Random question just out of curiousity.

[Deniedstingray]

I've been researching storage throughout the years for fun and i have been trying to figure out how much physical space a terabyte would have taken up if it were made in the late 70's / early 80's.

If anyone has any idea i would appreciate the info 😀

 

[ingtar33]

I don't know about physical space but 1 gb of storage in 1980 cost approximately $193,000. So a terabyte of storage would cost about $193 million.

in 1981 you could get 2 gb of storage in something the size of a refrigerator or 28 cubic feet. so 500 refrigerators == 1 TB == 14,000 cubic feet of space (not counting space for servicing, ventilation, networking and power).

EDIT:

1TB in 1981
= $193 million dollars
= 14,000 cubic feet of space

 

[Deniedstingray]

I don't know about physical space but 1 gb of storage in 1980 cost approximately $193,000. So a terabyte of storage would cost about $193 million.

in 1981 you could get 2 gb of storage in something the size of a refrigerator or 28 cubic feet. so 500 refrigerators == 1 TB == 14,000 cubic feet of space (not counting space for servicing, ventilation, networking and power).

EDIT:

1TB in 1981
= $193 million dollars
= 14,000 cubic feet of space

Wow, its crazy to think you can put all that in your pocket now. Thanks for the reply!

 

[mwryder55]

One of the computers I worked on in the early 80s was the size of a dishwasher and had a 10 MB hard drive and 16K of memory. The hard drive had a belt drive. One time the belt failed and started smoking. They thought everything was lost, but after the belt was replaced I had everything working again in less than 15 minutes.