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TheHistoryofComputerStoragefrom19382013|Zetta.net

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TheHistoryofComputerStorage
Innovationfrom1928toToday

Humankindhasalwaystriedtofindwaystostoreinformation.Intodaysmodernage,peoplehavebecomeaccustomed
totechnologicalterminology,suchasCDROM,USBKey,andDVD.Floppydisksandcassettetapeshavebeen
forgettingexceptforthemostnostalgic.Subsequentgenerationshavesimplyforgottenaboutthetechnologythat
helpedevolvetheefficientcomputerstoragesystemswealluseeveryday.Astimehumanitycontinuestopushthe
envelopeofinnovationtocreatenewpossibilities.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1928MagneticTape
FritzPfleumer,aGermanengineer,patentedmagnetictapein1928.He
basedhisinventionoffVlademarPoulsen'smagneticwire.

1932MagneticDrum
G.Taushek,anAustrianinnovator,inventedthemagneticdrumin1932.
HebasedhisinventionoffadiscoverycreditedtoFritzPfleumer.

1946WilliamsTube
ProfessorFredrickC.Williamsandhiscolleaguesdevelopedthefirst
randomaccesscomputermemoryattheUniversityofManchester
locatedintheUnitedKingdom.Heusedaseriesofelectrostaticcathode
raytubesfordigitalstorage.Astorageof1024bitsofinformationwas
successfullyimplementedin1948.

SelectronTube
In1948,TheRadioCorporationofAmerica(RCA)developedthe
Selectrontube,anearlyformofcomputermemory,whichresembledthe
WilliamsKilburndesign.

1949DelayLineMemory
Thedelaylinememoryconsistsofimpartinganinformationpatternintoa
delaypath.Aclosedloopformstoallowfortherecirculationof
informationiftheendofthedelaypathconnectstothebeginningthrough
amplifyingandtimecircuits.Adelaylinememoryfunctionssimilarto
inputtingarepeatingtelephonenumberfromthedirectoryuntilan
individualdialsthenumber.

1950s

MagneticCore
Amagneticcorememory,alsoknownasaferritecorememory,uses
smallmagneticringsmadeofceramictostoreinformationfromthe
polaritytothemagneticfielditcontains.

1956Harddisk
Aharddiskimplementsrotatingplatters,whichstoresandretrievesbits
ofdigitalinformationfromaflatmagneticsurface.

1960s

1963Musictape
Philipsintroducedthecompactaudiocassettein1963.Philipsoriginally
intendedtousetheaudiocassettefordictationmachineshowever,it
becameapopularmethodfordistributingprerecordedmusic.In1979,

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Sony'sWalkmanhelpedtransformedtheuseoftheaudiocassettetape,
whichbecamewidelyusedandpopular.

1966DRAM(PDF)
In1966,RobertH.DennardinventedDRAMcells.DynamicRandom
AccessMemorytechnology(DRAM),ormemorycellsthatcontainedone
transistor.DRAMcellsstorebitsofinformationasanelectricalchargein
acircuit.DRAMcellsincreasedoverallmemorydensity.

1968TwistorMemory
BellLabsdevelopedTwistormemorybywrappingmagnetictapearound
awirethatconductselectricalcurrent.BellLabsusedTwistortape
between1968tothemid1970sbeforeitwastotallyreplacedbyRAM
chips.

1970s

1970BubbleMemory
In1970,AndrewBobeckinventedtheBubbleMemory,athinmagnetic
filmusedtostoreonebitofdatainsmallmagnetizedareasthatlooklike
bubbles.ThedevelopmentoftheTwistormemoryenabledhimtocreate
BubbleMemory.

19718"Floppy
IBMstarteditsdevelopmentofaninexpensivesystemgearedtowards
loadingmicrocodeintotheSystem/370mainframes.Asaresult,the8
inchfloppyemerged.Afloppydisk,aportablestoragedevicemadeof
magneticfilmencasedinplastic,madeiteasierandfastertostoredata.

19765.25"Floppy
AllanShugartdevelopedathe5.25inchfloppydiskin1976.Shugart
developedasmallerfloppydisk,becausethe8inchfloppywastoolarge
forstandarddesktopcomputers.The5.25inchfloppydiskhadastorage
capacityof110kilobytes.The5.25inchfloppydiskswereacheaperand
fasteralternativetoitspredecessor.

1980s

1980CD
Duringthe1960s,JamesT.Russelthoughtofusinglighttorecordand
replaymusic.Asaresult,heinventedtheopticaldigitaltelevision
recordingandplaybacktelevisionin1970however,nobodytooktohis
invention.In1975,PhilipsrepresentativesvisitedRusselathislab.They
paidRusselmillionsforhimtodevelopthecompactdisc(CD).In1980,
RusselcompletedtheprojectandpresentedittoSony.

19813.5"Floppy
The3.5inchfloppydiskhadsignificantadvantagesoverits
predecessors.Ithadarigidmetalcoverthatmadeithardertodamage
themagneticfilminside.

1984CDRom
TheCDROM,alsoknownastheCompactDiskReadOnlyMemory,
usedthesamephysicalformatastheaudiocompactdiskstostoredigital
data.TheCDROMencodestinypitsofdigitaldataintothelowersurface
oftheplasticdisc,whichallowedforlargeramountsofdatatobestored.

1987DAT
In1987,SonyintroducedtheDigitalAudioTape(DAT),asignal
recordingandplaybackmachine.Itresembledtheaudiocassettetape
onthesurfacewitha4millimetermagnetictapeenclosedintoa
protectiveshell.

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1989DDS
In1989,SonyandHewlettPackardintroducedtheDigitalDataStorage
(DDS)formattostoreandbackupcomputerdataonmagnetictape.The
DigitalDataStorage(DDS)formatevolvedfromDigitalAudioTape
(DAT)technology.

1990s

1990MOD(PDF)
TheMagnetoOpticaldiscemergedontotheinformationtechnologyfield
in1990.Thisopticaldiscformatusedacombinationofopticaland
magnetictechnologiestostoreandretrievedigitaldata.Aspecial
magnetoopticaldriveisnecessarytoretrievethedatastoredonthese
3.5to5.25inchdiscs.

1992MiniDisc
TheMiniDiskstoredanykindofdigitaldatahowever,itwas
predominatelyusedforaudio.SonyintroducedMiniDisktechnologyin
1991.In1992,Philip'sintroducedtheDiigtalCompactCassetteSystem
(DCC).MiniDiskwasintendedtoreplacetheaudiocassettetapebefore
iteventuallyphasedoutin1996.

1993DLT(PDF)
TheDigitalEquipmentCorporationinventedtheDigitalLinearTape
(DLT),analternativetothemagnetictapetechnologyusedforcomputer
storage.

1994CompactFlash
CompactFlash(CF),alsoknownasflashdrives,usedflashmemoryin
anencloseddisctosavedigitaldata.CFdevicesareusedindigital
camerasandcomputerstostoredigitalinformation.

Zip
TheZipdrivebecamecommonlyusedin1994tostoredigitalfiles.Itwas
aremovablediskstoragesystemintroducedbyIomega.

1995DVD
DVDbecamethenextgenerationofdigitaldiscstorage.DVD,abigger
andfasteralternativetothecompactdisc,servestostoremultimedia
data.

SmartMedia
ToshibalaunchedtheSmartMedia,aflashmemorycard,inthesummer
of1995tocompetewithMiniCardandSanDisk.

PhasewriterDual
ThePhasewriterDual(PD)wasthefirstdevicethatusedphasechange
technologytostoredigitaldata.PanasonicintroducedthePhasewriter
Dualdevicein1995.ItwasreplacedbytheCDROMandDVD.

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CDRW
TheCompactDiscRewritabledisc,arewritableversionoftheCDROM,
allowsuserstorecorddigitaldataoverpreviousdata.

1997MultimediaCard
TheMultimediaCard(MMC)usesaflashmemorycardstandardto
housedigitaldata.ItwasintroducedbySiemen'sandSanDiskin1997.

1999Microdrive
AUSBFlashDriveusesaNANDtypeflashmemorytostoredigitaldata.
AUSBFlashDriveplugsintotheUSPinterfaceonstandardcomputers.

2000s

SDCard
TheSecureDigital(SD)flashmemoryformatincorporatesDRM
encryptionfeaturesthatallowforfasterfiletransfers.StandardSDcards
measure32millimetersby32millimetersby2.1millimeters.AtypicalSD
cardstoresdigitalmediaforaportabledevice.

2003BluRay(PDF)
BluRayisthenextgenerationofopticaldiscformatusedtostorehigh
definitionvideo(HD)andhighdensitystorage.BluRayreceivedits
nameforthebluelaserthatallowsittostoremoredatathanastandard
DVD.ItscompetitorisHDDVD.

xDPictureCard
OlympusandFujifilmintroducedthexDPictureCardin2002,whichare
exclusivelyusedforOlympusandFujifilmdigitalcameras.

2004WMVHD
TheWindowsMediaHighDefinitionVideo(WMVHD)referenceshigh
definitionvideosencodedwithMicrosoftMediaVideoninecodecs.
WMVDiscompatibleforcomputersystemsrunningWindowsVista,
MicrosoftWindowsXP.Inaddition,WMVDiscompatiblewithXbox360
andSony'sPlayStation3.

HDDVD
HighDensityDigitalVersatileDisc(HDDVD),adigitalopticalmedia
format,usesthesamediscsizeasBluRay.ItispromotedbyToshiba,
NEC,andSanyo.

Holographic(PDF)
Thefutureofcomputermemoryresidesinholographictechnology.
Holographicmemorycanstoredigitaldataathighdensityinsidecrystals
andphotopolymers.Theadvantageofholographicmemoryliesinits
abilitytostoreavolumeofrecordingmedia,insteadofjustonthesurface
ofdiscs.Inaddition,itenablesa3Daspectthatallowsaphenomenon
knownasBraggvolumetooccur.

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TODAY

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Zettascloudenablesbusinessestoprotectdatausingbackup,recover
fromadisaster,andarchiveunusedfilesusingonlyalightweight
sofwareclientandZettasbicoastaldatacenters.Asstoragehardware
andinternetbandwidthcontinuetodevelop,sowillZetta'sperformance.

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