Historical Notes
about the
Cost of
Hard Drive Storage Space
Prediction: The cost for 128 kilobytes of memory
will fall below U$100 in the near future.
Creative Computing magazine
December 1981, page 6
At $100 for 128 kilobytes, the price of 256 megabytes comes to $200,000.
RAM (random-access memory) is now
at record low prices, with many vendors
offering 256-megabyte modules for U$50 or less.
San Francisco Chronicle, 27 September 2001
These items refer to static (no moving parts) memory modules, not to hard drives,
but this astonishing reduction in cost over the last couple of decades
has occurred both in static memory and in rotating hard drives.
Both are essential to the operation of modern computers.
Make it bigger, faster, cheaper.
— Al Shugart
Chairman and CEO of Seagate Technology Inc.
(originally Shugart Technology Inc.)
1997 Inductee, Computer Industry Hall of Fame
http://www.crn.com/sections/special/supplement/763/763p89_hof.asp
The cost of hard drives, used in computers for storing data in large quantities, has been falling rapidly for many years. Below are some details. Note the steep decline in the cost per megabyte. The column headed "W" shows the warranty duration in years.
The "Price of Drive" is the retail price, sales taxes extra. The "Cost per megabyte" is the retail price, all taxes included. Prices are in Canadian currency, except prices marked "U$" which are in United States currency. These examples have been selected from hard drives advertised for sale at retail, to show the lowest available per-megabyte cost.
| Source |
Manufacturer |
W
y |
Capacity |
Price of
Drive |
Cost per
megabyte |
| 1956 |
| Note 0 |
IBM |
|
5 megabytes |
U$50,000 |
U$10,000 |
| 1980 January |
|
Morrow Designs |
|
26 megabytes |
U$5000 |
U$193 |
| 1980 July |
| Note 34 |
North Star |
|
18 megabytes |
U$4199 |
U$233 |
| 1981 September |
|
Apple |
|
5 megabytes |
U$3500 |
U$700 |
| 1981 November |
|
Seagate |
|
5 megabytes |
U$1700 |
U$340 |
| 1981 December |
| Note 31 |
VR Data Corp. |
|
6.3 megabytes |
U$2895 |
U$460 |
| Note 32 |
Morrow Designs |
|
10 megabytes |
U$2999 |
U$300 |
| Note 33 |
Morrow Designs |
|
10 megabytes |
U$2949 |
U$295 |
| Note 31 |
VR Data Corp. |
|
19 megabytes |
U$5495 |
U$289 |
| Note 33 |
Morrow Designs |
|
20 megabytes |
U$3829 |
U$191 |
| Note 33 |
Morrow Designs |
|
26 megabytes |
U$3949 |
U$152 |
| Note 32 |
Morrow Designs |
|
26 megabytes |
U$3599 |
U$138 |
| 1982 March |
|
Xebec |
|
|
|
U$260 |
| 1983 December |
| Note 35 |
Corvus |
|
6 megabytes |
U$1895 |
U$316 |
| Note 35 |
Corvus |
|
10 megabytes |
U$2695 |
U$270 |
| Note 35 |
Xcomp |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1895 |
U$190 |
| Note 35 |
Corvus |
|
20 megabytes |
U$3495 |
U$175 |
| Note 35 |
Davong |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1650 |
U$165 |
| Note 35 |
Xcomp |
|
16 megabytes |
U$2095 |
U$131 |
| Note 35 |
Davong |
|
21 megabytes |
U$2495 |
U$119 |
| 1984 March |
| Note 37 |
Percom/Tandon |
|
5 megabytes |
U$1399 |
U$280 |
| Note 38 |
not known |
|
5 megabytes |
U$1349 |
U$270 |
| Note 37 |
Percom/Tandon |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1699 |
U$170 |
| Note 38 |
not known |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1599 |
U$160 |
| Note 37 |
Percom/Tandon |
|
15 megabytes |
U$2095 |
U$140 |
| Note 38 |
not known |
|
15 megabytes |
U$1999 |
U$133 |
| Note 37 |
Percom/Tandon |
|
20 megabytes |
U$2399 |
U$120 |
| Note 38 |
not known |
|
20 megabytes |
U$2359 |
U$118 |
| 1984 May |
| Note 36 |
Tecmar |
|
5 megabytes |
U$1495 |
U$299 |
| Note 36 |
Corvus |
|
6 megabytes |
U$1695 |
U$283 |
| Note 36 |
Corvus |
|
11 megabytes |
U$2350 |
U$214 |
| Note 36 |
Comrex |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1995 |
U$200 |
| Note 36 |
CTI |
|
11 megabytes |
U$1995 |
U$181 |
| Note 36 |
Davong |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1645 |
U$165 |
| Note 36 |
Corvus |
|
20 megabytes |
U$3150 |
U$158 |
| Note 36 |
Davong |
|
15 megabytes |
U$2095 |
U$140 |
| Note 36 |
Davong |
|
21 megabytes |
U$2495 |
U$119 |
| Note 36 |
Pegasus (Great Lakes) |
|
10 megabytes |
U$1075 |
U$108 |
| Note 36 |
Pegasus (Great Lakes) |
|
23 megabytes |
U$1845 |
U$80 |
| 1985 July |
| Note 30 |
First Class Peripherals |
1 |
10 megabytes |
U$710.00 |
U$71 |
| 1987 October |
| Note 39 |
Iomega |
|
10 megabytes |
U$899 |
U$90 |
| Note 39 |
Iomega |
|
20 megabytes |
U$1199 |
U$60 |
| Note 39 |
Iomega |
|
40 megabytes |
U$1799 |
U$45 |
| 1988 May |
| Note 1 |
|
|
20 megabytes |
U$799 |
U$40 |
| Note 1 |
|
|
30 megabytes |
U$995 |
U$33 |
| Note 1 |
|
|
45 megabytes |
U$1195 |
U$27 |
| Note 1 |
|
|
60 megabytes |
U$1795 |
U$30 |
| Note 1 |
|
|
250 megabytes |
U$3995 |
U$16 |
| 1989 March |
| Note 56 |
Western Digital |
|
20 megabytes |
$899.00 |
$53 |
| Note 56 |
Western Digital |
|
40 megabytes |
$1199.00 |
$36 |
| 1989 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
$12 |
| 1990 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
$9 |
| 1991 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
$7 |
| 1992 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
$4 |
| 1993 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
$2 |
| 1994 September |
| Note 11 |
|
|
|
|
95¢ |
| 1995 January |
| Note 2 |
Seagate |
5 |
1.0 gigabyte |
$849 |
85¢ |
| Note 2 |
Seagate |
5 |
1.7 gigabytes |
$1499 |
88¢ |
| Note 2 |
Seagate |
5 |
2.1 gigabytes |
$1699 |
81¢ |
| Note 2 |
Seagate |
5 |
2.9 gigabytes |
$2899 |
99¢ |
| 1995 April |
| Note 24 |
|
|
240 megabytes |
$250.00 |
$1.26 |
| Note 24 |
|
|
420 megabytes |
$320.00 |
92.2¢ |
| Note 24 |
|
|
520 megabytes |
$380.00 |
88.4¢ |
| Note 24 |
|
|
850 megabytes |
$470.00 |
66.9¢ |
| Note 24 |
|
|
1.0 gigabyte |
$625.00 |
75.6¢ |
| Note 24 |
|
|
1.2 gigabytes |
$680.00 |
68.6¢ |
| 1996 June 10 |
| Note 3 |
Western Digital |
3 |
1.6 gigabytes |
$399.99 |
29.5¢ |
| 1996 August 14 |
| Note 4 |
IBM |
3 |
1.76 gigabytes |
$379.99 |
26.3¢ |
| Note 4 |
Maxtor |
|
2.0 gigabytes |
$439.99 |
25.9¢ |
| 1996 September |
| Note 5 |
Quantum |
|
2.5 gigabytes |
$440.00 |
20.7¢ |
| Note 5 |
Quantum |
|
3.2 gigabytes |
$469.00 |
17.3¢ |
|
This project — a history of the remarkable decline in cost of hard drive data storage capacity — began with an email exchange in July 1996. Much of the above information was gathered July-September 1996. Later updates below:
| Source |
Manufacturer |
W
y |
Capacity |
Price of
Drive |
Cost per
megabyte |
| 1997 August 13 |
| Note 6 |
Western Digital |
|
2.1 gigabytes |
$329.99 |
18.1¢ |
| Note 6 |
Western Digital |
|
3.1 gigabytes |
$399.99 |
14.8¢ |
| Note 6 |
Western Digital |
|
4.0 gigabytes |
$490.99 |
14.1¢ |
| 1997 August 24 |
| Note 7 |
Western Digital |
3 |
2.1 gigabytes |
$279.99 |
15.3¢ |
| Note 7 |
Western Digital |
3 |
3.1 gigabytes |
$329.99 |
12.2¢ |
| Note 7 |
Maxtor |
3 |
3.5 gigabytes |
$359.99 |
11.8¢ |
| Note 7 |
Maxtor |
3 |
4.3 gigabytes |
$439.99 |
11.8¢ |
| Note 7 |
Western Digital |
3 |
5.1 gigabytes |
$459.99 |
10.4¢ |
| 1997 September 5 |
| Note 8 |
Maxtor |
3 |
7.0 gigabytes |
$669.99 |
11.0¢ |
| 1997 November 29 |
| Note 9 |
Western Digital |
|
3.2 gigabytes |
$289.00 |
10.4¢ |
| Note 9 |
Quantum |
|
3.2 gigabytes |
$285.00 |
10.2¢ |
| Note 9 |
Quantum |
|
4.3 gigabytes |
$379.00 |
10.1¢ |
| Note 9 |
Western Digital |
|
4.3 gigabytes |
$365.00 |
9.76¢ |
| Note 9 |
Quantum |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$475.00 |
8.54¢ |
| Note 9 |
Western Digital |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$445.00 |
8.00¢ |
| 1997 December 3 |
| Note 10 |
Western Digital |
3 |
5.1 gigabytes |
$449.99 |
10.1¢ |
| Note 10 |
Quantum |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$549.99 |
9.88¢ |
| Note 10 |
Maxtor |
3 |
5.2 gigabytes |
$438.99 |
9.71¢ |
| Note 10 |
Maxtor |
3 |
7.0 gigabytes |
$579.99 |
9.53¢ |
| Note 10 |
Maxtor |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
$679.99 |
9.31¢ |
| 1998 January 16 |
| Note 12 |
Western Digital |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$529.99 |
9.52¢ |
| Note 12 |
Quantum |
3 |
4.3 gigabytes |
$349.99 |
9.36¢ |
| Note 12 |
Quantum |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$479.99 |
8.63¢ |
| Note 12 |
Maxtor |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
note 12 |
8.39¢ |
| 1998 February 3 |
| Note 13 |
not known |
3 |
5.2 gigabytes |
$355.00 |
7.85¢ |
| Note 13 |
not known |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$435.00 |
7.82¢ |
| 1998 April 2 |
| Note 14 |
Maxtor |
3 |
5.1 gigabytes |
$379.99 |
8.57¢ |
| Note 14 |
Maxtor |
3 |
4.3 gigabytes |
$319.99 |
8.56¢ |
| Note 14 |
Western Digital |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
note 14 |
7.43¢ |
| Note 14 |
Quantum |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$339.99 |
6.11¢ |
| 1998 April 4 |
| Note 17 |
not known |
|
5.2 gigabytes |
$349.00 |
7.72¢ |
| Note 15 |
Maxtor |
3 |
4.3 gigabytes |
note 15 |
7.63¢ |
| Note 16 |
not known |
3 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$370.00 |
6.65¢ |
| Note 16 |
not known |
3 |
5.2 gigabytes |
$300.00 |
6.63¢ |
| Note 17 |
not known |
|
9.0 gigabytes |
$499.00 |
6.38¢ |
| 1998 April 17 |
| Note 18 |
Fujitsu |
|
4.3 gigabytes |
$282.00 |
7.54¢ |
| Note 18 |
Fujitsu |
|
5.2 gigabytes |
$331.00 |
7.32¢ |
| Note 18 |
Fujitsu |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$368.00 |
6.61¢ |
| 1998 May 2 |
| Note 19 |
Seagate |
1 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$349.99 |
6.29¢ |
| 1998 May 9 |
| Note 20 |
Seagate |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$329.99 |
5.93¢ |
| 1998 May 11 |
| Note 21 |
Fujitsu |
|
3.2 gigabytes |
$227.00 |
8.16¢ |
| Note 21 |
Fujitsu |
|
4.3 gigabytes |
$257.00 |
6.87¢ |
| Note 21 |
Fujitsu |
|
5.2 gigabytes |
$299.00 |
6.61¢ |
| Note 21 |
Fujitsu |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$328.00 |
5.89¢ |
| 1998 June 6 |
| Note 22 |
Maxtor |
3 |
5.7 gigabytes |
$299.99 |
6.05¢ |
| 1998 June 12 |
| Note 23 |
Quantum |
|
4.3 gigabytes |
$228.00 |
6.10¢ |
| Note 23 |
Quantum |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$298.00 |
5.35¢ |
| 1998 July 15 |
| Note 25 |
|
|
5.2 gigabytes |
$249.00 |
5.51¢ |
| 1998 July 31 |
| Note 26 |
Western Digital IDE |
|
5.1 gigabytes |
$262.00 |
5.91¢ |
| Note 26 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
5.2 gigabytes |
$252.00 |
5.57¢ |
| Note 26 |
Western Digital IDE |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$294.00 |
5.28¢ |
| Note 26 |
Western Digital IDE |
|
8.4 gigabytes |
$382.00 |
5.23¢ |
| Note 26 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$291.00 |
5.23¢ |
| 1998 August 1 |
| Note 27 |
Western Digital EIDE |
|
4.0 gigabytes |
note 27 |
5.46¢ |
| 1998 August 6 |
| Note 28 |
Western Digital EIDE |
3 |
5.1 gigabytes |
note 28 |
4.64¢ |
| 1998 August 14 |
| Note 29 |
Fujitsu |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$289.00 |
5.19¢ |
| 1998 August 26 |
| Note 40 |
Seagate |
1 |
6.4 gigabytes |
$279.99 |
5.03¢ |
| 1998 September 1 |
| Note 41 |
Maxtor UDMA |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
$379.99 |
5.20¢ |
| Note 41 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
6.8 gigabytes |
$279.99 |
4.74¢ |
| 1998 September 10 |
| Note 42 |
Western Digital EIDE |
3 |
5.1 gigabytes |
note 42 |
4.79¢ |
| 1998 October 1 |
| Note 43 |
Quantum |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
note 43 |
4.26¢ |
| 1999 February 12 |
| Note 44 |
Quantum |
|
8.0 gigabytes |
$299.99 |
4.31¢ |
| 1999 February 26 |
| Note 45 |
Maxtor |
|
8.4 gigabytes |
see note 45 |
3.77¢ |
| Note 46 |
Quantum |
|
8.0 gigabytes |
see note 46 |
3.65¢ |
| 1999 February 27 |
| Note 47 |
Quantum |
|
19.2 gigabytes |
$512.46 |
3.07¢ |
| 1999 March 1 |
| Note 48 |
Fujitsu Ultra DMA |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
$253.00 |
3.46¢ |
| Note 48 |
Fujitsu Ultra DMA |
3 |
10.2 gigabytes |
$299.00 |
3.37¢ |
| 1999 March 3 |
| Note 49 |
Fujitsu Ultra DMA |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
$235.00 |
3.22¢ |
| Note 49 |
Fujitsu Ultra DMA |
3 |
10.2 gigabytes |
$285.00 |
3.21¢ |
| 1999 April 1 |
| Note 50 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$279.00 |
3.15¢ |
| Note 50 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
8.4 gigabytes |
$229.00 |
3.14¢ |
| 1999 May 21 |
| Note 51 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$179.99 |
3.23¢ |
| 1999 May 27 |
| Note 52 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$245.00 |
2.76¢ |
| Note 52 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
8.4 gigabytes |
$198.00 |
2.71¢ |
| Note 52 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$369.00 |
2.45¢ |
| 1999 May 28 |
| Note 53 |
Maxtor UDMA |
3 |
10.0 gigabytes |
$249.99 |
2.88¢ |
| 1999 July 21 |
| Note 54 |
Maxtor Ultra DMA |
3 |
8.4 gigabytes |
$199.99 |
2.74¢ |
| 1999 July 30 |
| Note 55 |
Fujitsu UDMA |
|
6.4 gigabytes |
$139.99 |
2.63¢ |
| 1999 September 25 |
| Note 57 |
Not known |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
note 57 |
1.85¢ |
| 1999 October 1 |
| Note 58 |
Quantum CX UTA 66 |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$199.00 |
2.24¢ |
| Note 58 |
Quantum KA
7200 rpm |
|
13.6 gigabytes |
$249.00 |
2.11¢ |
| Note 58 |
Western Digital |
|
20.0 gigabytes |
$359.00 |
2.06¢ |
| Note 58 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm |
|
27.3 gigabytes |
$489.00 |
2.06¢ |
| Note 58 |
Quantum CX UTA 66 |
|
13.6 gigabytes |
$219.00 |
1.85¢ |
| 1999 December 1 |
| Note 59 |
Western Digital IDE |
|
20.5 gigabytes |
$398.00 |
2.23¢ |
| Note 59 |
Quantum IDE |
|
18.2 gigabytes |
$348.00 |
2.20¢ |
| Note 60 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$189.00 |
2.13¢ |
| Note 59 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$189.00 |
2.13¢ |
| Note 59 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
13.0 gigabytes |
$208.00 |
1.84¢ |
| Note 60 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
13.0 gigabytes |
$195.00 |
1.73¢ |
| Note 59 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
20.4 gigabytes |
$299.00 |
1.69¢ |
| Note 59 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$248.00 |
1.65¢ |
| Note 59 |
Fujitsu IDE |
|
27.3 gigabytes |
$388.00 |
1.63¢ |
| Note 60 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$225.00 |
1.50¢ |
|
From here on, the cost of hard drives will be stated
per gigabyte (below)
instead of per megabyte (above)
|
|---|
| Source |
Manufacturer |
W
y |
Capacity |
Price of
Drive |
Cost per
gigabyte |
Cost per
megabyte |
| 2000 February 1 |
| Note 61 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
10.2 gigabytes |
$175.00 |
$19.73 |
1.97¢ |
| Note 62 |
Fujitsu |
|
20.4 gigabytes |
$299.00 |
$16.86 |
1.69¢ |
| Note 62 |
Fujitsu |
|
13.6 gigabytes |
$199.00 |
$16.83 |
1.68¢ |
| Note 64 |
Mfgr? |
|
12.9 gigabytes |
$187.99 |
$16.76 |
1.68¢ |
| Note 63 |
Fujitsu |
|
13.6 gigabytes |
$197.80 |
$16.73 |
1.67¢ |
| Note 61 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
13.0 gigabytes |
$186.00 |
$16.45 |
1.65¢ |
| Note 62 |
Fujitsu |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$238.00 |
$15.82 |
1.58¢ |
| Note 62 |
Fujitsu |
|
27.3 gigabytes |
$375.00 |
$15.80 |
1.58¢ |
| Note 63 |
Fujitsu |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$232.30 |
$15.44 |
1.54¢ |
| Note 61 |
Mfgr? UDMA |
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$215.00 |
$14.29 |
1.43¢ |
| Note 64 |
Mfgr? |
|
20.4 gigabytes |
$211.99 |
$11.95 |
1.20¢ |
| 2000 April 1 |
| Note 69 |
IBM |
|
20.5 gigabytes |
$279.00 |
$15.65 |
1.57¢ |
| Note 69 |
Maxtor |
|
15.2 gigabytes |
$199.00 |
$15.06 |
1.51¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm |
|
20.0 gigabytes |
$259.00 |
$14.89 |
1.49¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
15.0 gigabytes |
$192.00 |
$14.72 |
1.47¢ |
| Note 70 |
Seagate UDMA |
|
17.2 gigabytes |
$218.00 |
$14.58 |
1.46¢ |
| Note 70 |
Seagate UDMA |
|
28.0 gigabytes |
$349.00 |
$14.33 |
1.43¢ |
| Note 68 |
|
|
17.3 gigabytes |
$215.00 |
$14.29 |
1.43¢ |
| Note 70 |
IBM UDMA 5400 rpm |
|
20.3 gigabytes |
$245.00 |
$13.88 |
1.39¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
17.0 gigabytes |
$204.00 |
$13.80 |
1.38¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm |
|
27.0 gigabytes |
$320.00 |
$13.63 |
1.36¢ |
| Note 68 |
|
|
20.4 gigabytes |
$239.00 |
$13.47 |
1.35¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
36.5 gigabytes |
$411.00 |
$12.95 |
1.30¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
27.0 gigabytes |
$299.00 |
$12.74 |
1.27¢ |
| Note 70 |
Western Digital
UDMA |
|
20.0 gigabytes |
$218.00 |
$12.54 |
1.25¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
20.0 gigabytes |
$217.00 |
$12.48 |
1.25¢ |
| Note 70 |
Maxtor UDMA |
|
30.0 gigabytes |
$308.00 |
$11.81 |
1.18¢ |
| 2000 May 12 |
| Note 65 |
Western Digital
Ultra ATA/66
5400 rpm |
|
13.6 gigabytes |
$179.99 |
$15.22 |
1.52¢ |
| Note 65 |
Maxtor
UDMA/66 7200 rpm |
|
30.0 gigabytes |
$319.99 |
$12.27 |
1.23¢ |
| Note 66 |
Maxtor
UDMA/66 7200 rpm |
3 |
40.0 gigabytes |
$399.99 |
$11.50 |
1.15¢ |
| 2000 June 2 |
| Note 67 |
Maxtor
UDMA/66 5400 rpm |
3 |
15.0 gigabytes |
$189.99 |
$14.57 |
1.46¢ |
| 2000 August 1 |
| Note 73 |
Samsung |
|
15.0 gigabytes |
$162.00 |
$12.42 |
1.24¢ |
| Note 74 |
Maxtor IDE 7200rpm |
|
30.5 gigabytes |
$298.00 |
$11.24 |
1.12¢ |
| Note 73 |
Samsung |
|
20.0 gigabytes |
$175.00 |
$10.06 |
1.01¢ |
| 2000 August 19-20 |
| Note 72 |
Maxtor 7200rpm 9ms |
|
40.9 gigabytes |
$388.00 |
$10.91 |
1.09¢ |
| Note 71 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
15.3 gigabytes |
$144.00 |
$10.82 |
1.08¢ |
| Note 72 |
Maxtor 7200rpm 9ms |
|
30.7 gigabytes |
$278.00 |
$10.41 |
1.04¢ |
| Note 71 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
20.4 gigabytes |
$164.00 |
$9.25 |
0.925¢ |
| Note 71 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
30.7 gigabytes |
$214.00 |
$8.02 |
0.802¢ |
| 2000 August 25 |
| Note 75 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
15.0 gigabytes |
$149.99 |
$11.50 |
1.15¢ |
| Note 75 |
Maxtor 7200rpm |
|
40.0 gigabytes |
$349.99 |
$10.06 |
1.01¢ |
| Note 75 |
Maxtor 7200rpm UDMA/66 |
|
30.0 gigabytes |
$249.99 |
$9.58 |
0.958¢ |
|
The right-hand column (below), states
the storage capacity, in megabytes,
available at a retail cost of one cent.
"Price of drive" is the store price, excluding sales tax.
"Cost per gigabyte" and "Megabytes for one cent" are
stated with 15% sales tax included (purchaser's cost).
|
|---|
| Source |
Manufacturer |
W
y |
Capacity |
Price of
Drive |
Cost per
gigabyte |
Mby
for
1¢ |
| 2000 October 27 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 7200rpm |
|
30.7 gigabytes |
$244.00 |
$9.14 |
1.09 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 7200rpm |
|
40.9 gigabytes |
$318.00 |
$8.94 |
1.12 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
61.4 gigabytes |
$398.00 |
$7.45 |
1.34 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
81.9 gigabytes |
$518.00 |
$7.27 |
1.37 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
30.7 gigabytes |
$194.00 |
$7.27 |
1.38 |
| Note 76 |
Maxtor 5400rpm |
|
40.9 gigabytes |
$254.00 |
$7.14 |
1.40 |
| 2000 November 1 |
| Note 77 |
Maxtor 7200rpm
UDMA/66 |
|
30 gigabytes |
note 77 |
$7.88 |
1.27 |
| 2000 December 13 |
| Note 78 |
Samsung |
|
30 gigabytes |
$189.00 |
$7.25 |
1.38 |
| 2000 December 20 |
| Note 79 |
Maxtor Ultra ATA 66
5400 rpm |
3 |
80 gigabytes |
$479.99 |
$6.90 |
1.45 |
| 2001 January 14 |
| Note 80 |
5400 rpm |
|
61 gigabytes |
$388.00 |
$7.31 |
1.37 |
| Note 80 |
5400 rpm |
|
82 gigabytes |
$518.00 |
$7.26 |
1.38 |
| Note 80 |
5400 rpm |
|
40 gigabytes |
$238.00 |
$6.84 |
1.46 |
| 2001 April 25 |
| Note 81 |
Quantum 7200 rpm |
|
40 gigabytes |
$260.00 |
$7.48 |
1.34 |
| Note 81 |
Fujitsu 5400 rpm
UDMA-100 |
|
30 gigabytes |
$169.00 |
$6.48 |
1.54 |
| Note 81 |
Fujitsu 5400 rpm
UDMA-100 |
|
40 gigabytes |
$199.00 |
$5.72 |
1.75 |
| 2001 May 1 |
| Note 82 |
5400 rpm |
|
30 gigabytes |
$178.00 |
$6.82 |
1.47 |
| Note 82 |
5400 rpm |
|
82 gigabytes |
$468.00 |
$6.56 |
1.52 |
| Note 82 |
5400 rpm |
|
61 gigabytes |
$344.00 |
$6.49 |
1.54 |
| Note 82 |
5400 rpm |
|
40 gigabytes |
$204.00 |
$5.87 |
1.71 |
| 2001 June 28 |
| Note 83 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm EIDE |
3 |
40 gigabytes |
$219.99 |
$6.33 |
1.58 |
| 2001 July 6 |
| Note 84 |
Maxtor UATA
7200 rpm |
3 |
60 gigabytes |
$329.99 |
$6.33 |
1.58 |
| 2001 July 20 |
| Note 85 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm UATA |
|
80 gigabytes |
note 85 |
$5.75 |
1.74 |
| 2001 August 31 |
| Note 86 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm UATA |
|
60 gigabytes |
note 86 |
$4.41 |
2.27 |
| 2001 November 30 |
| Note 87 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm EIDE
UATA-100 |
|
100 gigabytes |
note 87 |
$2.99 |
3.34 |
| 2001 December 1 |
| Note 88 |
Maxtor 5400 rpm IDE |
|
40 gigabytes |
$158.88 |
$4.57 |
2.19 |
| 2002 March 8 |
| Note 89 |
Western Digital
5400 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-100 |
|
40 gigabytes |
$149.99 |
$4.31 |
2.32 |
| 2002 July 27 |
| Note 90 |
Maxtor
7200 rpm IDE |
|
40 gigabytes |
$128.88 |
$3.71 |
2.70 |
| 2002 August 9 |
| Note 91 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-100 |
|
100 gigabytes |
$229.99 |
$2.65 |
3.78 |
| 2002 August 16 |
| Note 92 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm
Ultra ATA-100 |
|
60 gigabytes |
$149.99 |
$2.88 |
3.48 |
| Note 92 |
Maxtor
7200 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-133/100 |
3 |
80 gigabytes |
$259.99 |
$3.74 |
2.68 |
| 2002 August 23 |
| Note 93 |
Western Digital
5400 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-100 |
1 |
40 gigabytes |
$89.99 |
$2.59 |
3.86 |
| 2002 August 30 |
| Note 94 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-100 |
3 |
100 gigabytes |
$179.99 |
$2.07 |
4.83 |
| 2002 September 6 |
| Note 95 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm |
3 |
120 gigabytes |
$269.99 |
$2.59 |
3.86 |
| Note 95 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm EIDE |
3 |
40 gigabytes |
$99.99 |
$2.88 |
3.48 |
| 2002 September 20 |
| Note 96 |
Western Digital
5400 rpm EIDE
Ultra ATA-100 |
1 |
40 gigabytes |
$89.99 |
$2.59 |
3.86 |
| Note 96 |
Western Digital
7200 rpm
Ultra ATA-100 |
3 |
60 gigabytes |
$139.99 |
$2.68 |
3.73 |
| 2003 October 11 |
| Note 97 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm IDE |
|
40 gigabytes |
$89.88 |
$2.58 |
3.87 |
| Note 97 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm IDE |
|
120 gigabytes |
$158.00 |
$1.51 |
6.60 |
| 2003 November 29 |
| Note 98 |
Maxtor Serial ATA |
|
80 gigabytes |
$134.00 |
$1.93 |
5.19 |
| Note 98 |
Western Digital
SMB cache |
|
80 gigabytes |
$124.00 |
$1.78 |
5.61 |
| Note 98 |
Maxtor Serial ATA |
|
120 gigabytes |
$168.00 |
$1.61 |
6.21 |
| Note 98 |
Western Digital
SMB cache |
|
120 gigabytes |
$158.00 |
$1.51 |
6.60 |
| Note 98 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm IDE |
|
80 gigabytes |
$98.88 |
$1.42 |
7.04 |
| Note 98 |
Maxtor 7200 rpm IDE |
|
120 gigabytes |
$144.88 |
$1.39 |
7.20 |
| 2004 March 27 |
| Note 99 |
Western Digital Caviar
7200rpm |
|
160 gigabytes |
$269.99 |
$1.94 |
5.15 |
| Note 99 |
Cicero 7200rpm |
|
160 gigabytes |
$269.95 |
$1.94 |
5.15 |
| Note 99 |
Western Digital
7200rpm |
|
250 gigabytes |
$369.99 |
$1.70 |
5.88 |
| Note 100 |
Western Digital |
|
80 gigabytes |
$109.00 |
$1.57 |
6.38 |
| Note 100 |
Maxtor 7200rpm IDE |
|
80 gigabytes |
$98.00 |
$1.41 |
7.10 |
| Note 100 |
Western Digital |
|
120 gigabytes |
$144.00 |
$1.38 |
7.25 |
| Note 100 |
Maxtor 7200rpm IDE |
|
120 gigabytes |
$129.00 |
$1.24 |
8.09 |
| 2004 April 2 |
| Note 101 |
Western Digital Caviar
7200rpm
4.2ms avg. seek time |
1 |
160 gigabytes |
$169.99 |
$1.22 |
8.18 |
| 2004 April 16 |
| Note 102 |
Western Digital Caviar SE
7200rpm |
1 |
250 gigabytes |
$249.99 |
$1.15 |
8.70 |
|
All of the above, except the 1956 item, were and are hard drives for use with personal computers. For comparison, the cost of plain paper comes to about $5 per megabyte just for the paper, (taking one megabyte to be equivalent to about 500 pages typed one side single-spaced, with the cost of paper at one cent per letter-size sheet, which is a reasonably average price in the 1990s).
Note 0: The Financial Post newspaper of 22 April 1995, carried a long article, Drive to Replace Magnetic Storage, which was full of technical details about the history and current state of assorted data storage devices for computers. It included this: "In 1956, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) unveiled the first commercial disc storage system, called Ramac. The size of a large cupboard, it contained fifty 24-inch 61 cm discs, could store five megabytes — about five million characters of text — and cost almost US$50,000. In June (1995), IBM will launch a 2.5 inch 6.4 cm disc drive with a capacity of 1,200 megabytes, almost 250 times greater than Ramac. It is just 17 mm high, costs US$790, and can fit inside a notebook computer."
1956 October 29 — The first hard disk drive is born at IBM. The original was the size of two refrigerators and held 5 megabytes of data at a cost of about $10,000 per megabyte. In 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3340 hard disk unit, known as the Winchester, IBM's internal development code name. The term Winchester came from an early model developed by IBM that stored 30 megabytes and had a 30 millisecond access time; so its inventors called it a Winchester in honor of the .30-caliber rifle of the same name. The recording head rode on a layer of air 18 millionths of an inch 0.5 micrometre thick.
Note 1: Amazing Computer magazine, May 1988 (Special Hardware Edition), drives for sale by Supra Corporation, Albany, New York.
Note 2: The Computer Paper, January 1995, contains an advertisement offering Seagate hard drives for sale by mail order (no sales tax) from Brampton, Ontario.
Note 3: Future Shop, Halifax, in a flyer distributed in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 10 June 1996.
Note 4: Future Shop, Halifax, in a flyer distributed in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 14 August 1996.
Note 5: The Computer Paper, (monthly) Eastern Edition, September 1996; the ad for the 2.5 gigabyte drive appears on page 48, and the ad for the 3.2 gigabyte drive appears on page 56.
Note 6: Business Depot Ltd., 202 Brownlow Avenue, Dartmouth, in a flyer distributed in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 12 August 1997, prices effective 13 to 19 August 1997.
Note 7: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a flyer distributed in the Halifax metropolitan area, prices effective 24 August to 16 September 1997.
Note 8: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in-store price $699.99 less $30.00 rebate coupon; coupon available until 31 October 1997.
Note 9: C.I.N. Tech Limited (Computer InterNet Technologies), 1142 Bedford Highway, Bedford, http://www.cin-tech.ns.ca/
advertisement, page 12, the Halifax Daily News, 29 November 1997.
Note 10: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax. In-store prices, 3 December 1997.
Note 11: Adapted from historical data published in the San Jose Mercury, 30 December 1997.
Note 12: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in-store prices on 16 January 1998. The Maxtor 8.4 gigabyte drive price was a bit complicated: The price tag said $649.99, which was subject to a 15% sales tax, and there was an in-store mail-in manufacturer's rebate coupon for U$30.00. The exchange rate this day was C$1.00 = U69.6¢, making the coupon rebate worth C$43.10. The purchaser's net cost would be $649.99 + $97.50 - $43.10 = $704.39, which worked out to 8.39¢ per megabyte. The Western Digital and Quantum drives were priced without rebates.
Note 13: The Computer Paper, Eastern Edition (Atlantic Provinces), February 1998, on page 66 has an advertisement offering these drives for sale by CompuTrend, 30 Farnham Gate Road, Halifax.
Note 14: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in-store prices on 2 April 1998. The Western Digital 6.4 gigabyte drive price was a bit complicated: The price tag said $449.99, which was subject to a 15% sales tax, and there was an in-store mail-in manufacturer's rebate coupon for U$30.00. At the current exchange rate, U$30.00 converts to about C$42.90.
Note 15: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 4 April 1998. The price was $319.99, which was subject to a 15% sales tax, and there was an in-store mail-in manufacturer's rebate coupon stated to be worth C$40.00.
Note 16: The Computer Paper, Eastern Edition (Atlantic Provinces), April 1998, on page 14 has an advertisement offering these drives for sale by CompuTrend, 30 Farnham Gate Road, Halifax.
Note 17: The Computer Paper, Eastern Edition (Atlantic Provinces), April 1998, on page 31 has an advertisement offering these drives for sale by Liveware Computers of Canada Inc., 5280 Green Street, Halifax.
Note 18: The Halifax Daily News, 17 April 1998, on page 35 has an advertisement offering these drives for sale by Cellar Computers Ltd., 1590 Argyle Street, Halifax http://www.cellar.ns.ca/
Note 19: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 2 May 1998.
Note 20: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 9 May 1998.
Note 21: Cellar Computers Limited, 1590 Argyle Street, Halifax, http://www.cellar.ns.ca/ in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 11 May 1998.
Note 22: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 6 June 1998. The price for this drive was stated as $339.99 less a mail-in rebate coupon worth $40.00, for a net price of $299.99. "Less than 10ms average access time. 256k cache, UDMA." (ultra direct memory access)
Note 23: Computer Annex, 958 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 12 June 1998. "UDMA" (ultra direct memory access)
Note 24: K-PC Ltee, 2445 Agricola Street, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Nova Scotia Business Journal, April 1995, distributed as an insert in the Nova Scotia edition of The Globe and Mail, 13 April 1995.
Note 25: An advertisement the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 15 July 1998, offers these drives for sale "this week only" by CompuTrend, 30 Farnham Gate Road, Halifax.
Note 26: Cellar Computers Limited, 1590 Argyle Street, Halifax, http://www.cellar.ns.ca/ in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 31 July 1998.
Note 27: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 1 August 1998. The pricing of this item was complicated. The in-store price was $301.99, less a mail-in rebate coupon worth $112.00, for a net cost, before sales tax, of $189.99.
Note 28: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 6 August 1998. The pricing of this item was complicated. The store price was $311.99, plus 15% sales tax, for a total cost to the purchaser of $358.79. However, the drive package includes "mail-in and bundle rebates," worth U$80.00. At the close of business on 6 August, the currency exchange rate was C$1.00 = U65.39¢, making the value of the rebate C$122.34. Using this exchange rate, the rebates are worth C$122.34, and the final cost of this hard drive is C$236.45, or 4.64¢ per megabyte.
Note 29: Cellar Computers Limited, 1590 Argyle Street, Halifax, http://www.cellar.ns.ca/ in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 14 August 1998.
Note 30: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, July 1985, page 19, by First Class Peripherals, Carson City, Nevada, offers for sale by mail "a superior quality 10 megabyte Winchester hard disk for only $695" plus $15 shipping. "You're probably already wondering, 'Can I really get a 10 megabyte hard disk that's reliable for only $695?' Absolutely, when you choose the Sider from First Class Peripherals." Includes everything, "cables, host adaptor, installation software, and manual." The Sider was a separate box that was placed on the table beside the computer (hence the name). The Sider was for Apple II+ and IIe.
Note 31: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, December 1981, page 233, by VR Data Corporation, 777 Henderson Boulevard, Folcroft, Pennsylvania, offering a "6.3 megabyte Winchester Hard Disk Model III Subsystem with chassis" for U$2895.00. Also, 2 × 9.5 megabyte drives (on one chassis), U$5495.00.
Note 32: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, December 1981, page 5, by Computers Wholesale, Camillus, New York, offering Morrow hard drives for sale. Model M-10 U$2999, and M-26 U$3599. This ad does not state the drive capacity, but on page 57 of the same issue there is explicit confirmation that M-10 means a Morrow 10 megabyte drive and M-26 means a Morrow 26 megabyte drive.
February 1980 ad offering
Winchester hard disk drive
for North Star personal computer.
Click on image to see the whole ad.
Note 33: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, December 1981, page 57, by AlphaByte Stores, 31245 La Baya Drive, Westlake Village, California 91362, offering Morrow hard drives for sale.
Morrow Designs Inc., 600 McCormick Street, San Leandro, California 94577, was founded by George Morrow. Morrow Designs made hard disk storage units, and also produced personal computers. Creative Computing magazine, May 1984, page 28, has a review of the Morrow Micro Decision MDT20, a desktop computer complete with keyboard and a green phosphorous monitor displaying 80 characters per line, 24lines visible with a 25th status line. The CPU was a Z80A running at 4 MHz. 64k RAM and 2k ROM. Two 5¼ inch 13.3cm double density floppy disk drives, storing 200 kilobytes each. Two RS-232C serial ports and one parallel port. Seven bundled software packages.
Price U$1599.
|
Note 34: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, July 1980, page 5, by MiniMicroMart Inc., 1618 James Street, Syracuse, New York 13203, offering North Star Hard Disk HD-18 storage units for sale by mail order. U$4199 plus shipping costs. "Utilizes tried and proven 14-inch 35cm Century Data Marksman ... Plugs into parallel port of North Star Horizon."
Note 35: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, December 1983, page 299, by GenTech, 150 Broadway, Suite 2212, New York City 11038, offering hard disk storage units for sale by mail order.
Note 36: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, May 1984, page 194, by GenTech, 150 Broadway, Suite 2212, New York City 11038, offering hard disk storage units for sale by mail order. The following notes appeared in the ad:
- Comrex Comfiler 10 megabyte, for QX-10
- Pegasus (Great Lakes) 10 megabyte internal unit for IBM
- Pegasus (Great Lakes) 23 megabyte external unit (with controller)
- Tecmar 5 megabyte removable cartridge Winchester in PC
- CTI 11 megabyte internal hard disk for DEC Rainbow
[DEC meant 'Digital Equipment Company' (bought by Compaq in 1998)]
The ad continued: Call for prices on hard disks by
- Cameo
- DSS
- Fourth Dimension
- Franklin
- Corona
- QCS
- Quadram
- Santa Clara
- Tallgrass
- Xcomp
Note 37: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, March 1984, page 214, offering hard disk storage units, and other computer items, for sale by mail order, by a company named Computer Mail Order, 477 East Third Street, Williamsport, Pennsylvania 17701.
Note 38: Advertisement in Creative Computing magazine, March 1984, page 250, offering hard disk storage units, and other computer items, for sale by mail order, by Lyco Computer Marketing & Consultants, Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania 17740. "Hard disk drives for Apple and IBM-PC. Add U$80.00 for TRS-80 drives." [TRS — Tandy Radio Shack] The hard drive manufacturer was not named in the ad.
Note 39: Advertisement in Scientific American, October 1987 (special computer issue), page 12, offering hard disk storage units, and other computer items, for sale by mail order, by Elek-Tek, 6557 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60645. These Iomega "Bernoulli Box" units were for "PC/XT/AT and most compatibles."
Note 40: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 26 August 1998.
Note 41: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a flyer distributed in The Globe & Mail, 29 August 1998. Prices include a $40.00 mail-in rebate coupon effective September 1st, 1998. The 8.4 gigabyte drive ran at 5200 revolutions per minute.
Note 42: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 10 September 1998. The store price was $319.99 plus 15% sales tax. The drive package included a mail-in rebate coupon worth U$80.00. At the close of business on this day, the currency exchange rate was C$1.00 = U64.74¢, making the coupon worth C$123.57, and the final cost to the buyer C$244.43, which works out to 4.79¢ per megabyte.
Note 43: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 1 October 1998. The store price was $289.99 plus 15% sales tax. The drive package included a mail-in rebate coupon worth U$40.00. At the close of business the previous day, the currency exchange rate was C$1.00 = U65.54¢, making the coupon worth C$61.03, and the final cost to the buyer C$272.46, which works out to 4.26¢ per megabyte.
Note 44: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 12 February 1999. The store price was $299.99 plus 15% sales tax. 4000 rpm Form factor 5.25 inches 11.4 cm
Note 45: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 26 February 1999. The store price was $309.99 plus 15% sales tax. The drive package included a mail-in rebate coupon worth C$40.00. "Free Norton Utilities 4.0 ($89 value) with the purchase of this hard drive (mail-in offer)."
Note 46: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an colour advertisement in the Nova Scotia edition of The Globe and Mail 26 February 1999. The store price was $279.99 plus 15% sales tax. The drive package included a mail-in rebate coupon worth C$30.00. 4000 rpm Form factor 5.25 inches 11.4 cm
Note 47: On 27 February 1999, Future Shop, in its website
http://www.futureshop.com/ offers for sale in its Canadian stores the following: Quantum Bigfoot TS 19.2 gigabyte Ultra-ATA 5.25" 11.4 cm hard drive for $512.46 plus 15% sales tax. "The Quantum Bigfoot disk drive family delivers the highest capacity on the desktop and best cost per megabyte. Each drive features an Ultra ATA interface that transfers data up to 33 megabytes per second for maximum sequential performance to run the latest multimedia, video, and MMX applications. In fact, with a 10.5 millisecond average seek time, Quantum Bigfoot TS drives outperform many 3.5-inch drives."
Note 48: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 59 of The Computer Paper, (monthly) Eastern Edition, March 1999.
Note 49: On 3 March 1999, Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in his website at
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bruces/.
Note 50: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 69 of The Computer Paper, (monthly) Eastern Edition, April 1999.
Note 51: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an colour advertisement in the Nova Scotia edition of The National Post, 21 May 1999. Fujitsu 6.4 gigabyte hard drive, 5400 rpm, UDMA33/UDMA66, 9.5 ms average seek time. Store price $229.99 less $50.00 mail-in coupon, for a net cost of $179.99 before sales tax.
Note 52: On 27 May 1999, Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in his website at
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bruces/.
Note 53: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in an colour advertisement in the Nova Scotia edition of The National Post, 28 May 1999. UDMA, 3.5 inch 8.9 cm form factor, 33 megabytes per second transfer rate, 9 ms access time. This item was again offered, at the same price, in the Future Shop flyer distributed in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 10 June 1999.
Note 54: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page colour advertisement in the Nova Scotia edition of The National Post, 21 July 1999. UDMA (ultra direct memory access), average access time less than 10 ms. This hard drive was priced at $249.99, with a $50.00 mail-in rebate coupon. Each purchaser of one of these drives also got a "free" (no extra cost) Norton Utilities 4.0 "$79 value". If you subtract the $79.00 from the rebated price of this drive, the purchaser pays a net of $151.00 (including 15% sales tax on the store price) for this drive, yielding a cost of 1.80¢ per megabyte.
Note 55: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 30 July 1999. UDMA (ultra direct memory access), 5400 rpm (revolutions per minute), average seek time 9.5 ms. The ad states that this hard drive was priced at $189.99, with a $50.00 mail-in rebate coupon, for a net cost of $139.99. The purchaser paid 15% sales tax on the store price.
Note 56: The Technology Book 1989 (catalogue, 184 pages in colour) distributed at all Radio Shack stores in Canada in 1989. A complete copy, in excellent condition, was generously made available to me in August 1999 by Mr. John McLeod, Money Editor of the Halifax Daily News. (In The Daily News, 6 August 1999, Mr. McLeod wrote: "A colleague digging in a closet came up with a decade-old Radio Shack catalogue...") The only date information in this catalogue is: it carried a cover date "1989" and was copyrighted in 1988. On page 178, this catalogue had two hard disk drives for sale. One priced at $899.00, with 20 megabytes storage capacity, for the following computers: Tandy 1000, Tandy 3000 HL, IBM PC, or IBM compatible. The other, priced at $1199.00, 40 megabytes, for Tandy 1000s/3000/4000 or IBM compatible. These Western Digital drives were sold mounted on "user-installable" cards, which plugged into the computer's "10-inch card slot." If memory serves, in 1989 purchasers in Nova Scotia paid a provincial sales tax of 11%, plus a federal sales tax of 7%.
Note 57: PC Centre, 121 Ilsley Drive, Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, in quarter-page display advertisements in the Halifax Daily News and the Chronicle-Herald,25 September 1999. The store price was stated as $199.00 plus 15% HST, less $40.00 mail-in rebate, making the cost to the purchaser $188.85. The ad contained no information about the name of the manufacturer, warranty, or other details.
Note 58: Computer International, 5990 St. Hubert, Montreal, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 58 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, October 1999.
Note 59: Computer Annex, 958 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 48 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, December 1999.
Note 60: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 51 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, December 1999. The ad does not state the manufacturer's name.
Sales Tax: Throughout 1999, and continuing into 2000, the sales tax in Nova Scotia was/is 15%. It is added to each purchase at the time of sale. Advertised prices of computer hardware and software are always stated without the sales tax; the purchaser pays the advertised price plus 15%. This tax is known officially as the H.S.T. or Harmonized Sales Tax. "Harmonized" means this is a combined tax, partly federal and partly provincial. (Originally, the governments called this the Blended Sales Tax, but changed to the alternative name when political opponents began calling it the B.S. Tax.)
Note 61: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 59 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, February 2000. The ad does not state the manufacturer's name.
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bruces/
http://www.brucesonline.com/
Note 62: Computer Annex, 958 Cole Harbour Road, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 85 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, February 2000.
http://www.computerannex.com/
Note 63: Ambassador Computers, Suite 100, West End Mall, Halifax, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 35 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, February 2000.
http://www.ambassador.ns.ca/
Note 64: MicroBytes, 940 St. Jean Boulevard, Pointe Claire (Montreal), Quebec, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 26 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, February 2000. The ad does not state the manufacturer's name. Sales to residents of "New Brunswick and Nova Scotia must pay H.S.T." of 15%.
http://www.microbytes.com/
Note 65: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a 20-page colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 12 May 2000. Prices in effect May 10th-16th, 2000. [The "66" in UDMA/66 refers to a data transfer rate of 66 megabytes per second, into or out of the hard drive.]
http://www.futureshop.ca/
...On the IDE side, the state of the art is what Apple calls Ultra ATA, but many other companies call it Ultra DMA or Ultra IDE. It comes in two speed grades, known as Ultra ATA/33 and Ultra ATA/66, for the maximum rate — measured in megabytes per second — that data can move between the drive and the rest of the computer. (In practice, most drives fall far short of these limits most of the time, though they come closer in occasional short bursts.)...
[San Francisco Chronicle, 3 February 2000]
|
Note 66: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, on 13 May 2000 in their website offers for sale Maxtor 40GB 7200rpm Hard Drives at $399.99 each, plus 15% sales tax. Description: Diamond Max Plus 7200rpm, UDMA66, 40GB capacity, UltraDMA66 interface. 2MB 100MHz SDRAM cache buffer. Maxtor dualwave multi processor controller. Maxtor enhanced shockblock design. Warranty: 3 years parts and labour. [The "66" in UDMA/66 refers to a data transfer rate of 66 megabytes per second, into or out of the hard drive.]
Source:
http://www.futureshop.ca/can_deploy/plsql/indexframe.findframe?eccookie=xFaUml6TZFY
SvrVHDYSEbuOdbawNM2OwsIGj6pkyqe%2Ft2vecPAtwqM024FPV0aLx1kTs
Uaebq8Kg6gXb9HqZ%2B9V1MuZSdofh%2FaQCI9oF9KEdRQbwhlkyNT5U1D
fGL4xL5KcvenV9a4%2BVMkYnF9heCbGQ47gzesel&aisle=hw&acct=false&
ecpiid=20721&ecpid=20750&ecsid=2838
Note 67: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 2 June 2000. Prices in effect May 31st-June 6th, 2000. The flyer included a Maxtor Ultra DMA 66 15 gigabyte hard drive, 5400 rpm, priced at $189.99 plus 15% sales tax. [The "66" in UDMA/66 refers to a data transfer rate of 66 megabytes per second, into or out of the hard drive.]
http://www.futureshop.ca/
Note 68: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 49 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, April 2000. The ad does not state the manufacturer's name.
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bruces/
http://www.brucesonline.com/
Note 69: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 44 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, April 2000.
http://PCMedicDirect.com/
The Computer Paper is available online at
http://www.canadacomputes.com/
Note 70: Unistar Micro Technology Inc., 30 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit #13, Richmond Hill, Ontario, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 57 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, April 2000. "Secure online ordering now available."
http://www.unistar-micro.com/
Note 71: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 19 August 2000, and in the Halifax Sunday Daily News, 20 August 2000.
http://www.PCMedicDirect.com/
Note 72: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement the Halifax Sunday Daily News, 20 August 2000.
http://www.PCMedicDirect.com/
Note 73: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers these hard drives for sale in an advertisement on page 55 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, August 2000.
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/bruces/
http://www.brucesonline.com/
Note 74: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, offers this Maxtor IDE ATA66 7200rpm hard drive for sale in an advertisement on page 29 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, August 2000.
http://PCMedicDirect.com/
Note 75: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 25 August 2000. Prices in effect August 23rd-29th, 2000. The flyer included a Maxtor Ultra DMA/66 30 gigabyte hard drive, 7200 rpm, priced at $299.99 plus 15% sales tax less $50.00 mail-in rebate, for a net cost to the purchaser of $294.99.
http://www.futureshop.ca/
Note 76: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, offered these Maxtor hard drives for sale in a two-page three-colour advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 27 October 2000.
http://PCMedicDirect.com/
Note 77: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 1 November 2000. Prices in effect November 1st-7th, 2000. The flyer included a Maxtor Ultra DMA/66 30 gigabyte hard drive, 7200 rpm, priced at $249.00 plus 15% sales tax less $50.00 mail-in rebate, for a net cost to the purchaser of $236.35.
http://www.futureshop.ca/
Note 78: Bruce's Radio and TV, 8916 Commercial Street, New Minas, Nova Scotia, offers this hard drive for sale in an advertisement on page 30 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, January 2001 (I picked up my copy in New Minas on December 13th, 2000).
Note 79: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 20 December 2000. Prices in effect December 20th-23rd, 2000.
Note 80: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, offered these 5400rpm hard drives — manufacturer not named — for sale in a full-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 14 January 2001.
http://PCMedicDirect.com/
Note 81: IPC Personal Computers, Dartmouth PC Centre, Unit E 12 Ilsely Avenue, Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, offered these hard drives for sale in their website at
http://www.ipc.ca/accessories/index.asp. The company had a half-page advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 25 April 2001. The ad did not mention these hard drives, but supplied the website address.
Note 82: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, offered these hard drives — manufacturer not identified — for sale in an advertisement on page 24 of The Computer Paper, Eastern (Atlantic Provinces) Edition, May 2001.
Note 83: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 28 June 2001. Prices in effect June 27th-July 3rd, 2001. This hard drive had a 3-year warranty, with 66.6 megabytes per second data transfer rate and 8.9 ms data access time. (This is the first 7200 rpm hard drive I saw advertised below $7.00 per gigabyte.)
Note 84: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 6 July 2001. Prices in effect July 4th-10th, 2001. This hard drive had a 3-year warranty, with 9.0 ms data access time.
Note 85: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 20 July 2001. Prices in effect July 18th-24th, 2001. "The largest capacity 7200rpm hard drive ever." Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. 8.9 ms average seek time. The pricing of this item was a bit complicated: The store price was $444.99, and the customer got a mail-in rebate coupon worth U$30.00. At the close of business on Thursday, July 19th, the currency conversion rate was C$1.00 = U64.847¢ making the rebate worth C$46.26, yielding the cost to the purchaser C$398.73 (before the 15% sales tax). The store advertised the rebate value at a conservative "C$45.00 approx.", yielding the purchaser's cost C$399.99 (before sales tax). (This is the first 7200 rpm hard drive I saw advertised below $6.00 per gigabyte.)
Note 86: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 31 August 2001. Prices in effect August 29th to September 4th, 2001. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. The pricing of this item was a bit complicated: The store price was $329.99, and the customer got two reductions from this price: an "instant rebate" of $25.00, and a mail-in coupon good for another rebate of U$50.00 which the store estimated to be worth about C$75.00. Taking all this into account, the customer's cost, by the store's estimate, would be $229.99 (plus the 15% sales tax).
Note 87: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 30 November 2001. Prices in effect November 28th to December 11th, 2001. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. The pricing of this item was a bit complicated: The store price was $449.99, and the customer got two reductions from this price: an "instant rebate" of $30.00, and a mail-in coupon good for another rebate of U$100.00 which was worth C$159.64 (the currency conversion rate was C$1.00 = U62.641¢ at the close of business on 30 November). Taking all of this into account, the customer's cost would be $260.35 (plus the 15% sales tax).
Note 88: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offered this hard drive for sale in an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 1 December 2001.
Note 89: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 8 March 2002. Prices in effect March 6th to 12th, 2002. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. 9.5 ms average seek time. "Free installation, $45 value, data transfer not included."
Note 90: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offered this hard drive for sale in an advertisement in the Halifax Daily News, 27 July 2002.
Note 91: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 9 August 2002. Prices in effect August 7th to 13th, 2002. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. 8.9 ms average seek time.
Note 92: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 16 August 2002. Prices in effect August 14th to 20th, 2002.
Note 93: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 23 August 2002. Prices in effect August 21th to 27th, 2002. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. 9.5 ms average seek time. (Warranty duration for this item was obtained from the Future Shop website: http://www.futureshop.ca/)
Note 94: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 30 August 2002. Prices in effect August 28th to September 3rd, 2002. Ultra ATA 100 megabytes per second data transfer rate. 8.9 ms average seek time. (Warranty duration for this item was obtained from the Future Shop website: http://www.futureshop.ca/)
Note 95: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 6 September 2002. Prices in effect September 4th to 10th, 2002. (Warranty durations for these items were obtained from the Future Shop website: http://www.futureshop.ca/)
Note 96: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 20 September 2002. Prices in effect September 18th to October 1st, 2002. (Warranty durations for these items were obtained from the Future Shop website: http://www.futureshop.ca/)
Note 97: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offered these hard drives for sale in an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 11 and 25 October 2003.
Note 98: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offered these hard drives for sale in an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 29 Nov and 6 Dec 2003.
Note 99: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, as advertised in the Future Shop website http://www.futureshop.ca/ on 27 March 2004.
Note 100: PC Medic, 50 Akerley Blvd., Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth, and 2760 Robie Street, Halifax, offered these hard drives for sale in an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 27 March 2004.
Note 101: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a 20-page colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 2 April 2004. Prices in effect April 2nd to 8th, 2004. For this hard drive, the store price was $269.99 – there was a $35.00 "instant rebate" (applied at the time of purchase), and mail-in rebate coupon worth U$50.00 (estimated value C$65.00, depending on the currency exchange rate at the time of redemption), yielding a purchaser's cost of $269.99 – 35.00 – 65.00 = $169.99 (before sales tax). At the close of business on Friday, April 2nd, the currency conversion rate was C$1.00 = U76.04¢ making the U$50 rebate coupon worth C$65.75 at this time.
Note 102: Future Shop, 208 Chain Lake Drive, Halifax, and 39 Micmac Blvd., Dartmouth, in a 20-page colour flyer distributed as an insert in the Halifax Daily News, 16 April 2004. Prices in effect April 16th to 22nd, 2004. Warranty duration and rotational speed of this Caviar "SE" (Special Edition) hard drive were obtained from the Future Shop website http://www.futureshop.ca/.
1977 ad offering a
Paper Tape Punch/Reader
as a "mass storage peripheral"
for the Heathkit H11 personal computer.
Click on image to see the whole ad.
Glossary
Disk Drive Terms by Webopedia
http://webopedia.internet.com/Hardware/Data_Storage/Disk_Drives/
Glossary of Disk Drive Technical Terms by Quantum
http://www.quantum.com/src/tt/storage_glossary.htm
IDE integrated drive electronics
This hard drive interface has all of its controller electronics integrated into the drive itself. The IDE interface is limited to 528 megabytes hard disk capacity as a result of the Int 13h BIOS interface used to access IDE drives. By 1998, IDE had been pretty much superseded by an enhanced version, EIDE.
EIDE enhanced integrated drive electronics
An improvement of the PC platform's IDE drive interface that increases the previous maximum disk capacity from 528 megabytes to 8.4 gigabytes, speeds up the data transfer rate to more than twice what IDE was capable of, and increases to four the number of drives that one PC can utilize, compared to IDE's ability to handle two drives in one computer. With Enhanced IDE, the IDE interface has become a mass storage interface for personal computers and is no longer simply a disk drive interface. EIDE products started arriving on the market in the fourth quarter of 1993...
EIDE Backgrounder by Western Digital
http://www.wdc.com/new/products/eide/
Enhanced IDE overcomes drive capacity barriers. A typical system BIOS dated before August 1994 does not recognize drives larger than 528 MB as a result of the cylinder, head, and sector definitions of both BIOS Interrupt 13 and the IDE interface...
EIDE Backgrounder by Western Digital
http://www.wdc.com/products/drives/drivers-ed/eide.htm
UDMA ultra direct memory access
UDMA defines a new (1997) protocol for the interface between the hard drive and the computer. It improves upon the ATAPI/EIDE standard by doubling data transfer rates to 33 megabytes per second, which, for the user, means faster disk reads and writes. For users to take advantage of UDMA, both their system and hard drive must support the protocol. UDMA retains backwards compatibility for previously existing hardware. Systems with UDMA capability first became available in early 1997 with major disk drive vendors (Quantum, Seagate, IBM-SSD, Western Digital, Maxtor, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and others) introducing new UDMA products throughout the year.
2004 March
Seagate Sees the Future:
Storing the U.S. Library of Congress
on a Fifty-Cent Coin
Areal density research findings to be presented at
American Physical Society Conference
Scotts Valley, California, 22 March 2004 — Seagate Technology will present research findings pointing toward data storage densities of 50 terabits per square inch or more at the American Physical Society (APS) conference on March 25, 2004.
At 50 terabits per square inch [7.7 terabits per square centimetre] densities, over 3.5 million high-resolution photos, 2,800 audio CDs, 1,600 hours of television, or the entire printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress could be stored onto recording media about the size of a single coin, such as a half dollar (31mm). Seagate's research team is currently developing the technology, called Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR), which is expected to enable these ultra-high storage densities.
Dr. Terry McDaniel, Seagate recording physicist and APS member, will give the presentation entitled, "Ultimate Limits to Thermally Assisted Magnetic Recording." The presentation is part of the APS session V6 series, "Ultimate Limits to Data Storage." A session abstract can be found at the APS site, www.aps.org. This work was performed as part of the Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC) program in Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording...
Source:
http://www.seagate.com/cda/newsinfo/newsroom/releases/article/0,1121,2047,00.html
1999 December
Hard Drive Capacity Barriers
The amount of space available to store information on hard drives is constantly increasing. Computer operating systems and system BIOSs have limitations that are related to specific hard drive capacities. Three capacity points that can affect how your operating system and system BIOS support your hard drive are 8.4 GB, 2.1 GB, and 528 MB...
8.4 GB Barrier
There is an 8.4 GB hard drive limitation on some traditional system BIOSs. The following is required to access the full capacity of an 8.4 GB or larger hard drive...
- Operating systems that recognize extended BIOS functions:
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Operating systems that do not recognize extended BIOS functions:
- DOS 6.xx and earlier
- Windows 3.1x
- Windows NT
- Novell NetWare
- OS/2 Warp
2.1 GB Barrier
Hard drives larger than 2.1 GB have more than 4095 cylinders. Some computer systems built before early 1996 do not support hard drives with more than 4095 cylinders (hard drives larger than 2.1 GB), unless you update the system BIOS, install an EIDE controller card with onboard BIOS, or install third-party software such as EZ-Drive...
528 MB Barrier
Most computer systems built before August 1994 do not support hard drives larger than 528 MB, unless you update the system BIOS, install an EIDE controller card with onboard BIOS, or install third-party software such as EZ-Drive...
Source:
Hard Drive Capacity Barriers by Western Digital
http://www.wdc.com/products/drives/8-4barr.html
1998 September
Getting Around the 8.4 GB Barrier
Q: Why do Western Digital Caviar EIDE hard drives 8.4 GB and larger all have the same parameters?
Drives 8.4 GB and larger all use the same parameters: 16383 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors. This is due to a limitation designed into the original IDE interface. Hard drives identify themselves to the system BIOS using the "Identify Drive Data." The original design of the IDE interface allowed for values up to 16383 x 16 x 63 (around 8.4 GB) to be used in the Identify Drive Data. In order for drives to identify themselves as being larger than 8.4 GB, a new method was needed. This new method was added on to the Identify Drive Data, and is known as the "Extended Functions."
The extended functions communicate drive size in a more straight forward manner, simply telling the BIOS how how many sectors are available on the drive (the capacity can then be calculated by multiplying the number of sectors times 512 bytes). Once the Extended Functions are used, the Cylinders, Heads, and Sectors on the drive are no longer important. All hard drive manufacturers agreed that drives larger than 8.4 GB would report the maximum number of cylinders, heads and sectors, which is 16383 x 16 x 63. The actual size of the drive must be determined by the Extended Functions. Some manufacturers may list larger parameters with their drives, but these drives will still only be able to report 16383 x 16 x 63 in the Identify Drive Data.
In order to make use of drives larger than 8.4 GB, both the system BIOS and the Operating System must be able to interpret Extended Functions. Older operating systems such as DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 are not able to interpret Extended Functions, so they will never be able to use drives larger than 8.4 GB... Newer operating systems, such as Windows 95, 98, and NT are capable of handling larger drives. Windows 95 and 98 require that the system BIOS also support the Extended Functions, while NT only requires that Service Pack 3 be installed. Other OS's such as OS/2 may require special patches to access drives larger than 8.4 GB...
2001 May 22
Computer Disk Storage Space
Outpaces Moore's Law
Superparamagnetic Limit Exceeded by IBM Researchers
SAN FRANCISCO — IBM announced yesterday that its researchers have succeeded in expanding what was thought to be a fundamental data-density limit in the most common form of computer storage technology.
Researchers at the company's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., say they have been able to reach far beyond a frontier known as the superparamagnetic limit — a point at which the tiny magnetic areas that store ones and zeros on the rotating platters used in computer hard disks become unstable.
The company also announced that it has already begun using the new technology in the manufacture of its most recent advanced disk drives, which began shipping several weeks ago.
Those disks are shipping as part of its Travelstar product line of notebook hard disks, and they have now reached densities of up to 25.7 billion bits per square inch 3.98 billion bits per square centimetre. At this density, IBM's highest capacity drives can store 48 billion bytes — 48 gigabytes — of data.
But IBM executives said the new magnetic materials technology introduced with the Travelstar line would enable IBM to increase disk density to 100 billion bits per square inch 15 billion bits per square centimetre as soon as 2003.
Such a density achievement would make it possible for the company to manufacture a version of its tiny 1-inch 2.5 cm Microdrive that would store 6 GB of information, compared with its current capacity of up to 1 GB.
It will also be possible to build desktop drives capable of storing 400 GB of data and portable drives capable of storing 200 GB. Such a portable drive could hold the equivalent of 42 DVDs.
Underlying the densities is a technique used to deposit an ultrathin layer of ruthenium, a precious metal similar to platinum, between two layers of magnetic material.
The resulting sandwich, in which the ruthenium layer is just three atoms thick, is sufficient to create an effect known as antiferromagnetic coupling, or AFC, in which a stronger and more stable electronic field is created than with conventional single-layer magnetic materials.
The AFC effect is already used in the manufacture of tiny magnetic sensors that read data from a rotating disk. These sensors pick up minute changes in magnetic field strength, which are represented by digital ones and zeros in computer language. But IBM executives said the company was leading the industry in introducing the new technology in the manufacture of the disk platters themselves.
"The pace of this technology is now moving remarkably rapidly," said Currie Munce, who holds the dual positions of director of Hard Disk Drive Technology at IBM's Storage Technology Division and director of Storage Systems and Technology at Almaden Research Center.
Indeed, the increase in density within the disk drive industry has outpaced the legendary rate of Moore's Law that has marked the rate of the advance of the semiconductor industry since the late 1960s. While the density of transistors has been doubling every 18 months since 1997, in the storage industry, density has been doubling every 12 months.
Munce said he thought the storage industry would be able to stay on this pace until about 2007.
[The National Post, 22 May 2001]
[The New York Times, May 2001]
Parameters of 8.4 GB Drives and Larger by Western Digital, September 1998
Drives 8.4 GB and larger all use the same parameters: 16383 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors. This is due to a limitation designed into the original IDE interface...
Originally found in the Western Digital website http://www.wdc.com/, now archived in the Wayback Machine
http://web.archive.org/web/20000127140554/http://www.wdc.com/service/tip_dir/tip0998.html
More Hard Drive History
Originally found in the Quantum website http://www.quantum.com/, now archived in the Wayback Machine
Storage Industry History and Trends
http://web.archive.org/web/20000622121729/www.quantum.com/src/tt/storage_history.htm
The Growing Need for Gigabytes Ten years ago (in 1990), a high-end home computer might have featured a 40-megabyte hard drive. Today (in 2000), 40 megabytes can't even store the operating system on most computers...
http://web.archive.org/web/20000829033638/www.quantum.com/src/tt/sh_needs.htm
Storage Technology Firsts
http://web.archive.org/web/20000829033649/www.quantum.com/src/tt/sh_techfirsts.htm
Yesterday's Disk Drive Manufacturers lists 220 now-vanished manufacturers
http://web.archive.org/web/20000829033633/www.quantum.com/src/tt/sh_yesterday.htm
Today's Disk Drive Manufacturers lists 92 hard drive manufacturers active in 1996
http://web.archive.org/web/20000621192048/www.quantum.com/src/tt/sh_today.htm
1999 September 10
Why Was it Called the Winchester Drive?
I spent 13 years at IBM Research in San Jose, and although I arrived four years after the Winchester drive, this question was already famous, and several different answers were circulating. They related to the Winchester house, the Winchester rifle, and IBM's development lab at Hursley near Winchester, England.
The right answer is that the name comes from the original drive specifications — two 30 MB spindles in one box. The engineers called it the 30-30 which led the project leader, Ken Haughton, to think of the Winchester rifle. The complete story can be found in chapter 18 of the book Magnetic Recording: the First 100 Years, by Eric D. Daniel, C. Denis Mee, and Mark H. Clark, ISBN 0780347099, IEEE Press, August 1998.
There is a persistent story, that the hard drive was called Winchester because the first ones were invented by the IBM research lab in San Jose. According to this account, the lab was across the street from the Winchester House, home of the widow of the man who invented the Winchester rifle. The lab guys thought the new drive was as fast as a bullet from a Winchester. While this story has been circulating for many years, it isn't accurate.
It is true that the widow of the man who invented the Winchester rifle built a mansion in San Jose. It is still a major tourist attraction known as the Winchester Mystery House. Although the RAMAC was invented at a site close to downtown San Jose, it was not very near the Winchester House. By 1969-1973 when the Winchester disk drive was being developed, IBM had moved its development lab to southern outskirts of San Jose, over ten miles from the Winchester house. Today one finds a movie theater, a shopping center, and a freeway across the street from the Winchester house. The IBM Research lab in San Jose was not involved at all. We didn't get into disk drives until 1979. The Winchester was invented at the product development lab.
Tom Howell
VP, Research
Quantum Corporation
Milpitas, California
From: Tom Howell <Tom.Howell@quantum.com>
To: <rustfrog@han.auracom.com>
Subject: Historical notes about Hard Drives
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 18:07:52 -0700
1998 August 16
Prediction: Hard Drive Cost
Below 3¢ per Megabyte
By December 1998
Frank Ogden, aka Dr. Tomorrow, in his regular column in the Halifax Daily News,
16 August 1998, wrote: "My computer screen flashes the news that a 2.16-gigabyte, removable 3.5-inch hard drive called Orb will be out later this year (1998) for $29.95 US." Taking the currency exchange rate as C$1.00 = U66¢, which is about the average for this week, and including 15% sales tax (the current rate in Nova Scotia) this price works out to less than 2.5¢ (Canadian) per megabyte.
ICS Comment, written 16 August 1998:
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent
Date: 12 July 1996 8:23 am -0400
"If you extend this trend (which cut costs to one-third in the 17 months between Jan 95 and Jun 96), hard drives will be selling retail for about ten cents per megabyte by Dec 97. By Dec 99, prices will be around two cents per megabyte, with a 20 gigabyte drive going retail for about $400, probably including taxes. This is plainly ridiculous, but then, if someone had done this in January 95, when prices were about 90 cents per megabyte, it would have been plain silly to predict that hard drive costs would be cut to one-third by June 96."
I wrote that message 25 months ago, and put it on record, but I didn't believe it. The trend line plainly indicated that hard drive prices would fall below 2¢ per megabyte several months before December 1999, but that was so obviously ridiculous that I regarded that extrapolation as a curiosity, not to be taken seriously. But, it now looks like it will be met with several months to spare. In July 1996, hard drive prices averaged about 30¢ to 40¢ per megabyte, depending on the drive capacity, and the lowest price available was about 28¢ per megabyte for a biggie.
I did not actually draw a graph. Instead, I used the computational equivalent: Divide by 3 every 18 months, or divide by 10 every 3 years (which is pretty much the same), and round off the result. Using that rule today, when hard drive prices are about 5¢ per megabyte, I get the following predictions:
By Dec 1999, 2¢ per megabyte
By Aug 2001, 0.5¢ per megabyte
It soon will be (maybe already is) time to change to the cost per gigabyte, because the cost per megabyte is getting way down in fractional cents, which are harder to comprehend.
By Dec 1999, $20 per gigabyte
By July 2001, $5 per gigabyte
By Dec 2002, $2 per gigabyte
By July 2004, 50¢ per gigabyte
By Dec 2005, 20¢ per gigabyte
I don't believe those predictions, either. But that is what the trend leads to.
By the way, these predictions of future prices did not take into account Frank Ogden's report. I'm not disagreeing with Mr. Ogden — that would be foolhardy — but I am calculating extrapolations of actual prices, that is, I'm starting with the price tags in the stores for drives actually available for purchase.
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1999 June 23
International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, New York, continues to shrink the hard drive to proportions unfathomable just a few years ago. Last week, Big Blue took the wraps off a new microdrive — suitable for use in portable MP3 players, digital cameras, and palm-top computers — that holds 340 megabytes of data on a hard drive the size of a cracker. IBM claims it is the world's smallest disk drive and, in the few days since it made that announcement, no one has challenged the company on that claim. To put its storage capacity in perspective, the 34-megabyte microdrive can hold the equivalent of 1,000 compressed digital photographs; six hours of near CD-quality audio; or 300 hefty novels...
[National Post, 23 June 1999]
1996 December 22
Mountain View, California — The 10-megabyte hard drive of the ILLIAC IV supercomputer, at the Computer Museum History Center of Silicon Valley, is about 3 feet one metre in diameter and looks something like a loom — like some sort of relic from the 1960s. But then, we too quickly forget how the past made the present possible — particularly when a hard drive that fits into the palm of your hand is 1,000 times more powerful than the ILLIAC's, and who knows what tomorrow brings?
[Excerpted from the San Francisco Examiner, 22 December 1996]
http://www.sfgate.com/
1997 December 30
IBM Sets New World Record
for Disk Drive Storage
- IBM's progressive records in hard drive storage capacity:
- announced in December 1989
1 gigabit per square inch [150 megabits per square centimetre]
- announced in March 1995
3 gigabits per square inch [460 megabits per square centimetre]
- announced in December 1996
5 gigabits per square inch [770 megabits per square centimetre]
- announced in December 1997
11 gigabits per square inch [1,700 megabits per square centimetre]
IBM confirmed that scientists at its Almaden Research Center have developed a hard disk capable of holding 11.6 billion bits of data per square inch [1,800 megabits per square centimetre] of disk space. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the 11.6 billion bits of data per square inch is more than double the previously highest storage capacity. The new hard disk's capacity was demonstrated in a laboratory.
New record surpasses 11 billion bits per square inch
1,700 megabits per square centimetre
Scientists at IBM have doubled their own world record in hard disk data-storage density, surpassing the 11-billion-bit per square inch data-density milestone just one year after they set their last mark.
"With this laboratory demonstration, we're on track to providing products with 10-gigabit density by the year 2001," said Robert Scranton, IBM Storage Systems Division vice president for technology.
The new technology will first be used in 2.5-inch, nonremovable disk drives intended for use in portable computers. At this size, a single-platter disk drive will be able to hold 6.5 gigabytes of data, making possible ultraslim laptop computers that will nevertheless have vast storage capacity. A 3.5-inch platter will hold 12 to 13 gigabytes.
This milestone comes a year after the same group of South San Jose researchers announced achieving the previous world record of five gigabits per square inch. A single gigabit of data can store about 125 average-size novels. The new storage density of 11.6 gigabits per square inch is so tightly packed that more than 360,000 pages of single-spaced typewritten pages — which would stack up higher than a 9-story building — can be stashed away in a single square inch of a disk drive's spinning platter.
Since 1991, when IBM introduced the industry's first magnetoresistive (MR) sensor for reading data on hard disks, data density has increased an astounding 60 percent a year. Over the past six years, the average data-storage capacity of disk drives sold worldwide has increased18-fold, while the price per megabyte of such capacity has dropped 52-fold. The new higher-density drives will slash average storage costs to less than one-third of present costs.
The latest milestone in data density was achieved by teams of scientists and engineers from IBM's Almaden Research Center and its Storage Systems Division, which develops, manufactures and sells data-storage products. As in IBM's previous record-density demonstrations of 1-, 3- and 5-gigabits per square inch (announced in December 1989, March 1995 and December 1996, respectively), manufacturable component technologies were used at realistic data rates, and product-level reading and writing accuracy was achieved. The scientists used an advanced version of the most sensitive sensor for reading data from disks, the giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head.
The area density of 11.6 gigabits per square inch was reached at data rates of 14 million bytes per second. The on-track data was read essentially flawlessly, with an uncorrected rate of less than one error in a billion bits, which in products would be reduced by error-correcting codes to less than one in a trillion. The latter figure is equivalent to transcribing more than 1,000 years of a daily newspaper containing a single error.
Hard disk drives currently available on the market have a maximum storage density of about 3.2 gigabits per square inch. IBM officials said they expect the new density to become available on the market within four years. But industry analysts say they wouldn't be surprised if IBM gets the higher-density products to market far sooner.
In addition to the advanced GMR read head, a narrow-track thin-film inductive write head, ultra-low-noise cobalt-alloy magnetic media and extended PRML (Partial-Response, Maximum Likelihood) channel electronics were used. Bits were packed at 315,000 per inch along the concentric tracks on the disk; tracks were written at a density of 36,800 per radial inch. Additional technical details of this demonstration will be disclosed in future scientific papers and conference presentations.
There seems to be no likelihood that these rapid increases in storage capacity will saturate the market in the foreseeable future. The demand for ever-denser and ever-cheaper storage has become stronger with each passing year. So-called ''bloatware,'' like the Windows 95 operating system, already consumes more than four times the capacity of hard drives of a decade ago. Users expect to be able to store high-resolution images in their computer and even small businesses are creating large databases of information and graphics.
The first hard drive ever built was IBM'S RAMAC, produced in downtown San Jose, California, in 1956. It was able to store about 2,000 bits of data per square inch, and cost $10,000 per megabyte. By early 1990, the cost per megabyte of storage had dropped to about $10. At the end of 1997, it's around ten cents per megabyte. Industry observers expect costs to drop below three cents (in US currency) per megabyte by the end of the year 2000.
An hour of full-motion video, stored using a good-quality compression algorithm, occupies about ten gigabytes (80 gigabits) of drive space. In late 1997, hard drives are available for ordinary personal computers in capacities of about six or seven gigabytes, which can hold about thirty to forty minutes of good-quality video. The current cost of about ten cents per megabyte yields a cost of about $1000 for enough drive space to store one hour of video. When the cost of drive space drops to three cents per megabyte, then $300 will buy enough space to put an hour of video online, or $25 for posting five minutes of video, which is well within the reach of many individuals who now have a personal website. Prices like these are expected to generate a demand for hard drives that will make today's production seem tiny by comparison.
Western Digital and IBM
Hard Drive Licensing Agreement
SAN JOSE, Calif., 4 May 1998 (Reuters) — Western Digital Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. said today they signed a letter of intent on a supply and licensing agreement under which IBM would make its leading-edge hard drive technology available to Western Digital. As currently planned, the agreement calls for IBM to supply Western Digital with its areal-density giant magnetoresistive (GMR) heads and other components for desktop hard disk drives. IBM introduced the GMR head technology last November. At that time, the company said the new heads — which are the parts used to read and write data to disk drives — could double the storage capacity of desktop disk drives. For IBM, the deal means new revenues for its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business, which has been one of its main sources of revenue growth in recent periods. Western Digital said its initial plans also call for using IBM technology and designs to integrate the parts into drives and said it expects to introduce desktop drives based on IBM products and designs in the first half of calendar 1999. Financial terms were not disclosed and the entire arrangement is subject to completion of a definitive agreement, the companies said.
2001 May
Seagate Produces Highest Capacity Hard Drive in the World
181 gigabytes
Seagate introduces a high performance 7,200 RPM drive with the highest capacity in the world. The Barracuda 180 advances areal densities to more than 15 Gbytes and sustained data rates as high as 47 Mbytes per second. The Barracuda 180 is the latest addition to the award winning Barracuda 7,200-RPM disc drive family. The Barracuda 180, the seventh-generation of the Barracuda family, offers value, performance and flexibility for bulk-storage applications...
Source: Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1121,362,00.html
The Wayback Machine has archived copies of this document:
Seagate Produces Highest Capacity Hard Drive in the World
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http://web.archive.org/web/20010502200402/http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1121,362,00.html
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http://web.archive.org/web/20010805152545/http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1121,362,00.html
Technical Specifications
Archived: 2001 May 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20010505054845/www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/enterprise/tech/0,1131,362,00.html
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2002 June
IBM High-Capacity Hard Drive
146 gigabytes
San Jose, Calif., 9 July 2002 — IBM today delivers an industrial-strength server hard disk drive to take on the most intensive business environments. The Ultrastar 146Z10 is a rock-solid hard drive, backed by rigorous quality-assurance testing. It also debuts with new anti-vibration technology called Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) to improve performance in large disk arrays.
Available today, the new Ultrastar 146Z10 is the first 10,000 RPM hard drive of its generation to ship in volume and has a top capacity of 146 gigabytes, on six platters holding 24 gigabytes each. To enhance performance, the drive comes with a large eight megabyte cache. RVS addresses a problem inherent to multi-drive systems. As rotational speeds have increased and multiple drives are housed in powerful disk arrays, vibration is exacerbated and results in performance degradation. RVS represents advanced servo technology that autonomically compensates for vibration caused by multiple disk drives operating simultaneously. It intelligently identifies the direction and intensity of the vibration and cancels out the deleterious effects of the vibration. IBM is the first to implement the technology for mass production...
Source: IBM Press release
2002 December
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 31, 2002 — IBM today announced it has completed an agreement to combine its hard disk drive operations with Hitachi's, forming a new company called Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Under the agreement, Hitachi has purchased the majority of IBM's HDD-related assets for $2.05 billion. As planned, Hitachi paid 70 percent of the purchase price to IBM today. Hitachi will pay the remainder to IBM over the next three years.
Source: http://www-916.ibm.com/press/prnews.nsf/jan/C2135CE1B35C5E8885256CA000651A9D
A Brief History of the Hard Disk Drive ...The key technological breakthrough that enabled the creation of the modern hard disk came in the 1950s. IBM engineers realized that with the proper design the heads could be suspended above the surface of the disk and read the bits as they passed underneath. With this critical discovery that contact with the surface of the disk was not necessary, the basis for the modern hard disk was born...
http://storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/hist.html
History of IBM Research 1945-1998 IBM's first hard disk stored about 2,000 bits of data per square inch and had a purchase price of about $10,000 per megabyte. By 1997, the cost of storing a megabyte had dropped to around ten cents...
http://www.research.ibm.com/about/past_history.shtml
The Evolution of the Computer by Steve Schoenherr, Professor of History, University of San Diego
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/computer1.html
Magnetic recording has memorable future by Janet Rae-Dupree
...It was the birth of magnetic recording, which he patented in December 1898...
http://www.mdhc.scu.edu/100th/MercuryNewsArtcle.html
History of Computer Storage Devices Does anyone remember loading software from paper tape?
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/reach/435/storage.html
Al Shugart is Squarely in the Disk Driver's Seat Business Week, 18 May 1996
Welcome to the offbeat world of Al Shugart, the computer industry's disk-drive king ... In 1978, with $1.5 million in startup capital, Shugart, Conner, and four associates formed Seagate. The company caught the PC wave and rode it to $344 million in revenues by 1984...
http://www.businessweek.com/1996/12/b3467121.htm
Al Shugart 1997 Inductee, Computer Industry Hall of Fame
Al Shugart claims to be 469 years old. He could be right. Shugart has been around since the dawn of the first disk drive, suffered countless industry wars and survived unscathed as chairman and chief executive of the industry's leading independent supplier of disk drives – Seagate Technology Inc. His mantra for success in the disk-drive industry: "Make it bigger, faster, cheaper." ... Seagate Technology Inc. – originally Shugart Technology Inc. – made a 5.25-inch, 5-megabyte drive in 1980 that sold for $1,500...
http://www.crn.com/sections/special/supplement/763/763p89_hof.asp
Seagate is on the mend Forbes, 23 April 1999
...Seagate Technology is back in the lead of one of the most cyclical and cruel businesses in computing disk drive manufacturing and technology although the changes that have led to the turnaround were instituted well before the ink changed from red to black. It may be only coincidence that the three profitable quarters have followed the highly publicized ousting of founder and tech legend Al Shugart...
http://www.forbes.com/1999/04/23/feat2_side1.html
Mass Storage: Al Shugart, Driving through stormy weather EETimes 1998
Shugart is so well-known in the drive industry that he's normally referred to simply as "Al"...
http://www.eetimes.com/special/special_issues/1998/timespeople98/shugart.html
1981 December
Bubble Memory Challenges
Winchester Hard Drives
We've mentioned several times in this column that the expectation that bubble memory devices would replace other mass storage devices such as disks and tapes has just not been happening. Now, further clouding the future of bubble memories, National Semiconductor has announced its withdrawal from the field. This leaves Intel, now specializing in 128 kilobyte devices, as the major US supplier of bubble memories. Motorola is also still committed to the field. However, in contrast to the eight or ten manufacturers who jumped on the bubble band wagon five or six years ago, the fact that only two are still committed sheds serious doubt on the future of bubble memories as a viable and economic device. Steward Sando, marketing manager for Intel, predicted the cost for 128k bytes of bubble memory will fall below U$100 in the near future, thus making it competitive with other types of solid state memory or Winchester disks. While Intel's largest bubble memory is currently the 128 kilobyte device, the firm will introduce a 512 kilobyte device in the not too distant future according to Sando. By 1985 that device will cost about U$150. So, amid the dropouts, Intel remains. Will they be able to repeat the success of their line of microprocessors (4004, 8008, 8080, ...) or will they eventually give up on bubble devices? Only time will tell.
[Source: Item Yet Another Bubble Bursts in the regular column "Dateline: Tomorrow" by
David H. Ahl, in Creative Computing magazine, December 1981, page 6.]
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