The Ideal User Data Storage Interface

Users must be able comprehend the most important file properties when they access their files from storage devices. This is especially important for storage mediums with unique features like molecular storage media and upcoming novel media that are still in development. The ideal user interface permits users to visualize properties using a variety visual methods and display them in the order of importance for the user.

For example the capacity property is often one of the most important factors for users when they use the traditional hard disk drive. Early systems offered built-in tools that reported specific information about the user’s storage device, but they primarily focused on showing the capacity of the device with bar charts stacked in their variations (e.g. doughnut charts).

With more modern systems however the capacity of a file is usually only one of many properties that are displayed to the user. For example some systems show the file’s lifespan with an image or pie chart that also provides the number of segments that are accessed in the storage device and supplemental information such as the likelihood of a lifetime is displayed when the user hovers over the stacks.

The challenge is that IT teams now have to work with departments and end-users in order to facilitate more cost-efficient storage and quicker and safer access to the appropriate data sets to support new initiatives and ideas. This change requires IT departments to concentrate less on the acquisition of technology configuration, budget and management and more on empowering users to serve their needs.

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