ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper discusses data storage requirements for data acquisition systems, and evaluates the ability of three of the most popular COTS data storage solutions - mechanical disk, ruggedized mechanical disk and solid-state flash disk - to meet these requirements today and in the future. It addresses issues of capacity, data reliability, endurance, form factor, cost and security. It concludes with a discussion of trends to implement high-speed serial interfaces in data acquisition systems, and the challenges that these trends pose for COTS storage solutions.