{"id":7543,"date":"2011-07-04T14:10:40","date_gmt":"2011-07-04T14:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.open-e.com\/?p=7543"},"modified":"2025-07-03T11:35:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T11:35:57","slug":"journey-to-the-past-the-data-storage-milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open-e.com\/blog\/journey-to-the-past-the-data-storage-milestones\/","title":{"rendered":"Appreciate the Past to Predict the Future – Data Storage Milestones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tA journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – always. The same applies to technological progress \u2013 It begins with the simplest solutions, if you look at it in terms of time. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a look at the inventions which have become the starting point for present giant data centers. They were only the drop in the bucket, but remember, progress is a continuous process. It has continued, it is still ongoing and it will likely continue uninterrupted. Here is a glimpse at data storage milestones:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1900<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first magnetic recording <\/strong>introduced by the Danish engineer at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.<\/p>\n

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Telegrafon [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1956<\/strong><\/span>
\nFirst HDD – the IBM 350 Disk File<\/strong> – invented by Reynold Johnson. This 24-incher was introduced with the IBM 305 RAMAC computer. It had 50 platters (sic) and was priced for about 10000$\/GB.<\/p>\n

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IBM 350 [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1961<\/strong><\/span>
\nIBM 1301 Disc Storage Unit<\/strong> – introduced the usage of head for each data surface. Every head has had self acting air bearings.<\/p>\n

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IBM 1301 Disc Storage Unit [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1962<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe IBM 1311 Disk Storage<\/strong>. It was designed for use with several medium-scale business and scientific computers. The 1311 was about the size and shape of a top-loading washing machine and stored 2 million characters on a removable IBM 1316 disk pack.<\/p>\n

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IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

The first publication about an idea for a computer network<\/strong> in \u201cIntergalactic Computer Network\u201d (J. C. R. Licklider, of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN)). Those ideas contained almost everything that composes the contemporary Internet.<\/p>\n

1965<\/strong><\/span>
\nDurable fiber reinforced plastic 19-inch rack mount <\/strong>case was patented by ECS Composites and became widely used in military and commercial applications for electronic deployment and operation.<\/p>\n

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Chassis Plans 19″ Rack [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1969<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first message sent via ARPANET.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1970 – 1975<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Burroughs On-Line Disk File System<\/strong> – Burroughs releases a file system which stores over 48 million characters (approximately 48MB). It used large platters that have the rotational mass of almost 38lbs – it was really enormous. What is the most fascinating, the discs had to be equipped with electric brakes to stop the platters dispel to almost 3600RPM. More: PDF<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1973<\/strong><\/span>
\nIBM introduced the IBM 3340 “Winchester” disk drive<\/strong> \u2013 it was the first significant commercial use of low mass and low load heads with lubricated media.<\/p>\n

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IBM 3340 “Winchester” disk drive [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1979<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first thin film recording heads from IBM<\/strong>. This invention has allowed storing bigger amount of data in less amount of space. It also reduced costs and gave higher performance for users.<\/p>\n

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Thin film recording heads [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1980<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first 5.25-inch drive<\/strong> with capacity of 5MB. It was the beginning of the PC era.<\/p>\n

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2.5 and 5.25-inch drive [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1981<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first list server hosted on an IBM VM mainframe over BITNET<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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The IBM VM Machine [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1983<\/strong><\/span>
\nRodine issues a 10MB 3.25 inch hard disk<\/strong>. This is still the form factor of today.<\/p>\n

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3.25 inch hard disk [sxc.hu]<\/p>\n

1988<\/strong><\/span>
\nPrarieTek releases the first 2.5 20MB hard disk<\/strong>. 2.5 inch is the form factor of today\u2019s notebook HDDs.<\/p>\n

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2.5 inch hard disk [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1991<\/strong><\/span>
\nIntegrated Peripherals shows its first 1.8 inch hard disk<\/strong>. 1991 was also a day of NeXTCube – the first web server<\/p>\n

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NeXTCube, first web server [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1994<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe first rack-mountable server<\/strong> from Compaq.<\/p>\n

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ProLiant, first Rack-Mountable servers [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1998<\/strong><\/span>
\nGoogle’s first server – Sun Ultra 2<\/strong>. It had dual 200Mhz CPUs and 256MB of RAM . It was located at Stanford University. Thi sounds funny when we think about the present 450,000 Google servers in datacenters around the world.<\/p>\n

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The first Google server – Sun Ultra II [source<\/a>]<\/p>\n

1999 – 2011<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Evolution of SSDs<\/strong> and HDDs<\/strong>, Cloud Computing<\/strong>, portable storage devices<\/strong>, microprocessor chips<\/strong> and many many other incredible inventions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Future<\/strong><\/span>
\nWill there be biological computers and data centers? From time to time we can hear rumors about DNA computing<\/strong>, biochemistry and molecular biology used in computer technologies. This would be incredible from the standpoint of technology and perhaprs bioethics. Imagine, what if you would like to make a \u201cformat C:\u201d of your live HDD? There are many alternative possibilities<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n