Among the many recent advances to computer technology are those which influence data storage of modern machines. Diskettes types which once held 128 kilobytes of data, now can store 1.2 megabytes of information. Advances such as "flopticals" which use laser synchronization of the floppy disks, can enhance even these formerly unimaginable capacities. CD-ROM discs, capable of storing 500 megabytes of data, are becoming miniaturized as smaller discs can hold more information. Read/write optical discs are becoming more popular, and hard drives commonly have more than hundred-megabyte capacities (many even have gigabytes of data space) in packages not much larger than a pack of cards. Tape drives now run two-inch square cassette-like tapes which can store billions of bytes. With these advances, the archives of vast amounts of information become available to virtually every computer user.
