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punch cards
a punch card was the oldest way known how to actually store information, exept for writing by hand. They were created by Basile Bouchon. He used perforated paper to store paterns, which were little holes in the paper. these patterns were used to make cloth. links: http://gadgets.fosfor.se/history-of-data-storage/ -
punched tape
Punch tape was a more advanced way of making punch cards. it was the same as punch cards, although longer and as a roll of tape, or strips connected to eqach other. Alexander Bain created the punch tape. Each row on the tape represented one character, which was significantly more efficient than the punch cards. links: http://gadgets.fosfor.se/history-of-data-storage/ -
The selectron tube
The selectron tube was created by the RCA in 1946, and it was the first type of technological storage device. it could store up to 4000 KB and the bigger ones measured up to 10 inches in length! However, the selectron tube was very short lived on the market as they were over-powered a couple of years later by another new device. They were quite big and very expensive. -
Magnetic tape
magnetic tapes started being created in 1951, and were very large, they were created for data storage. they could transfer an incredible 7,200 characters per second. They were metal, and would stretch in slength up to 350m and were therfore very heavy and hard to mobolise (if needed). -
Magnetic drum memory
Magnetic drum memory was infact made in the 1930s, although it wasn't used for computer storage till the mid 50s. An IBM computer consisted of a 14 inch long drum, with a capacity of around 10MB. Links: http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/04/08/the-history-of-computer-data-storage-in-pictures/ -
Hard disk drive
IBM created the first hard disk drive, which was very very big. It had 50 24-inch discs with a total storage capacity of 5 million characters (just under 5 MB). After some time, IBM released the first ever giga-byte capacity hard disk. it was the size of the refrigerator, and costed more than $100 000!!! Links: http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/04/08/the-history-of-computer-data-storage-in-pictures/ -
Floppy disk
The floppy disk was a very long-lived accesory that was very efficient for every day use. the first floppy disks were made for read-only, however in the dawn of 1980, they were created for read and write. The first floppy disks were actually quite big, 8 inches in length! Although passing through the years, they gradually came to a stop at 3.5 inches. -
Laser disk
Laser disks were very convinient, and were really just the plans for the CD-ROM and other optical storage solutions. they were quite big, with a 30cm diameter, and they could play up to one hour of audio or video! The basic technology of these clever discs was actually invented way back in the late 1950s! -
compact cassette
the compact cassete was very popular in the 80s. they were a popular way of storage on personal computers, and were also used for listening to music. -
CD RW
CD re-writable was created in 1979, however it was not actually fully used, and released into the market until 1982. it was very succesful, prooving itself much better than the floppy disk, later on in the years. It was also known as the compact disk. -
CD ROM
CD- read only memory was made in 1985, and was also very succesful. they were used in every country, and practically pushed away the floppy disks, as th enew CDs could hold 4GB!! -
Flash drives
Flash drives were very conveanient for personal data storage, and transfering data to different computers. they are aslo called USB s or USB flash drives, and they can consist of up to 32GB and much more. -
Blu-Ray disks / HD-DVD s
these special disks are very new, and were created in early 2006. they function by using organic dyes, and look very much like CDs and DVDs. they can hold a capacity from 20GB to 40GB and do the same job as a CD ROM / CD R -
holograpic versatile disk (HVD)
these are very new disks created, for use in the future. What would you say about having a Holographic Versatile Disc that could store 160 times more data than a Blu-Ray disc. 3.9 TB of data on one disc – or approximately 4,600 to 11,900 hours of video using MPEG4 encoding!!!!