The History of Computer Data Storage

8/3/2019 The History of Computer Data Storage

1/22

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 taketodays 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-bitSelectron was 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Originally developed in 1946, the memorystorage device proved expensive and suffered from production problems, so it never becamea success.

Above: The 1024-bit Selectron.

Punch cards (th c l)

Early computers often used punch cards for input both of programs and data. Punch cardswere 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).


2/22

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 foruse with mechanized looms. For computers, punch tape could be used for data input but alsoas a medium to output data. Each row on the tape represented one character.


3/22


4/22

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 couldstore 2.52 GB). It was the size of a refrigerator, weighed 550 pounds (250 kg), and the pricewhen 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, thefirst gigabyte-capacity hard disk drive.

The Laserdisc

We mention it here mainly because it was the precursor to the CD-ROM and other opticalstorage solutions. It was mainly used for movies. The first commercially available laserdiscsystem was available on the market late in 1978 (then called Laser Videodisc and the morefunkily branded DiscoVision) and were 11.81 inches (30 cm) in diameter. The discs couldhave up to 60 minutes of audio/video on each side. The first laserdiscs had entirely analogcontent. The basic technology behind laserdiscs was invented all the way back in 1958.


5/22

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 andin 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 acapacity 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 calledUNISERVO and was the main I/O device on the UNIVAC I computer. The effective transferrate for the UNISERVO was about 7,200 characters per second. The tapes were metal and1200 feet long (365 meters) and therefore very heavy.


6/22

Above left: The row of tape drives for the UNIVAC I computer.Above right: The IBM 3410Magnetic Tape Subsystem, introduced in 1971.

And of course, we cant mention magnetic tape without also mentioning the standardcompact cassette, which was a popular way of data storage for personal computers in the late70s and 80s. Typical data rates for compact cassettes were 2,000 bit/s. You could store about660 kB per side on a 90-minute tape.

Above left: The standard compact cassette.Above right:The Commodore Datassette is sureto 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 onthe web. These were some of the best we could find, and we hope you liked them.


7/22

History of data storage

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

data storage.

Punch cards

The oldest knownform 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 byHerman 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 cardpunched in 1972. As you can see the amount of data that could be stored on a punch cardwasnt much, and their primary use wasnt to store data, it was to store settings for differentmachines.

90 column punch card [fourmilab.ch]

Punched tape


8/22

The first known use of the paper tape was back in 1846 by Alexander Bain the inventor ofthe fax machine and the electric printing telegraph. Each row on the tape represents onecharacter, but since you easily could create a fanfold you could store signigicantly more datausing the punched tape compared to the punch cards.

Paper tape [Wikipedia]

Selectron tubes

In 1946 RCA startedthe development of the Selectron tube. It was an early form of computer memory and thelargest selectron tube measured 10 inches and could store 4096 bits. As these tubes were veryexpensive, they were very short-lived on the market.

The RCA Selectron 1024-bit prototype [att.net]

Magnetic tape


9/22

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 90minutes 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


10/22

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.


11/22

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


12/22

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.


13/22

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


14/22

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 ofBlu-Ray and HD DVD twocompeting 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 timesmore data than a Blu-Ray disc. 3.9 TB of data on one disc or approximately 4,600 to 11,900hours 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


15/22

Yeah, thats right. It would take approximately 90 million punch cards to be able to store one8.4GB DVD, or 6 000 floppys, or 4 500 compact cassettes ( it would only take 281 days torestore the data, hehe) or if we would turn it the other way around, it would take 0.2% of a3.9TB Holographic disc

Keep yourcomputer's data safe using this laptop repaircompany. Ourlaptop repairs will fixbroken laptop screens and parts quickly!

A large number of IT professionals have their interest in different IT training certifications. Inwhich network+ certification is very popular in certified network administrators along withccna certification. In these professionals, the certification track of Microsoft is also verycommon and almost every IT institute is providing mcp training. The professionals who are

also interested in creating critical link between organizations and IT services infrastructurescan go foritil certification. Many professionals also seem interested in a+ exam which alsohelps network guys. The professionals who are interested in Linux can go for220-602 for

becomes its certified.


16/22

6. THIT B LU TR

My tnh c cc thit b ngoi vi c kh nng nhn v xut d liu - l cc a mytnh, ni ghi nh cc thng tin d liu. Nhng thit b ny gi l cc thit b lu tr th cp -

secondary starage (thit b lu tr s cp - primary storage l b nh my tnh.) Khc vithit b lu tr s cp khi ngt in l mi th trong RAM u khng cn, loi th cp ny c

th lu d kin ngay c khi khng c ngun nui, xt v l thuyt, d liu trn loi ny c thtn ti vnh vin v c th c c, ghi, sa hay xa lc ny hay lc khc, C hai phng

php lu d kin to nn hai h khc nhau, l da trn t tnh, v da trn kh nng ng dngquang hc.

1.a t tnh

C hai loi ch yu l a mm v a cng. a mm, c th hiu n gin l loi adung lng thp, nh gn tho lp d dng, nhiu a dng chung mt a. Hiu nh vy c th phn bit vi a cng l loi a thng lp hn bn trong my, t c tho ri,

phc tp, v bn thn n l thit b hon chnh c ghi vi dung lng ln.

a mm - floopy disk :

Gm v bo v v mt a plastic nh c ph vt liu t (oxit st, oxit niken hoc oxit cobanpha vi vt liu khng t tnh hay t him). D liu thng tin dng s s c i din bicc ht t tnh, cc ht ny do c tnh t tnh, nn bng mt phng php no n c xcnh mt trong hai hng r rt - nh vy th hin c s 0 hay s 1. a mm cng tri quanhiu th h, nhng khc nhau gia cc h da mm ch l quanh vn dung lng nh can ch v nguyn tc hot ng ca da cng nh a khng c thay i ln no. Ngy nayngi ta ch cn dng loi a mm 3.5 ich thng gi l 1 a 1.44Mb, nhng cng c loi2,88Mb. Loi 5,25 inch gn nh khng cn c dng na. a mm c tnh c ng cao,nhng b hn ch v dung lng nh, hin nay cc chng trnh hu nh khng th chy trn

a mm nh cch y khong 5 nm, cho nn a mm ch yu dng sao lu d liu, v litc c ghi ca a mm rt thp - b li gi a mm tng i r, bn c th mua mthp a mm vi gi khong 50.000 ng (10 hay 11 a).

a cng - Hard disk :

C th so snh tn gi a cng v a mm cng rt ra kt lun. a cng....cng hn amm! V gi c cng t hn. Bn c th hnh dung, a cng gm v cng bo v, cc b

phn iu khin xut nhp, ngun, v a t tnh. B khung v bo v thng l hp kimnhm c p lc cao, cng c hai c 5.25 inch v 3.5 inch, v thng dng nht vn l loi3.5 inch. Dung lng cng khng phi b chi phi bi v cng m a t. a t ca cng thng lm t nhm, thy tinh hay gm-ph mt lp vt liu t v lp bo v c hai

mt. cng c th c nhiu a t xp chng ln nhau trn trc mt quay. hot ng cghi, cng cn c cc u t , mt dch chuyn u t, mch chnh, mch in t iukhin, v thng c b nh cache. a cng rt a dng v dung lng, c th t vi chcMb n vi nghn Mb hay hn na, v ph thuc nhiu vo cc chun k thut giao tip. Loi cng thng dng trong my vi tnh hin nay khong 1 Gb n 2 Gb, mt con s khng lnu so vi cch y 5 nm khi m cng ch c th t 100Mb n 200Mb, thm ch c mykhng trang b cng na.


17/22

Cc cng giao tip vi my thng qua mt d liu cm vo mch iu khin. Nhng mytnh th h tin PCI- tc l t VesaLocalBus tr v trc giao tip gia my v thit b ngoivi u thng qua bng mch giao tip - thng gi l cc IO (input-output), tc l con chut, cng, mm, my in, joystick, u ni vo y. hot ng, cc cng giao tip vimy thng qua cc chun ESDI, IDE, SCSI. Chun ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface)xut hin u nm 1983 dng phng php m ha RLL, tc c th t n khong 24

MB mi giy, l dng giao tip cm nn cc iu khin quan trng u do card qun l.Chun IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronic - Intergrated Drive Electronic) cng cn gi l ATA(AT Attachment) dng loi mch in t a thng minh, l giao tip mc h thng.Chun ny ni vi my bng mt cp ngun 4 chn v mt cp d liu 40 chn. Loi any c tc kh cao nn c dng trong hu ht cc my vi tnh hin nay, ga thnh cngr hn so vi cc loi cng khc. Nu tnh c th th khong 1.5USD cho 10Mb, r hn ca mm: 1.5USD cho gn 5 Mb. Chun giao tip SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)l mt cu trc bus c lp c th truyn d liu vi tc cao, t 4Mb/giy n khong10Mb/giy. c ng dng vi cng to nn mt kh nng lu tr cao vi tc c ghicao. dng c, cn c mt bng mch iu hp SCSI, tuy nhin mt card SCSI ny cth ni tip n 7 thit b theo chun ny.

a floptical :

L loi a t mm, c hnh dng ging nh a 3.5 inch, nhng dng phng php vquang hc c ghi, nn mt d liu trn a cao hn, dung lng nh ln hn. Thit bny khng ghi d liu bng quang hc, ch lm thao tc nh v thi. Nhmg do ga thnh caonn d c kh nng lu n hn 20MB, loi ny vn khng ph dng.

bng ghi lu:

Cng l thit b lu tr t tnh, nhng loi ny khc vi cc loi trn tnh cht truy cp tunt ca n, do ch dng sao lu ch khng dng lm vic hng ngy nh thit b truy

cp ngu nhin - a cng, a mm. bng ghi lu gm mt hp bng v cun bng t c0,25 inch. Loi ny rt a dng v chng loi v dung lng, ty yu cu cng vic m bnla chn.

a tho lp ZIP:

Dng loi a c kch thc cng khong 3.5 inch, dung lng ln n 100Mb trn mt agi 20USD. Tc c ghi trung bnh, k thut dng y l nh v quang hc ghi dliu. Nu dng vi card SCSI, tc khng thua g cng IDE.


18/22

Hnh 24 : Mt loi ZIP

2.a t quang

a t quang - Magneto optical drive, thng gi tt l MO, l thit b kt hp gia t tnhv quang hc lu d liu. a t tnh, dng nh sng laser lm tc nhn c ghi. Dunglng ca loi 5.25 inch l 1.3Gb, loi 3.5inch l 230 Mb. Cng ngh ny ph hp lu tr,theo cc chuyn gia, c th bo m d liu 50 nm so vi 5 nm ca cng, mm, bng t.

3.a quang hc

Gi l a quang hc, tc l vn ct li v k thut - c ghi d liu c thc hin trn

nguyn tc quang hc, dng tia sng laser. So vi h thng t tnh, quang c ba im khcbit chnh: v chnh xc cao ca thao tc quang hc, nn a quang c th c dung lngcao hn a t gp nhiu ln so vi a t. bn d liu ghi bng phng php quanghc cao hn so vi phng php t tnh nhiu ln, ti thiu cng 50 nm. a quang c ththo lp d dng nh mt a mm m hiu qa hn nhiu, do ngy cng ph dng hn.a CD - compact disc l loi ny.

Xut pht t nhu cu m thanh, CD m thanh ra i cha d liu di dng cc hc lm,khi CD quay tia laser s pht n a v nhn s phn x khc nhau gia im lm v imkhng lm ng vi s 0 v 1 h nh phn. a CD-ROM ta dng hin nay cng hot ngtheo nguyn tc , v l loi a CD cha d kin ch c c nn c tn c tn CD-ROM(Compact Disc Read Only Memory). Thng thng d liu c th a vo loi a quang ga

r 680Mb (khong 10USD a trng - 1USD 68 MB) nh chng ta dng rng ri hin nay,ng thi cc loi a m thanh cng c th c hiu vhot ng c bng a CD camy tnh, nhng u c ca my CD m thanh th khng th c c a CD d liu. Nil CD-ROM-ch c, nhng d nhin l phi c mt ln no ghi d liu ln a ri mi c,thao tc ny theo nguyn tc khc trn a cc im lm hay khng lm i din cho s 0,1

bng mt ngun pht tia laser cng sut ln. Ngi ta to mt a gc trc trn nguyn tcny bng u CD c th ghi trn mt a CD mi, sau m bn ca a gc c to ra

bng qa trnh m in hoc photopolymer. Tin trnh nhn bn thc hin bng cch phun


19/22

polycarbonate-trong sut, nh, bn, n nh, khng nhim bn - nn a CD gi c thngtin gn nh vnh vin.

Nh vy, bn c th hiu v bn cht cc a CD c chp li bn mt s dch v tinhc thc cht l mt dng a gc, do khi s dng phi tuyt i cn thn v nkhng hc mt lp bo v polycarbonate nh cc a CD c pht hnh chnh quy hay cc a CD

nhc.

Khi m cc a CD-ROM gn nh tr nn mt chun khng th thiu trong hu ht ccmy tnh multimedia th li xut hin mt thnh vin mi trong h a quang hc m c don s l thit b lu tr ch o th k 21 - DVD.

Hnh 25 : Mt da CD lu c mt lng thng tin tng ng 450 da mm v khong500 cun sch !

DVD - Digital Vido Disc tc l a vido k thut s hay Digital Versatile Disc - a anng k thut s l mt cng ngh ch mi ra i gn y. Cho n thi im hin nay, DVDvn ch cn trong d n vi gi thnh kh cao, c DVD bn ra th trng nhng ch dnghng mu khng ph bin lm. Vy u l im mnh m DVD c on l s nhanh chngthay th CD trong tng lai ? Cng nh CD dn dn thay th da mm bi dung lng hngtrm Mb ca n, DVD thay th CD-ROM bi DVD c th lu t nht 3.8 Gb v c th tn 17 Gb. DVD c kch thc ging nh CD (120mm ng knh v dy 1,2mm) cng lm

bng nguyn liu nh CD. Nh ni trn, y l mt bc tin v cng nghe? d liu trn

DVD s c ghi vo a vi mt cao hn, st hn nhiu so vi CD, lng thu knh trongu c nhiu hn tng chnh xc - v u c s dng laser cc sng ngn hn, c thl tia laser - laser hng ngoi. Quan trng nht l k thut DVD cho php loi a c hailp trn mt mt, nn vi mi lp khong hn 4Gb th loi a 2 lp hai mt hon ton c thch n 17Gb d liu - hy hnh dung bng ton b d liu ca c mt th vin 10 ngn cunsch !


20/22


21/22

Abstract

From the beginning of mankind, man tried to find a way to store information for thefollowing generations. When people nowadays hear the word storage or computer storagethey normally think about CD Rom, USB key orDVD. Things like the floppy diskor the

punch card are nearly forgotten. In fact, the history of information storage goes back to pre-historic times where mankind used red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide andcharcoal to paint information about their life on rock walls, caves and ceilings.

In Ancient Egypt Papyrus, which is an early form ofpaper, was used to store information. Itremained in use until about 800 AD, when it was replaced by cheaperpaper. Before then,however, the use of parchment and vellum had replacedpapyrus in many areas as they aremuch more durable.

The Chinese ordinarily wrote documents on bamboo. Also silk, bones, shells and ivory wereused, later bronze, iron, gold, silver, tin, jade, stone and clay. In India palm leaves served forstoring information.

In the late 4th millennium BC Sumerians created the cuneiform script that was drawn on claytablets. 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 theExchequer 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 andconsisted of knots.

In 1440 AD the invention ofprinting by Gutenberg was really a milestone in the history ofinformation storage.

After the 17th century inventions that usually need some kind of aid to read the informationfrom a particular storage were made. Examples of that are thepunch card,punched tape,Phonograph, magnetic tape, magnetic drum, Telegraphon and the selectron tube.

In 1956 IBM invented the hard diskwith a size of 5 MB, what was really fantastic for thistime. In the years between 1950 and 1980 some storage devices where build that nowadayshardly anyone would remember, for example thebubble memory or the twistor memory. Onthe other hand there were some technologies introduced that were very important for thedevelopment 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 AlanShugart 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 forpunchcards.

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 werereleased. In the middle of the 1990s these and several other optical devices started to getmore and more important and nowadays they are widely used. Exactly at that time the first


22/22

electronic devices were developed. These devices, e.g. Compact Flash Cards, Memory Sticksetc., 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, severalnew technologies like the Advanced Intelligent Tape were introduced and the main hard discin a pc is still based on magnetic technology.

In the 21st century the development of the technologies will lead us from the now widelyused optical devices to the laser device up to holographic memories. In 2003 the first blue-laser based disc, the Blue-ray disc, was released and the first PC drives are to be expected in2006. Several other versions of the DVD, e.g. HD-DVD have been released or are plannedto, all modified to store more and more data and to gain faster access. The real nextgeneration of data storage will be holographic memories, but this is yet to come.

The History of Computer Data Storage

Documents