Data store

A data store is a repository for persistently storing and managing collections of data which include not just repositories like databases, but also simpler store types such as simple files, emails, etc.¹

A database is a collection of data that is managed by a database management system (DBMS), though the term can sometime more generally refer to any collection of data that is stored and accessed electronically. A file is a series of bytes that is managed by a file system. Thus, any database or file is a series of bytes that, once stored, is called a data store.

MATLAB² and Cloud Storage systems like VMware,³ Firefox OS⁴ use datastore as a term for abstracting collections of data inside their respective applications.

Data store can refer to a broad class of storage systems including:

• Paper files
• Simple files like a spreadsheet
• File systems
• Email storage systems (both server and client systems)
• Databases
  • Relational databases, based on the relational model of data
  • Object-oriented databases. They can save objects of an object-oriented design.
  • NoSQL databases
    • Key–value databases
    • Wide-column stores
    • Graph databases
• Distributed data stores
• Directory services
• VMware uses the term datastore to refer to a file that stores a virtual machine⁵