 2.5, 3.0, 3.74 | 4.0 | 5.75 | 1.63 | High-end, high-capacity drives |
| Low-Profile | 2.5, 3.0, 3.74 | 4.0 | 5.75 | 1.0 | Industry standard, most common form factor for PC hard disks | |
| Ultra-Low-Profile | 2.5, 3.0, 3.74 | 4.0 | 5.75 | 0.75 | Some newer low-profile server drives | |
| 2.5" | Standard | 2.5 | 2.75 | 3.95 | 0.37 - 0.59 | Notebook, enterprise, and consumer drives |
| Slim | 2.5 | 2.75 | 3.95 | 0.28 | Ultra-slim notebooks, compact storage systems | |
| 1.8" | Standard | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 0.31 | Portable media players, ultralight laptops |
| PC Card | Type I | 1.8 | 2.13 | 3.37 | 0.13 | Not used for hard disks (yet?) |
| Type II | 1.8 | 2.13 | 3.37 | 0.20 | Smaller-capacity expansion hard disks for laptops and consumer electronics | |
| Type III | 1.8 | 2.13 | 3.37 | 0.41 | Higher-capacity expansion hard disks for laptops | |
| Compact Flash | Type I | 1.0 | 1.69 | 1.42 | 0.13 | Smaller-capacity flash cards for digital cameras, hand-held computers and consumer electronics; not used for hard disks (yet) |
| Type II | 1.0 | 1.69 | 1.42 | 0.20 | Larger-capacity flash cards and hard disks for digital cameras, hand-held computers and consumer electronics |
Connector types
| Connector Type | Year Introduced | Dimensions / Pin Count | Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDC 50-pin Male Header | 1986 | 50 pins | SCSI (HDDs, Tape Drives) |
| IDC 40-pin Male Header | 1986 | 40 pins | IDE/PATA HDDs |
| IDC 34-pin Male Header | 1981 | 34 pins | Floppy Disk Drives (FDDs) |
| SATA 7-pin L-Shaped | 2003 | 7 pins (data) + 15 pins (power) | HDDs, SSDs, Optical Drives |
| Molex 4-pin Power Connector | 1980s | 4 pins | Power for IDE HDDs, Optical Drives |
| Berg 4-pin Floppy Power Connector | 1980s | 4 pins | Power for Floppy Drives |
| SFF-8482 | 2004 | 29 pins | SAS Drives |
| SFF-8639 (U.2) | 2011 | 68 pins | Enterprise SSDs |
| M.2 Edge Connector | 2013 | 22 x 30–110 mm | SSDs |
| USB Type-A/B/C | 1996–2014 | Varies | External Drives, Flash Drives |
| FireWire 6-pin/9-pin | 1995 | 6 or 9 pins | External Storage Devices |
Interface type
| Connector Type | Year Introduced | Dimensions / Pin Count | Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDC 50-pin Male Header | 1986 | 50 pins | SCSI (HDDs, Tape Drives) |
| IDC 40-pin Male Header | 1986 | 40 pins | IDE/PATA HDDs |
| IDC 34-pin Male Header | 1981 | 34 pins | Floppy Disk Drives (FDDs) |
| SATA 7-pin L-Shaped | 2003 | 7 pins (data) + 15 pins (power) | HDDs, SSDs, Optical Drives |
| Molex 4-pin Power Connector | 1980s | 4 pins | Power for IDE HDDs, Optical Drives |
| Berg 4-pin Floppy Power Connector | 1980s | 4 pins | Power for Floppy Drives |
| SFF-8482 | 2004 | 29 pins | SAS Drives |
| SFF-8639 (U.2) | 2011 | 68 pins | Enterprise SSDs |
| M.2 Edge Connector | 2013 | 22 x 30–110 mm | SSDs |
| USB Type-A/B/C | 1996–2014 | Varies | External Drives, Flash Drives |
| FireWire 6-pin/9-pin | 1995 | 6 or 9 pins | External Storage Devices |
Communication protocols
| Interface Protocol | Variants | Year Introduced | Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCSI | SCSI-1, SCSI-2, SCSI-3, Ultra SCSI, Ultra320 | 1986 | HDDs, Tape Drives, CD-ROMs |
| IDE / PATA | ATA, ATA-2, EIDE | 1986 | HDDs, CD/DVD Drives |
| SATA | SATA I, SATA II, SATA III | 2003 | HDDs, SSDs, Optical Drives |
| NVMe | NVMe 1.0–2.0 | 2013 | PCIe SSDs (e.g. M.2, U.2) |
| USB Mass Storage | USB 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 | 1998 | Flash Drives, External HDDs/SSDs |
| FireWire (IEEE 1394) | 1394a, 1394b | 1995 | External Storage Devices |
| FDC (Floppy Disk Controller) | NEC µPD765, Intel 82077 | 1976 | Floppy Drives (8", 5.25", 3.5") |
| SAS | SAS-1, SAS-2, SAS-3, SAS-4 | 2004 | Enterprise HDDs, SSDs |
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