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Computer drive sizes over the years (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 month ago by ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

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I just got a new laptop today and when I saw the ssd it blew my mind. Most of my old drives are like the second from left and it's what I think of as a normal drive, buying a standard ssd still feels small to me. But look at that tiny thing to the right! It's the size of a postage stamp!

Assuming I managed to find the right specs (it is a Microscience hh-1050): The monster on the far left is from 1990, holds 40mb, read/write of 0.625mb/s, and weighs almost exactly 2kg. The baby on the far right I got in the mail today, holds 1tb, read/write of 5150mb/s, and weighs about 2.85 grams.

So we're looking at 25,000 times more storage, 8,240 times faster, and 1/700th the weight! And the one on the right is just 1tb, they make one that same model but 2tb. I can barely believe it exists even though I'm literally holding it in my hands.

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[-] nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I have some very old RAM at home. You could see the single bits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory I have a small viol with some 100 bytes, and one of those fabrics with the rings still on the wires. I threw away the PCB because it was huge...

I just read the article and learned: it was phased out before I was born, and it's the root of the name "core dump" etc :D

[-] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 0 points 4 weeks ago

The left most one is also an HDD? It looks like what I imagine a tape drive would look like but searching for them shows very different results lol

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[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago

It really is amazing, and just popping an m.2 into a motherboard directly is just so... easy. And I think Gen5s are what, 2.5x faster than what you're showing here?

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[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 0 points 4 weeks ago

I remember all the formats shown.

My first machine was an AST Research 286 16Mhz (in "turbo" mode) with two 5-1/4" floppy drives, and a 40 MB 5-1/4" hard drive. I paid ~$2000 for it in the late 80s. That was a good move, I knew more about computers than most people applying for jobs at the time, and that allowed me to make a decent living without a college degree.

[-] mudmaniac@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

How to say you are over 50 without saying you are over 50. I'm a A little younger, so in the 90s 20MB drive wasn't $2000. First time I had Ms dos boot from a hdd instead of floppy. The first time I ever 'installed' was f16 fighting falcon. The loading speed was phenomenal for the time.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It'd be gnar if the smallest one was also a magnetic platter hard drive.

The smallest old style hard drive I can think of is the iPod. But now I want to know if any magnetic platter drives got smaller than that... 🤔

Afaik, it's all been solid state after that. Even newer iPods.

[-] Mnem667@sh.itjust.works 0 points 4 weeks ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdrive

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 0 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

It's so tiny! 😍

Omg it was made in 1998?! :O

[-] Mnem667@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago

Pulled from my Life drive :)

And further into the article: "Toshiba decided to skip the 1" form factor, and in March 2004 announced a 0.85" drive that shipped in September of the same year.[38] "

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[-] stupidcasey@lemmy.world -5 points 4 weeks ago

Women had it good back then.

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