History of Storage Technology

Since before the inception of the computer, there has been data storage. From the start, storage has been an essential component for data infrastructure, regardless of the operations performed or the degree of technology involved. However, it is doubtful that early technologists anticipated the substantial storage requirements we have come to know in the 21st century.

The Punch-Card Tabulating Machine

The earliest form of a storage device was invented in the 1890s, it was called the punch-card tabulating machine and was used to record census data. The system would punch holes into the paper tape and use binary code to produce results. This was a pivotal moment in storage technology history, representing the first automatic data processing system.

The Rise of Tape

In many early data solutions, tape, whether used to punch holes or imprint code, reigned supreme. Magnetic tape in particular was relatively inexpensive and could hold a vast amount of storage. Fast forward to 1952, IBM used this magnetic tape for electronic computers. The first model was sold in 1953 and could store up to 2 million digits per tape and one could rent it for $850 a month, which today would be translated to about $10,00.

The Era of Hard Disk Drives

Then came the era of disk. In October 1962, IBM once again pioneered the storage landscape by architecting the first magnetic disk storage device. This product was monumental in the storage industry; portable memory storage was conceptualized with the idea of “disk packs” which one could swap once they were at full capacity. As the years went on, disks became smaller and eventually condensed down to the HDD form factor we see today.

The Advent of Flash

In 1984, Toshiba invented the first flash memory. With faster read/write than disk storage and the capability to be erased and re-programmed multiple times, flash memory quickly gained traction in storage appliances and memory. In 1992 the first prototype SSD module (using flash instead of hard disks) was created by SunDisk – which proliferated into the enterprise-level NVMe flash drives that are so commonplace in today’s data storage landscape.

Today’s Data Storage Landscape

Of course, today’s data storage landscape contains examples of many of these historical technologies. Tape is still used as an inexpensive archival and backup solution. Data centers worldwide contain a mix of hard disk drives and flash drives. And, in today’s hybrid cloud world, often an organization’s data infrastructure is being maintained by cloud providers and consumed as-a-service without knowledge of the hardware involved.

The progression from punch cards to magnetic tape, then to disk drives and flash drives, highlights the continuous need for greater data capacity and performance. As engineers and IT professionals continue to make great strides in our storage technology world, it’s important to take a step back and realize what it took to get us here today – and consider where we will go next.