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Punch Cards
Used from 1725 all the way through the 1970s. This was the first form of electronic storage. -
Paper Punch Tape
1846-1990s
Similar to the punch cards, but came in large rolls; which could be fed continuously through machines. -
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Cloud Computing
The underlying concept of cloud computing dates back to the 1950s. After the dot-com bubble, Amazon played a key role in all the development of cloud computing in 2000. -
Magnetic Tape
This allows for inexpensive mass storage of information, so it is a key part of the computer revolution. The IBM 726 was one of the first practical high-speed magnetic tape systems for electronic digital computers. -
Magnetic Disk Storage
The IBM 350 disk file served as the storage component for the Random Access Method of Accounting and Control. -
Disk Storage Unit
The IBM 1301 Disk Drive was announced for use with IBM’s 7000-series of mainframe computers. Maximum capacity was 28 million characters and the disks rotated at 1,800 R.P.M. -
Virtual Memory
This emerged from a team under the direction of Tom Kilburn at the University of Manchester on its Atlas computer . It permitted a computer to use its storage capacity to switch rapidly among multiple programs or users and is a key requirement for timesharing. -
Disk Storage Drive
The IBM 1311 was the first disk drive IBM made with a removable disk pack. -
Photo-Digital Storage System
IBM 1360 delivered the first of its photo-digital storage systems to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The system could read and write up to a trillion bits of information -
Floppy Disks
The first floppy disks were 8” disks that were released to the public by IBM. -
Hard Disk Drive
Seagate Technology created the first hard disk drive. The disk held 5 megabytes of data. -
CD-ROM
Able to hold 550 megabytes of prerecorded data, CD-ROMs grew out of music Compact Disks (CDs). -
DVD
8.5 GB, about ten times the storage of a CD. These are popular for movies and computer files. -
USB Flash Drive
Arguably the most significant storage innovation since the 1.44MB floppy disk, the advent of USB flash drives in 2000 signaled the eventual end of the road for floppies. -
Blu-Ray DVD
Beat out HD-dvd for the standard in hd movies. Can hold about 50 GB of space per disc.
