Write-Once, Read-Many

What Does Write-Once, Read-Many Mean?

Write-Once, Read-Many (WORM) is a data storage technology mechanism that stores unerasable and/or unmodifiable information after it has been written on a drive. The data is stored on WORM devices. These device disks store data in a non-rewritable format to prevent users from accidentally erasing or altering sensitive information.

Techopedia Explains Write-Once, Read-Many

Created in the late 1970s, a WORM device is a type of optical media commonly used for archiving information or hosting data archives. This useful data is written on a disk only once, which is useful because archive creators or gatekeepers typically seek information that has not been altered or modified from the original source.

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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.

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