Object-Based Storage Device

What Does Object-Based Storage Device Mean?

An object-based storage device (OSD) is a device that has the capacity to treat an individual data set as an object with its own metadata and identifiers. Object-based storage devices make it possible to recognize and use data as a set of specific objects for the purposes of improving flexibility and data handling functionality.

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Techopedia Explains Object-Based Storage Device

Some experts describe object-based storage as the idea of moving certain storage functions into the storage device system and using an object interface to provide access to stored objects. Another way to think about this is that object-based storage devices have more sophisticated abilities, where instead of simply storing data in blocks, the device can manipulate various data objects in specific ways for better monitoring and use.

The idea of object-based storage devices is often attached to the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) disk drive technology pioneered in the early 1980s. While methods of physical networking have changed greatly since that time, with speeds of data transmission skyrocketing, many of the control methods for data have not changed as much. However, the idea of object-based storage has been eclipsing traditional methods like block-based storage and changing the ways that IT systems treat different modules of classified and sorted data.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…