Compact Flash (CF cards)

Flash memory storage device used for portable electronic devices in the mid 1990s.

DAT Tape

A format from the 90s that was used primary for recording PCM Audio.

Data Cartridge

System for storing digital information on magnetic tape in a plastic enclosure. There are many variants for data cartridges and specific software is usually required for read access to the data. Common variant formats include - LTO and DLT.

Flash Drive

Known colloquially as a thumb-drive, a small electronic device used for storing, backing-up, or transferring data between devices using flash memory.

Floppy Disk

A disk storage item composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage material sealed in a plastic carrier lined with fabric that is read and written by a floppy disk drive. Used primarily from the 1970s through the 2000s, floppy disks were manufactured in 3 ½”, 5 ¼”, and 8” sizes.

Hard Disk Drive (external)

Portable data storage device that connects to a computer through a various i/o formats: USB, FireWire, eSata, Thunderbolt connection.

Hard disk drive (internal)

Data storage device designed for use within PCs. Used for storing and retrieving digital information using either rotating disks coated with magnetic material or solid state (ssd) technologies. Commonly found in 2.5 and 3.5 inch formats. Modern drives use SATA interfaces, but IDE and SCSI were other common interfaces.

Jaz Drive

Removable scsi disk storage system used during the 1990s through early 2000s.

LaserDisc

LaserDisc was a 12” optical disk format that was used for encoding analog video.

Minidisc

Magneto-optical discs were the precursor to rewritable CD and DVD discs, used primarily for recording and playback of audio.

4.75” Optical Disc

Flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) using binary values onto a special material on one of its flat surfaces. Types of optical discs include cd (commercially produced compact disks), cd-r (compact disc recordable), cd-rw (compact disc rewritable), dvd (commercially produced dvds), dvd-r (read write once), and dvd-rw (rewritable).

SD / Mini SD Card (Secure Digital Card)

Very small flash memory card used to provide high-capacity memory for small portable devices.

U-Matic

U-Matic is an analog recording videocassette format developed by Sony. It was among the earliest video formats to house videotapes inside a cassette (introduced commercially in 1971), replacing reel-to-reel systems that were common.

VHS

Video Home System (VHS) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. The cassettes themselves use a 0.5-inch magnetic tape between two spools[9] and typically offer a capacity of at least two hours.

Zip Drive/Zip Disk

Removable floppy disk storage system used primarily during the 1990s. Zip Disks and drives were manufactured to store 100, 250 or 750 megabytes of data.

Physical Digital Material Format Guide