this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Mildly Interesting

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Computer drive sizes over the years (lemmy.zip)
submitted 17 hours ago by ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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I just got a new laptop today and when I saw the ssd it blew my mind. Most of my old drives are like the second from left and it's what I think of as a normal drive, buying a standard ssd still feels small to me. But look at that tiny thing to the right! It's the size of a postage stamp!

Assuming I managed to find the right specs (it is a Microscience hh-1050): The monster on the far left is from 1990, holds 40mb, read/write of 0.625mb/s, and weighs almost exactly 2kg. The baby on the far right I got in the mail today, holds 1tb, read/write of 5150mb/s, and weighs about 2.85 grams.

So we're looking at 25,000 times more storage, 8,240 times faster, and 1/700th the weight! And the one on the right is just 1tb, they make one that same model but 2tb. I can barely believe it exists even though I'm literally holding it in my hands.

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[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

The left most one is also an HDD? It looks like what I imagine a tape drive would look like but searching for them shows very different results lol

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 30 minutes ago

For tape look up LTO or LTO-WORM.
That is the current industry standard (afaik).

[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 57 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

5MB of storage in 1956.

5MB storage in 1956

[–] Sabin10@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

That would hold 1.66 copies of war and peace.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 10 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

ASCII wasn't around then, so it would perhaps be stored in 5-bit ITA2, or 6/7-bit FIELDATA. So likely a 5/8 to 7/8 space savings (unless the numbers are for compressed War and Peace).

[–] WillFord27@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

They could've just compressed it using 7zip. Text files compress really small!

/j

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 5 points 12 hours ago

Once you have one copy on there it would be awfully wasteful to fill the rest up with a 0.66 copy though.

[–] SolidShake@lemmy.world 68 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

And Apple be like. 128gb HDD or upgrade to a 512gb SSD for $600 extra or a 1tb nvme for $1000 extra

[–] nef@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 hours ago

To their credit as of 4 years ago all their devices come with high-speed SSDs, the issue is they charge 5x market price for storage and RAM size upgrades.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 50 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Their customers buy it, so they arent changing that

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[–] nullPointer@programming.dev 15 points 16 hours ago

lack of education is Apple's bread and butter.

[–] Decq@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago

Apple livea on the notion of 'a fool and his money are soon parted' and can you blame them? They are one of, if not the, most profitable companies around. If it works why change it.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 36 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Wait, 1tb?

You're leaving impact on the table, I have plenty of 1tb micro SD cards.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Those drives typically have some pretty dreadful read/write speeds (for a computer). Maybe once SD Express is figured out we'll get fast and good Micro SD cards at a high capacity.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 11 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

And they crap out so quickly. I can't even count the number of SD cards I've had to throw in the trash. I don't think I've ever had a 2.5" or 3.5" drive completely crap out on me (though I have had bad SMART data indicative of a dying drive) and I have been running a media server with dozens of TBs for over a decade now.

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[–] MudMan@fedia.io 7 points 16 hours ago

I mean, those work fine and are fast. You mean we'll get those for cheap.

In any case, the image is about physical dimensions, and SD cards are tiny! Considering we're comparing to a 40 MB mechanical drive, I'm gonna say the comparison is valid and they aren't even near the bottom of the specs table.

Of course people like it when ALL the specs get better in these things, but that's because people like simple things more than true things.

[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 20 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Apples and oranges, though. The left two are hard drives, the right two are solid state drives (ie flash memory). They kind of serve the same purpose, but there is quite a big step in between 2 and 3. 2.5" HDDs also exist, though. Then again, so do 1TB MicroSD cards. And 2280 M.2 SSDs. But also huge tapes that are still in use for backup purposes.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 16 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

There were even smaller hard drives. The iPod used a 1.8in drive.

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[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 12 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Ahh yes, I remember my first Seagate ST225. A whopping 20 MB of storage for the low low price of 800 bucks.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago

I remember being astounded by the 8GB backup tapes that fit in my shirt pocket.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I remember all the formats shown.

My first machine was an AST Research 286 16Mhz (in "turbo" mode) with two 5-1/4" floppy drives, and a 40 MB 5-1/4" hard drive. I paid ~$2000 for it in the late 80s. That was a good move, I knew more about computers than most people applying for jobs at the time, and that allowed me to make a decent living without a college degree.

[–] mudmaniac@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

How to say you are over 50 without saying you are over 50. I'm a A little younger, so in the 90s 20MB drive wasn't $2000. First time I had Ms dos boot from a hdd instead of floppy. The first time I ever 'installed' was f16 fighting falcon. The loading speed was phenomenal for the time.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 5 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

Is that NVME only half length still with a full TB? It almost looks to be the same size as an M.2 wifi adapter. Crazy that they're getting this small.

I recently bought two cheaper 1TB NVME and have some premium ones from several years ago but they're all the full 80mm length. I have yet to come across ones this small personally.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 9 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

2280 seems to be the most common DIY size, 2230 is common for business machines, sometimes in an adapter to fit a normal 2.5" HDD bay or a slot large enough for 2280. I just removed one from the 2280 adapter last week to get data off after the storm came through the east coast.

[–] recked_wralph@lemmy.world 27 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The fact that those measurements are in inches when “2280” means 22mm x 80mm agitates me.

[–] spwyll@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

When the measurement is already in the designation, the only point to adding information is for "translation." It would irk me if someone felt the need to point out a 2280 was 80 mm long while a 2230 was only 30 mm long. I mean it's already in the name...

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

Welcome to merica!

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

They are more limited in storage space than the 2280s but yeah the thing is tiny, almost 1/3 length even at 30mm. It's literally the size of a postage stamp I'm stunned

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

There's terabyte SD cards now, that are almost that fast.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

Oldest hard drives I've dealt with were 4RU. Those systems also had me attaching reels of tape with write enable rings.

[–] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 7 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

In the compsci building at uni, there is a museum of sorts in the hall to the labs. At the beginning of the storage section, there is a 20Mb storage device. It is the size of a washing machine, I have no idea how much it weighs, but it has to be in the 100's of kg range.

Sitting on top are much more modern devices, 5.25"/3.5"/2.5" drives; I haven't been back for a decade to know if they kept going as tech improved.

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[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 2 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

what's the one on the right?

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

WD_Black SN770M. There are 1/2, 1, and 2tb models I have the 1tb version here. https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-1tb-sn770m/p/N82E16820250263

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (5 children)

It'd be gnar if the smallest one was also a magnetic platter hard drive.

The smallest old style hard drive I can think of is the iPod. But now I want to know if any magnetic platter drives got smaller than that... 🤔

Afaik, it's all been solid state after that. Even newer iPods.

[–] Mnem667@sh.itjust.works 5 points 12 hours ago (3 children)
[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 hours ago

ADORABLE AAAAA

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

It's so tiny! 😍

Omg it was made in 1998?! :O

[–] Mnem667@sh.itjust.works 2 points 12 hours ago

Pulled from my Life drive :)

And further into the article: "Toshiba decided to skip the 1" form factor, and in March 2004 announced a 0.85" drive that shipped in September of the same year.[38] "

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

gnar

You made me think of GWAR

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 points 13 hours ago

Gwar is pretty gnar.

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