They Just Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To… Thank God

by Ty Dunitz March 21, 2011, 12:08 PM 1.1k Views 4 Comments

Alright, let’s play a game of ‘Guess the Ancient Tech’. What is this box on a forklift? Believe it or not, it’s not a washing machine, electric stove, refrigerator, or other kitchen appliance. Frankly, I think all those were much smaller than this by 1956, which is the date of this photograph. Give up? One more hint: you probably have one in your pocket right now.

Believe it or not, this is the HDD of IBM’s 305 RAMAC supercomputer – a device packing a HUGE FIVE MEGABYTES.

Yep. This box is dedicated to housing 5MB of data. And it weighs over a ton. You might, for instance, wish to store a single 5-minute MP3 at 128kbps? Perhaps half of a print-quality PDF? Back in the day, this could have been your unit.

In my left pocket right now, I’m holding 16 gigabytes, and chances are, you’ve probably got something similar. Technology rules.

What do you think?

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Written by Ty Dunitz

Ty is an illustrator who stays up too late and must wear glasses. You can follow him on Twitter if you want to (@glitchritual), but he's just gonna throw your stupid PR crap in the garbage, so don't email him.