A Visual Depiction of Evolution of Data Storage

Posted by Geek on Nov 14th, 2010 // No Comment

(Image Credit: “Evolution of Storage” by Curtiss Spontelli | CC)

We consume an amazing amount of data, but we also store an equally impressive amount of data as well, and if you think back to not too long ago, we were having to deal with floppy disks and zip drives and who knows what else.

Oh how the times have changed.

We should appreciate how far we have come with regards to data storage, and this article is dedicated to displaying a bit of a graphical homage to storage mediums of the past, present, and future:

Punchcard

Magnetic Tape

Floppy Disk

Hard Drive

Laser Disc

CD/DVD

Blu-ray

Solid State Drive

Cloud Storage

Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD)

Again, we have come a long way. There have been numerous other types of media that we have stored data, but these are some of the most memorable.

The interesting thing to note is that data is constantly getting cheaper while data storage availability increases. However, we can’t help but wonder if there will one day be an issue where there is too much data and not enough storage. Is it possible? Or will the mediums to which we store our data be adapted to compensate for our increased demand for storage?

Either way, we hope you have taken a moment to reflect on data storage and hope you’ll appreciate where we are and where we have been.