Users must be able comprehend the most important properties of a file when accessing their data from their storage devices. This is especially true for storage media with distinctive characteristics, like molecular storage media and new media currently in development. The ideal user interface permits users to visualize properties by a variety of methods and present them in the order of importance to the user.

For instance the capacity property is one of the most important to users when using a traditional hard disk drive. The first systems had tools that provided detailed details about the storage device. But, they focused mostly on displaying the total capacity through stacked bar graphs and their variations (e.g. doughnut charts).

Modern systems present the user with a variety of aspects, such as the file’s capacity. Some systems, like display the life-time of the file with a graph, or a pie chart, which also displays the number of segments that are accessed within the storage device. Additional information, like the likelihood of life will be displayed when a user hovers over the stacks.

IT teams are now challenged to collaborate with hop over to this site departments and users to provide more cost-efficient data storage and quicker, secure access to the right data sets to support new ideas and projects. This requires IT departments to focus less on technology acquisition, configuration and budget management and more on empowering the users to take care of their requirements.