Storage

Introduction

In this chapter of the History of Computing Project storage has a relation to store information that can be retrieved, reproduced or processed: data. The following will take you through the developments of data storage. And describe the technology as well as a timeline illustrating the highlights, record setting achievements, and mile stone developments, for example the invention of the floppy disk.

During the process of the creation of this chapter, which is a growth document a graph will be created to illustrate the developments in both permanent as temporary or volatile memory (RAM) in any form. Also a graph will be developed on prices per megabyte in RAM or external storage (e.g. disks, tapes etc.)
Ongoing and past developments with respect to technology and applications will be illustrated and explained here too or there will be references to sites like wikipedia.
In the timeline a chronological description will be given in an unordered format. Items of specific interest will be hyperlinked to separate pages.
In the tree of recording are mentioned the categories determined purely on arbitrarily grounds and logic. These will be revised as information or knowledge becomes available. The items below will be discussed in depth and illustrated during the development of this chapter.

 

A tree of recording

In the traditional meaning the history of storage starts with the event of a written record. Something scratched on a bone or written down on a piece of clay tablet or carved in a rock. Oral history is, though valuable, not regarded as storage.

oral, written and printed memory

stories from parent to child, priest to novice

bones, stones, quipa, tally sticks, papyrus, parchment, paper, slates, reusable "paper"

mechanical volatile memory

wood, textile, paper, wax rolls, punch cards and punch tapes

magneto acoustic and other temporary media

mercury delay lines, piezo electrical delay line, cathode ray tube williams tube

magnetic media

wire, core memory, drum, card, tape, disk, OM disk

Floppy disk formats

Floppy disk format	Year introduced	Storage capacity (binary kilobytes if not stated)	Marketed capacity
8-inch (read-only)	1969	80	←
8-inch	1972	187.5	1.5 Mbit
8-inch	1973	256	256 KB
8-inch DD	1976	500	0.5 MB
5¼-inch	1976	223	←
8-inch double sided	1977	1200	1.2 MB
5¼-inch DD	1978	360	360 KB
3½-inch HP single sided	1982	280	264 KB
3-inch	1982?	360?	←
3½-inch (DD at release)	1984	720	720 KB
5¼-inch QD	1984	1200	1.2 MB
3-inch DD	1984?	720?	←
3-inch Mitsumi Quick Disk	1985	128 to 256	←
2-inch	1985?	720?	←
5¼-inch Perpendicular	1986?	100 MiB	←
3½-inch HD	1987	1440	1.44 MB
3½-inch ED	1991	2880	2.88 MB
3½-inch LS-120	1996	120.375 MiB	120 MB
3½-inch LS-240	1997	240.75 MiB	240 MB
3½-inch HiFD	1998/99	150/200 MiB?	150/200 MB
Acronyms:  DD = Double Density; QD = Quad Density; HD = High Density ED = Extended Density; LS = Laser Servo; HiFD = High capacity Floppy Disk
Dates and capacities marked ? are of unclear origin and need source information; other listed capacities refer to: For 8-inch: standard IBM formats as used by the System/370 mainframes and newer systems For 5¼- and 3½-inch: standard PC formats, capacities quoted are the total size of all sectors on the disk and include space used for the bootsector and filesystem Other formats may get more or less capacity from the same drives and disks. table courtesy wikipedia

 

optical media

optic data disc, CD, DVD, light capturing, holographic, blue ray DVD, OM disks

electronic silicon based media

RAM, DRAM, EPROM

nanotechnology and sub micron data storage

carbon bucky balls & tubes, DNA/RNA, amorphous memory, crystalline memory

Timeline

1973

Development of the Laservision video disc by Philips, this technology uses, as the name indicates low power red laser.

1974

Telefunken introduces a videodisc player, this one works with a needle.

1977

Applications are developed for the LaserVision videodisc of Philips. Sony uses the same technology.

1980

RCA/Hitachi introduces the CED system, videodisc are read via a needle mechanism.

1980 Philips and Sony propose a standard for the Compact Disc (CD).

1982

1982 Compact Disc Technology is introduced to Europe and Japan.

1983

Compact Disc Technology is introduced to the United States.

Second Generation and Car CD players are introduced.

1985

Third Generation CD players released.

1988

Reintroduction of improved Laservision video discs. The records are gold colored and have reached CD quality.

CD-Recordable disc and recorder technology introduced.

1990

The VCD standard is introduced which uses MPEG stream This standard enjoyed a short popularity and is still used in Asia as alternative for DVD.

1996

CD-ReWritable disc and recorder technology introduced.

1997

Introduction DVD in the USA

1998

Introduction DVD in Europe

1999

Hitachi brings out a 400 Gb hard disk

2005

Manufacturers like Hitachi are on the front lines to develop ever smaller hard disks. At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Hitachi shows a hard disk of less than one inch (2,54 centimeter) in diameter with a capacity of 8 to 10 gigabytes. The disk got the name Mickey and will be available mid 2005.

In the 3.5 inch segment Hitachi is developing a 500 Gb hard disk available first quarter this year. The disk will be targeted for use in digital video recorders and will accommodate approximately 200 hours of digital video.

Last Updated on 1 April, 2007

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Footnotes & References