Data storage has been transformed in the last 50 years from huge, clunking machines with limited capacity to tiny memory cards that can store a fantastic amount of data but are no bigger than the size of a finger nail. The cost of data storage has also plummeted.

In 1956 a 5Mb IBM RAMAC 350 Disk File – the highest capacity data storage device at the time – weighed a tonne and cost a fortune.

But in 2013, Kingston released the highest capacity USB flash drive to-date: a 1-Terabyte USB Flash Drive called the DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.

In 2014, we witnessed the release of not only the first 512Gb SD Card from SanDisk but also the first 10-terabyte hard drive by Western Digital

Our Evolution of a Terabyte of Data Infographic aims to show how 1-terabyte of data would have been stored over the last six decades, with the highest capacity storage devices and tech available at each period.

Storage Devices

This is a full list of the storage devices covered on the Infographic:

1. IBM 350 RAMAC Disk File (1956) – Consisted of 50, 24-inch discs with a total capacity of 5MB
2. IBM 1301 Disk Storage Unit (1961) – Each module had 25 disks and could store 28 MB per module
3. IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive (1962) – 2MB x 6 Disks = 12MB per disk pack
4. IBM 2311 Disk Pack (1964) – 7.5MB x 4 Disks = 29MB per disk pack
5. IBM 2314 Disk Drive (1965) – 29MB x 8 = 233MB per disk pack
6. IBM 3330 Subsystem (1970) – 100Mb
7. IBM 3350 Direct Access Storage (1976) – 317.5MB x 2 = 635MB per unit
8. IBM 62PC (Piccolo) Hard Drive (1979) – 64MB but The World’s first 8-inch HDD
9. IBM 3380 Direct Access Storage Device (1980) – 2.52MB, The World’s first gigabyte Hard Drive was the size of an average refrigerator
10. Seagate ST-506 (1980) – 5MB The World’s first 5.25-inch HDD for desktop computers
11. Rodime RO-352 (1983) – 11MB, The World’s first 3.5-inch HDD
12. PrairieTek 220 (1988) – 20MB, The World’s first 2.5-inch HDD
13. Integral Peripherals Mustang 1820 & 1842 (1991) – The World’s first 1.8-inch HDD
14. IBM Deskstar 16GP (1997) – 8.4GB – 16.8GB 3.5£” desktop hard drives
15. Trek ThumbDrive (2000) – 8MB – 256MB, The World’s first USB Flash Drive
16. Toshiba 2GB USB Flash Drive (2003) – The World’s first 2GB USB Flash Drive
17. Sandisk 2GB microSD Card (2006) – 2Gb, at the time was largest capacity SD Card.
18. Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 (2007) – The World’s first 1TB HDD
19. DataTraveler HyperX Predator (2013) – World’s first 1TB USB Flash Drive
20. Western Digital Ultrastar He10 (2014) – World’s first 3.5-inch 10TB hard disk drive
21. SanDisk Extreme PRO® SDHC™/SDXC™ UHS-I Memory Card – first ever 512MB SD Memory Card

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