Evolution of Hard Drives: From 1956 to the Present

Evolution of Hard Drives: From 1956 to Today

Everybody needs an UNLIMITED storage capacity drives! Well, that’s for me.

Individuals behind the development of devices are really amazing. Turning a room-sized device that costs half of your life to pay into coin-sized that most people can afford now is one of the achievements of these persons. One of these devices is the hard drive also called as the hard drive disk. This one is not just a stacked of disks that contains tracks or songs but it permanently stores all data on the computer. Since the day it was introduced to the people, inventors never stop developing it until today resulting to changes in physical size, storage space, and prize.

The so-called computer's main storage media device was first introduced in the 1956. It was the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) that could store 5 megabytes of data with five-year lifespan. The more-than-a-ton IBM 305 system, obviously a huge device, costs $10,000 per megabyte.

Although smaller-sized things are easy to carry, some of the developed hard drives after IBM 305 RAMAC, which stores less than a gigabyte of data, were based to the concept "bigger is better" but in the year 1980, smaller hard disk compared to IBM 305, was produced. It was the IBM 3380 that weighed 249 kg (refrigerator-sized) and has price tag, depending on the features, ranging from $97,000 to & $140,000. It was the world's first gigabyte-capacity disk drive (2.52 GB).

Years passed by and the physical sized and cost of hard drives dramatically dropped. As the IBM continuing the development of refrigerator-sized drives, Seagate popped onto the scene introducing the first ever 2.5 inch drive that can be put on the personal computers. It could store 5 MB of data permanently on your brand new PC. The system only costs about $1,500.

The IBM did not end its development after being surpassed by Seagate technology. In the year 1999, IBM introduced the 170MB Microdrive featuring platters that were just 1 inch in diameter. Many manufacturers acquired the same factors and interface of IBM Microdrive like Seagate Technology. In the year 2003, Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA V was released. The said drive only cost $170 and featured up to two 60 GB platters to deliver an astounding 120GB of storage.
Fast forward to the present,  the 0.85 hard drives with 4 GB storage space is now available. New developed hard disk drives can store up to 3 TB of data and these are a lot cheaper and smaller than the first ever hard drive, the RAMAC 305.
Of the storage-hungry universe we have now, everyone dreams of that drive that could store all of the data we want. Well, I think it is not impossible that after few year or a decade, hard drives will get smaller and could store up to 20 TB (or even higher) of data. Perhaps after 30 years, the hard drive that will be produce is something we thought impossible. It will be amazing, astounding, astonishing, surprising, and jaw-dropping one.

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References:

Farrance, R. (2013, September 13). Timeline: 50 Years of Hard Drives. Retrieved February 21, 2014, http://www.pcworld.com/article/127105/article.html

Mearian L. (2010, December 31). The evolution of hard drives. Retrieved February 21, 2014, from http://www.macworld.com/article/1156758/harddriveevolution.html

Fisher, T. (n.d.). Hard Disk Drive. Retrieved February 21, 2014, from http://pcsupport.about.com /od/componentprofiles/p/p_hdd.htm

Cocilova, A. (2013). The astounding evolution of hard drive. Retrieved February 21, 2014, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048232/the-astounding-evolution-of-the-hard-drive.html