The history of computer data storage, in pictures

Nowadays we are used to having hundreds of gigabytes of storage capacity in our computers. Even tiny MP3 players and other handheld devices usually have several gigabytes of storage. This was pure science fiction only a few decades ago. For example, the first hard disk drive to have gigabyte capacity was as big as a refrigerator, and that was in 1980. Not so long ago! Pingdom stores a lot of monitoring data every single day, and considering how much we take todays storage capacity for granted, its interesting to look back and get things in perspective. Here is a look back at some interesting storage devices from the early computer era. The Selectron tube The Selectron tube had a capacity of 256 to 4096 bits (32 to 512 bytes). The 4096-bit Selectron was 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Originally developed in 1946, the memory storage device proved expensive and suffered from production problems, so it never became a success.

Above: The 1024-bit Selectron. Punch cards (th cl )

Early computers often used punch cards for input both of programs and data. Punch cards were in common use until the mid-1970s. It should be noted that the use of punch cards predates computers. They were used as early as 1725 in the textile industry (for controlling mechanized textile looms).

Above: Card from a Fortran program: Z(1) = Y + W(1)

Above left: Punch card reader. Above right: Punch card writer. Punched tape Same as with punch cards, punched tape was originally pioneered by the textile industry for use with mechanized looms. For computers, punch tape could be used for data input but also as a medium to output data. Each row on the tape represented one character.

Above: 8-level punch tape (8 holes per row). Magnetic drum memory (tr ng t ) Invented all the way back in 1932 (in Austria), it was widely used in the 1950s and 60s as the main working memory of computers. In the mid-1950s, magnetic drum memory had a capacity of around 10 kB.

Above left: The magnetic Drum Memory of the UNIVAC computer. Above right: A 16-inchlong drum from the IBM 650 computer. It had 40 tracks, 10 kB of storage space, and spun at 12,500 revolutions per minute. The hard disk drive The first hard disk drive was the IBM Model 350 Disk File that came with the IBM 305 RAMAC computer in 1956. It had 50 24-inch discs with a total storage capacity of 5 million characters (just under 5 MB).

Above: IBM Model 350, the first-ever hard disk drive. The first hard drive to have more than 1 GB in capacity was the IBM 3380 in 1980 (it could store 2.52 GB). It was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds (250 kg), and the price when it was introduced ranged from $81,000 to $142,400.

Above left: A 250 MB hard disk drive from 1979. Above right: The IBM 3380 from 1980, the first gigabyte-capacity hard disk drive. The Laserdisc We mention it here mainly because it was the precursor to the CD-ROM and other optical storage solutions. It was mainly used for movies. The first commercially available laserdisc system was available on the market late in 1978 (then called Laser Videodisc and the more funkily branded DiscoVision) and were 11.81 inches (30 cm) in diameter. The discs could have up to 60 minutes of audio/video on each side. The first laserdiscs had entirely analog content. The basic technology behind laserdiscs was invented all the way back in 1958.

Above left: A Laserdisc next to a regular DVD. Above right: Another Laserdisc. The floppy disc The diskette, or floppy disk (named so because they were flexible), was invented by IBM and in common use from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. The first floppy disks were 8 inches, and later in came 5.25 and 3.5-inch formats. The first floppy disk, introduced in 1971, had a capacity of 79.7 kB, and was read-only. A read-write version came a year later.

Above left: An 8-inch floppy and floppy drive next to a regular 3.5-inch floppy disk. Above right: The convenience of easily removable storage media. Magnetic tape Magnetic tape was first used for data storage in 1951. The tape device was called UNISERVO and was the main I/O device on the UNIVAC I computer. The effective transfer rate for the UNISERVO was about 7,200 characters per second. The tapes were metal and 1200 feet long (365 meters) and therefore very heavy.

Above left: The row of tape drives for the UNIVAC I computer. Above right: The IBM 3410 Magnetic Tape Subsystem, introduced in 1971. And of course, we cant mention magnetic tape without also mentioning the standard compact cassette, which was a popular way of data storage for personal computers in the late 70s and 80s. Typical data rates for compact cassettes were 2,000 bit/s. You could store about 660 kB per side on a 90-minute tape.

Above left: The standard compact cassette. Above right: The Commodore Datassette is sure to bring up fond memories for people who grew up in the 80s. There are so many interesting pictures from the good old days when you look around on the web. These were some of the best we could find, and we hope you liked them.

History of data storage

Did you know that it would take around 6 000 floppy disks to store one DVD or 4 500 compact cassettes, with a playback time of 280 days? Heres a brief look into the history of data storage. Punch cards

The oldest known form of data storage is from 1725 and was done by Basile Bouchon when he used a perforated paper loop to store patterns that were to be used on cloth. But the first real patent for some kind of data storage is dated back in 23 Sep 1884 by Herman Hollerith (pdf) an invention that was used for nearly 100 years until the mid 1970s. Heres an example of how a typical punch card could look like, its a 90 column card punched in 1972. As you can see the amount of data that could be stored on a punch card wasnt much, and their primary use wasnt to store data, it was to store settings for different machines. 90 column punch card [fourmilab.ch]
Punched tape

The first known use of the paper tape was back in 1846 by Alexander Bain the inventor of the fax machine and the electric printing telegraph. Each row on the tape represents one character, but since you easily could create a fanfold you could store signigicantly more data using the punched tape compared to the punch cards. Paper tape [Wikipedia]
Selectron tubes

In 1946 RCA started the development of the Selectron tube. It was an early form of computer memory and the largest selectron tube measured 10 inches and could store 4096 bits. As these tubes were very expensive, they were very short-lived on the market. The RCA Selectron 1024-bit prototype [att.net]
Magnetic tape

In the 1950s magnetic tapes was first used by IBM to store data on magnetic tape. Since one roll of magnetic tape could store as much data as 10 000 punch cards it became an instant success and became the most popular way of storing computer data until the mid 1980s.

Magnetic tape [Wikipedia]

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette is of course one kind of magnetic tape but since so many of us have used them, it deserves a special section. The Compact Cassette was introduced by Philips in 1963 but it wasnt until the 1970s it became popular. Computers like the ZX Spectrum, the Commodore 64 and the Amstrad CPC used the cassettes to store data. A standard 90 minutes Compact cassette could store around 700kB to 1MB of data on each side of the tape. How about buying 4500 compact cassettes and create a backup of your favorite DVD it would only take 281 days to restore the data, hehe. The magnetic drum

The magnetic drum was a 16 inch long drum spun that did 12,500 revolutions per minute. It was used to give the IBM 650 computer about 10 000 characters of main memory.

The magnetic drum [IBM.com]

The floppy disk

In 1969 the first floppy disk was introduced. It was a read-only 8 inch disk that could store 80kB of data. 4 years later, in 1973, the a similar floppy disk with the same size could store 256kB of data plus it was possible to write new data again and again. Since then the trend has been the same smaller floppy disks that could store more data. In the late 1990s you could get ahold of 3 inch disks that could store 250 MB of data.

Floppy disks [wikipedia]

Worlds first hard drive

IBM unveiled the 305 RAMAC on September 13th, 1956. The computer was nothing but a revolution since it could store up to 4.4MB of data (5 million characters) an enormous amount of data back then. The data was stored on fifty 24 inch magnetical disks. More than 1000 systems were built and the production ended in 1961. IBM leased the computers for $3 200 per month.

IBM 305 RAMAC [IBM.com]

The hard drive

The hard drive is still a product that is under constant development. The Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 that you can see on the image above is the first hard disk drive that can store 500 GB of data or approxmiately 120 000 times more data than the worlds first hard drive IBM 305 RAMAC. The trend is crystal clear; for each year we get cheaper drives that can store more data faster. The Laserdisc

In 1958 the Laserdisc technology was invented, but it wasnt until 1972 that the first videodisc was demonstrated in public. 6 years later, in 1978, it was available on the market.

It wasnt possible to store data on the discs, but they could store video and image data with a significantly higher quality than tecnniques like VHS.

The Laserdisc [wikipedia]

The compact disc

The compact disc originates from the laser disc, but its much smaller (and stores less data). It was developed in a co-operation between SONY and Philips back in 1979 and the Compact Disc reached the market late in 1982. A typical CD of today can store 700 MB of data.

Compact disc [wikipedia]

DVD

A DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is basically a CD that uses a different kind of laser technology. The lasers wavelength uses 780nm infrared light (standard CD use 625nm to 650nm red light) which makes it possible to store more data on the same amount of space. A dual layer DVD can store 8.5GB of data.

DVD [wikipedia]
The Future?

Theres a lot of modern data storage media like memory cards we havent mentioned here, but in the near future we are about to experience the launch of Blu-Ray and HD DVD two competing formats which basically just is another version of the compact disc that can store even more data thanks to the blue-violet laser technology. It will be interesting to see which format wins, but Blu-Ray seems to be the gaining in popularity.

But its when we start to look beyond these formats things are starting to get interesting. What would you say about having a Holographic Versatile Disc that could store 160 times more data than a Blu-Ray disc. 3.9 TB of data on one disc or approximately 4,600 to 11,900 hours of video using MPEG4 encoding or would you rather spend a fortune on a couple of billion punch cards? Holographic Versatile Disc
Store 1 DVD on

Yeah, thats right. It would take approximately 90 million punch cards to be able to store one 8.4GB DVD, or 6 000 floppys, or 4 500 compact cassettes ( it would only take 281 days to restore the data, hehe) or if we would turn it the other way around, it would take 0.2% of a 3.9TB Holographic disc Keep your computer's data safe using this laptop repair company. Our laptop repairs will fix broken laptop screens and parts quickly! A large number of IT professionals have their interest in different IT training certifications. In which network+ certification is very popular in certified network administrators along with ccna certification. In these professionals, the certification track of Microsoft is also very common and almost every IT institute is providing mcp training. The professionals who are also interested in creating critical link between organizations and IT services infrastructures can go for itil certification. Many professionals also seem interested in a+ exam which also helps network guys. The professionals who are interested in Linux can go for 220-602 for becomes its certified.

6. THI T B L U TR
My tnh c cc thi t b ngo i vi c kh n ng nh n v xu t d li u - l cc a my tnh, n i ghi nh cc thng tin d li u. Nh ng thi t b ny g i l cc thi t b l u tr th c p secondary starage (thi t b l u tr s c p - primary storage l b nh my tnh.) Khc v i thi t b l u tr s c p khi ng t i n l m i th trong RAM u khng cn, lo i th c p ny c th l u d ki n ngay c khi khng c ngu n nui, xt v l thuy t, d li u trn lo i ny c th t n t i v nh vi n v c th c c, ghi, s a hay xa lc ny hay lc khc, C hai ph ng php l u d ki n t o nn hai h khc nhau, l d a trn t tnh, v d a trn kh n ng ng d ng quang h c. 1. a t tnh C hai lo i ch y u l a m m v a c ng. a m m, c th hi u n gi n l lo i a dung l ng th p, nh g n tho l p d dng, nhi u a dng chung m t a. Hi u nh v y c th phn bi t v i a c ng l lo i a th ng l p h n bn trong my, t c tho r i, ph c t p, v b n thn n l thi t b hon ch nh c ghi v i dung l ng l n. a m m - floopy disk : G m v b o v v m t a plastic nh c ph v t li u t (oxit s t, oxit niken ho c oxit coban pha v i v t li u khng t tnh hay t hi m). D li u thng tin d ng s s c i di n b i cc h t t tnh, cc h t ny do c tnh t tnh, nn b ng m t ph ng php no n c xc nh m t trong hai h ng r r t - nh v y th hi n c s 0 hay s 1. a m m c ng tr i qua nhi u th h , nh ng khc nhau gi a cc h d a m m ch l quanh v n dung l ng nh c a n ch v nguyn t c ho t ng c a d a c ng nh a khng c thay i l n no. Ngy nay ng i ta ch cn dng lo i a m m 3.5 ich th ng g i l 1 a 1.44Mb, nh ng c ng c lo i 2,88Mb. Lo i 5,25 inch g n nh khng cn c dng n a. a m m c tnh c ng cao, nh ng b h n ch v dung l ng nh , hi n nay cc ch ng trnh h u nh khng th ch y trn a m m nh cch y kho ng 5 n m, cho nn a m m ch y u dng sao l u d li u, v l i t c c ghi c a a m m r t th p - b l i gi a m m t ng i r , b n c th mua m t h p a m m v i gi kho ng 50.000 ng (10 hay 11 a). a c ng - Hard disk : C th so snh tn g i a c ng v a m m c ng rt ra k t lu n. a c ng....c ng h n a m m! V gi c c ng t h n. B n c th hnh dung, a c ng g m v c ng b o v , cc b ph n i u khi n xu t nh p, ngu n, v a t tnh. B khung v b o v th ng l h p kim nhm c p l c cao, c ng c hai c 5.25 inch v 3.5 inch, v thng d ng nh t v n l lo i 3.5 inch. Dung l ng c ng khng ph i b chi ph i b i v c ng m at .at c a c ng th ng lm t nhm, th y tinh hay g m-ph m t l p v t li u t v l p b o v c hai m t. c ng c th c nhi u a t x p ch ng ln nhau trn tr c mt quay. ho t ng c ghi, c ng cn c cc u t , mt d ch chuy n u t , m ch chnh, m ch i n t i u khi n, v th ng c b nh cache. a c ng r t a d ng v dung l ng, c th t vi ch c Mb n vi nghn Mb hay h n n a, v ph thu c nhi u vo cc chu n k thu t giao ti p. Lo i c ng th ng dng trong my vi tnh hi n nay kho ng 1 Gb n 2 Gb, m t con s kh ng l n u so v i cch y 5 n m khi m c ng ch c th t 100Mb n 200Mb, th m ch c my khng trang b c ng n a.

Cc c ng giao ti p v i my thng qua m t d li u c m vo m ch i u khi n. Nh ng my tnh th h ti n PCI- t c l t VesaLocalBus tr v tr c giao ti p gi a my v thi t b ngo i vi u thng qua b ng m ch giao ti p - th ng g i l c c IO (input-output), t c l con chu t, c ng, m m, my in, joystick, u n i vo y. ho t ng, cc c ng giao ti p v i my thng qua cc chu n ESDI, IDE, SCSI. Chu n ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface) xu t hi n u n m 1983 dng ph ng php m ha RLL, t c c th t n kho ng 24 MB m i giy, l d ng giao ti p cm nn cc i u khi n quan tr ng u do card qu n l. Chu n IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronic - Intergrated Drive Electronic) c ng cn g i l ATA (AT Attachment) dng lo i m ch i n t a thng minh, l giao ti p m c h th ng. Chu n ny n i v i my b ng m t cp ngu n 4 chn v m t cp d li u 40 chn. Lo i a ny c t c kh cao nn c dng trong h u h t cc my vi tnh hi n nay, ga thnh c ng r h n so v i cc lo i c ng khc. N u tnh c th th kho ng 1.5USD cho 10Mb, r h n c a m m: 1.5USD cho g n 5 Mb. Chu n giao ti p SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) l m t c u trc bus c l p c th truy n d li u v i t c cao, t 4Mb/giy n kho ng 10Mb/giy. c ng d ng v i c ng t o nn m t kh n ng l u tr cao v i t c c ghi cao. dng c, c n c m t b ng m ch i u h p SCSI, tuy nhin m t card SCSI ny c th n i ti p n 7 thi t b theo chu n ny. a floptical : L lo i a t m m, c hnh dng gi ng nh a 3.5 inch, nh ng dng ph ng php v quang h c c ghi, nn m t d li u trn a cao h n, dung l ng nh l n h n. Thi t b ny khng ghi d li u b ng quang h c, ch lm thao tc nh v thi. Nh mg do ga thnh cao nn d c kh n ng l u n h n 20MB, lo i ny v n khng ph d ng. b ng ghi l u: C ng l thi t b l u tr t tnh, nh ng lo i ny khc v i cc lo i trn tnh ch t truy c p tu n t c a n, do ch dng sao l u ch khng dng lm vi c h ng ngy nh thi t b truy c p ng u nhin - a c ng, a m m. b ng ghi l u g m m t h p b ng v cu n b ng t c 0,25 inch. Lo i ny r t a d ng v ch ng lo i v dung l ng, ty yu c u cng vi c m b n l a ch n. a tho l p ZIP: Dng lo i a c kch th c c ng kho ng 3.5 inch, dung l ng ln n 100Mb trn m t a gi 20USD. T c c ghi trung bnh, k thu t dng y l nh v quang h c ghi d li u. N u dng v i card SCSI, t c khng thua g c ng IDE.

Hnh 24 : M t lo i 2. a t quang

ZIP

a t quang - Magneto optical drive, th ng g i t t l MO, l thi t b k t h p gi a t tnh v quang h c l u d li u. a t tnh, dng nh sng laser lm tc nhn c ghi. Dung l ng c a lo i 5.25 inch l 1.3Gb, lo i 3.5inch l 230 Mb. Cng ngh ny ph h p l u tr , theo cc chuyn gia, c th b o m d li u 50 n m so v i 5 n m c a c ng, m m, b ng t . 3. a quang h c G i l a quang h c, t c l v n c t li v k thu t - c ghi d li u c th c hi n trn nguyn t c quang h c, dng tia sng laser. So v i h th ng t tnh, quang c ba i m khc bi t chnh: v chnh xc cao c a thao tc quang h c, nn a quang c th c dung l ng cao h n a t g p nhi u l n so v i a t . b n d li u ghi b ng ph ng php quang h c cao h n so v i ph ng php t tnh nhi u l n, t i thi u c ng 50 n m. a quang c th tho l p d dng nh m t a m m m hi u q a h n nhi u, do ngy cng ph d ng h n. a CD - compact disc l lo i ny. Xu t pht t nhu c u m thanh, CD m thanh ra i ch a d li u d i d ng cc h c lm, khi CD quay tia laser s pht n a v nh n s ph n x khc nhau gi a i m lm v i m khng lm ng v i s 0 v 1 h nh phn. a CD-ROM ta dng hi n nay c ng ho t ng theo nguyn t c , v l lo i a CD ch a d ki n ch c c nn c tn c tn CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory). Thng th ng d li u c th a vo lo i a quang ga r 680Mb (kho ng 10USD a tr ng - 1USD 68 MB) nh chng ta dng r ng ri hi n nay, ng th i cc lo i a m thanh c ng c th c hi u vho t ng c b ng a CD c a my tnh, nh ng u c c a my CD m thanh th khng th c c a CD d li u. Ni l CD-ROM-ch c, nh ng d nhin l ph i c m t l n no ghi d li u ln a r i m i c, thao tc ny theo nguyn t c kh c trn a cc i m lm hay khng lm i di n cho s 0,1 b ng m t ngu n pht tia laser cng su t l n. Ng i ta t o m t a g c tr c trn nguyn t c ny b ng u CD c th ghi trn m t a CD m i, sau m b n c a a g c c t o ra b ng qa trnh m i n ho c photopolymer. Ti n trnh nhn b n th c hi n b ng cch phun

polycarbonate-trong su t, nh , b n, n tin g n nh v nh vi n.

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a CD gi

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Nh v y, b n c th hi u v b n ch t cc a CD c chp l i bn m t s d ch v tin h c th c ch t l m t d ng a g c, do khi s d ng ph i tuy t i c n th n v nkhng h c m t l p b o v polycarbonate nh cc a CD c pht hnh chnh quy hay cc a CD nh c. Khi m cc a CD-ROM g n nh tr nn m t chu n khng th thi u trong h u h t cc my tnh multimedia th l i xu t hi n m t thnh vin m i trong h a quang h c m cd on s l thi t b l u tr ch o th k 21 - DVD.

Hnh 25 : M t d a CD l u

c m t l ng thng tin t 500 cu n sch !

ng

ng 450 d a m m v kho ng

DVD - Digital Vido Disc t c l a vido k thu t s hay Digital Versatile Disc - a a n ng k thu t s l m t cng ngh ch m i ra i g n y. Cho n th i i m hi n nay, DVD v n ch cn trong d n v i gi thnh kh cao, c DVD bn ra th tr ng nh ng ch d ng hng m u khng ph bi n l m. V y u l i m m nh m DVD c on l s nhanh chng thay th CD trong t ng lai ? C ng nh CD d n d n thay th d a m m b i dung l ng hng tr m Mb c a n, DVD thay th CD-ROM b i DVD c th l u t nh t 3.8 Gb v c th t n 17 Gb. DVD c kch th c gi ng nh CD (120mm ng knh v dy 1,2mm) c ng lm b ng nguyn li u nh CD. Nh ni trn, y l m t b c ti n v cng nghe? d li u trn DVD s c ghi vo a v i m t cao h n, st h n nhi u so v i CD, l ng th u knh trong u c nhi u h n t ng chnh xc - v u c s dng laser cc sng ng n h n, c th l tia laser - laser h ng ngo i. Quan tr ng nh t l k thu t DVD cho php lo i a c hai l p trn m t m t, nn v i m i l p khong h n 4Gb th lo i a 2 l p hai m t hon ton c th ch n 17Gb d li u - hy hnh dung b ng ton b d li u c a c m t th vi n 10 ngn cu n sch !

Abstract
From the beginning of mankind, man tried to find a way to store information for the following generations. When people nowadays hear the word storage or computer storage they normally think about CD Rom, USB key or DVD. Things like the floppy disk or the punch card are nearly forgotten. In fact, the history of information storage goes back to prehistoric times where mankind used red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal to paint information about their life on rock walls, caves and ceilings. In Ancient Egypt Papyrus, which is an early form of paper, was used to store information. It remained in use until about 800 AD, when it was replaced by cheaper paper. Before then, however, the use of parchment and vellum had replaced papyrus in many areas as they are much more durable. The Chinese ordinarily wrote documents on bamboo. Also silk, bones, shells and ivory were used, later bronze, iron, gold, silver, tin, jade, stone and clay. In India palm leaves served for storing information. In the late 4th millennium BC Sumerians created the cuneiform script that was drawn on clay tablets. Finally, sometime between 150 BC and 105 AD paper was invented. In medieval England the so called tally stick was a wide spread mnemonic device of the Exchequer for the collection of taxes by local sheriffs. Its origins go back to the Stone Age. Also the Incas (ca. 1400-1632 AD) had a kind of memory aid which was the Quipu and consisted of knots. In 1440 AD the invention of printing by Gutenberg was really a milestone in the history of information storage. After the 17th century inventions that usually need some kind of aid to read the information from a particular storage were made. Examples of that are the punch card, punched tape, Phonograph, magnetic tape, magnetic drum, Telegraphon and the selectron tube. In 1956 IBM invented the hard disk with a size of 5 MB, what was really fantastic for this time. In the years between 1950 and 1980 some storage devices where build that nowadays hardly anyone would remember, for example the bubble memory or the twistor memory. On the other hand there were some technologies introduced that were very important for the development of the computer industry and some of these technologies are still in use today. One of these technologies was the first memory disk, called the floppy disk, invented by Alan Shugart at IBM in 1971. It was considered as a revolutionary device for transporting data from one computer to another. Floppy disks were not able to store as much data as hard disks, but they were much cheaper and more flexible. This invention was also the end for punch cards. Between 1980 and 2000 there were two new techniques of digital data storing introduced. At the beginning of the 1980s the first optical devices, the CD and the CD-ROM were released. In the middle of the 1990s these and several other optical devices started to get more and more important and nowadays they are widely used. Exactly at that time the first

electronic devices were developed. These devices, e.g. Compact Flash Cards, Memory Sticks etc., are very small but they can store a lot of data and so they find their use in digital cameras, PDAs etc. But nevertheless the development of the magnetic devices did not stop, several new technologies like the Advanced Intelligent Tape were introduced and the main hard disc in a pc is still based on magnetic technology. In the 21st century the development of the technologies will lead us from the now widely used optical devices to the laser device up to holographic memories. In 2003 the first bluelaser based disc, the Blue-ray disc, was released and the first PC drives are to be expected in 2006. Several other versions of the DVD, e.g. HD-DVD have been released or are planned to, all modified to store more and more data and to gain faster access. The real next generation of data storage will be holographic memories, but this is yet to come.