On the left, you have a 1GB hard drive. It weighed about 75 lbs, and 31 years ago companies could get this, at the time the largest mass produced 1GB hard drive, for $81,000. On the right, you’re probably familiar with a $15 1GB card. It’s amazing to see how three decades can make such a difference in technologies. What will 1GB look like three decades from now. Here’s a relevant and interesting video from Adam Savage: …
We all know that new tech gadgets are more expensive in the beginning when demand and expenses could bring a higher  price. With hard drives, it’s amazing to see just how expensive they are versus how much they used to be. Take a look at three shining examples of how 10- and 15-MBs looked in the past both in physical form as well as cost. Could you imagine paying that kind of money to get 10-MBs? Neither could I. Today, they’re much cheaper: …but they weren’t always that small… …and they weren’t always inexpensive. …
(Image Credit: “Evolution of Storage” by Curtiss Spontelli | CC) We consume an amazing amount of data, but we also store an equally impressive amount of data as well, and if you think back to not too long ago, we were having to deal with floppy disks and zip drives and who knows what else. Oh how the times have changed. We should appreciate how far we have come with regards to data storage, and this article is dedicated to displaying a bit of a graphical homage to storage mediums of the past, present, and future: Punchcard Magnetic Tape Floppy Disk Hard Drive Laser Disc CD/DVD Blu-ray Solid State Drive…
