Steven Sasson invented the digital camera itself, starting at Kodak in the 1970s with an eight-and-a-half-pound box connected to a magnetic tape drive and a TV set, which produced a .01 megapixel image.

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In addition to a higher storage capacity than past LTO generations, LTO 5 also offers new architecture features such as the LTFS file system that turn magnetic tape into a directly addressable data source, like a hard disk drive.

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It is clear that the total growth in storage demand will drive increased need for an ecosystem of storage technologies including flash memory and HDDs (and even magnetic tape).

FORBES: Digital Storage Needs the Right Stuff