When users access data sets on their storage devices they should be presented with a clear view of the most important properties. This is particularly important for storage media that have unique features, such as molecular storage media, or innovative media that are still being developed. The ideal user interface allows users to see the properties by a variety of means and present them in the order of importance to the user.
When using an external hard disk drive for instance, users typically discover the capacity property to be among the most crucial. Early systems offered tools that provided precise information about the storage device. But, they focused on displaying its total capacity using stacking bar graphs and their variants (e.g. doughnut charts).
Modern systems present the user with a variety of characteristics, including the file’s capacity. For instance certain systems display the duration of a file using a graph or a pie chart, which also shows the number of accessed segments 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 must now work with departments and end-users in order to provide more efficient storage and quicker and more secure access to the right data sets to support new projects and ideas. This change in IT demands IT departments to focus less on the acquisition of technology configuration, budget and management and more on empowering users to serve their requirements.
