Content Addressable Storage

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What Does Content Addressable Storage Mean?

Content addressable storage (CAS) is a storage mechanism in which fixed data is assigned a permanent location on a hard disk and addressed with a unique content name, identifier or address. EMC Corporation initially launched CAS for its distributed data management (DDM) software.

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CAS is also known as associative storage, content aware storage or Fixed Content Storage (FCS).

Techopedia Explains Content Addressable Storage

CAS is designed to facilitate more efficient storage and access of fixed data that does not generally change over time. It allows organizations to archive and retrieve large amounts of data for longer retention periods, specifically to comply with regulatory requirements.

CAS works by storing each data object on a hard disk and assigning it a unique content address/identifier. Once the data object is stored, it cannot be duplicated, modified or deleted. To access the data, a user or application must specify the data’s content address or identifier.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.