Users must be able be aware of the most important properties of a file when accessing their data from their storage devices. This is especially important for storage media with unique characteristics, like molecular storage media http://virtuadata.net/how-to-organize-the-data-room-ma/ or upcoming novel media still in development. The ideal user interface will allow users to see these properties with various visual aids, and ideally present them in order of importance to the user.
When using an external hard disk drive for instance, users typically find the capacity property be the most crucial. Early systems included tools that gave precise information about a user’s storage device. However, they primarily focused on presenting the total capacity of the device using bar charts stacked and their variants (e.g. doughnut charts).
Modern systems provide users with a range of characteristics, including the file’s capacity. Certain systems, for instance display the lifetime of a file by using graphs, or a pie chart, which also shows the number of segments used within the storage device. Additional information, like an estimate of the lifetime of the file, is displayed when a user hovers over the stacks.
The challenge is that IT teams must now collaborate 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 projects and ideas. This change requires IT teams to concentrate less on technology procurement, configuration and spending management and more on empowering line of business users to assist themselves in their own self-service needs.