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The price of mass storage continues to drop, but I'm still amazed by the numbers!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Richard Weisser Realty

Mass storage gets less expensive every dayAfter the catastrophic crash of my computer last week, I decided to purchase a new mass storage device.

I purchased a one terrabyte external hard drive for about a hundred bucks. Wow, that's an unbelievable ten cents a GIGABYTE!

I remember purchasing one megabyte of RAM back it 1990. I thought that I got a good deal as I paid $164 dollars for the four 256K modules. The single 3.5 inch drive that I bought today contains as much memory as FOUR MILLION of those old memory modules!

And although one terrabyte of storage seems like a lot now, I am certain that it will be thought of as small when a one petabyte drive becomes available. That's a thousand trerrabytes! And in case you're wondering, next is exabytes, zettabytes and yottabytes.

I wonder what I'll live to see in my lifetime! It's positively exhilarating!

Comments (20)

John Mulkey
TheHousingGuru.com - Waleska, GA
Housing Guru

Richard, it is especially incredible for "old geezers" like me who paid $50 for my first simple pocket calculator; and I bought it because it was the first time they had been under $100.  We cannot envision the changes to come, because they have yet to be dreamed.

Sep 25, 2009 01:15 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Richard,

Yu amy be for a surprise. Like in economics we leaped from millions to trillions, your terrabytes will go tothe  next level in a much shorter time.

I remember computers with 20 MB hard drive, and it seemed huge. It did  not take long to get to where we are today.

Sep 25, 2009 01:16 PM
Celeste "SALLY" Cheeseman
Liberty Homes - Mililani, HI
(RA) AHWD CRS ePRO OAHU HAWAII REAL ESTATE

At least you have something that is holding everything...including all your wonderful pictures!

Sep 25, 2009 01:18 PM
Charles Perkins
Charles G. Perkins, CPA - Burien, WA

Richard

I'll never forget working with an IBM XT and a Kaypro CP/M system in college thinking these were great machines.  Computers used GBasic and MS-Dos.  The IBM AT was a nice change when it came out.

Sep 25, 2009 01:22 PM
Brian Lee Burke
Kenna Real Estate - Lone Tree, CO
Broker & Advising Expert-Kenna Luxury Real Estate

Richard - well that's a flash back I can remember, buying more rams - LOL. oh how the times have changed. I just talked to our designer guy and his computer crashed a couple of days ago. Yikes. ~Rita

Sep 25, 2009 01:23 PM
Richard Weisser
Richard Weisser Realty - Newnan, GA
Richard Weisser Retired Real Estate Professional

John...

It's all just so exciting ... I cant wait! Thanks for the comment.

Jon...

Not long at all. It's amazing, isn't it? Thanks.

Sally...

which are being backed up as I type this! Thanks, my friend.

Sep 25, 2009 01:26 PM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

Richard...I am putting togethere a computor wish list that included double the memory you just got.  I know it will be enough for a few years, but....things are changing so fast that I don't know that for sure.

Sep 25, 2009 01:28 PM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate

Richard,

Wonderful memories, My first hard drive computer back in the 80's had a 10 MB hard drive. I remember thinking "how the heck can I ever fill that up?" Now its two pictures.

Rich

Sep 25, 2009 02:03 PM
Lisa Wetzel
RE/MAX Realty Affiliates - Carson City, NV
CDPE, SFR carsonvalleyland.com

EXACTLY! 

We just had this discussion the other day! 

Who would have thought?

Sep 25, 2009 02:10 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Richard, it is really difficult to wrap ones brain around just how amazing these accelerations in technology are.

Sep 25, 2009 02:11 PM
Richard Weisser
Richard Weisser Realty - Newnan, GA
Richard Weisser Retired Real Estate Professional

Charles P...

I was a Commodore 64 man myself, and I was pretty good at BASIC! Thanks.

Rita...

Things are really moving forward quickly! Thanks as always.

Bill...

That should hold you for a few months! loll

Sep 25, 2009 02:35 PM
Stephen Kappre
KW Hometown - Mantua, NJ
Helping You Home

My best memory is $49 per 1 meg SIMM and I think it was $180 for a 50 meg hard drive for my 8088. Yup, dropped $196 for a killer 4 megs of RAM. I remember seeing Terabytes for sale in magazines and they looked like refrigerators.

Sep 25, 2009 02:43 PM
Stephen Kappre
KW Hometown - Mantua, NJ
Helping You Home

Oh and I'm looking forward to the "Yoda byte", or is that "Yeti byte"? Yadda yadda bytes?

Sep 25, 2009 02:46 PM
Andrea Swiedler
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties - New Milford, CT
Realtor, Southern Litchfield County CT

Hi Richard, I am waiting for the yoddabyte, that's the one I want. Isn't it amazing? And so cheap, all things considered. I hope this keeps all your "stuff" safe. I do the same thing. 

Sep 25, 2009 03:27 PM
Terry & Bonnie Westbrook
Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI
Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

All the stories I heard a few years ago are coming true today and what we can't believe now will be common place in the future. It is a fast moving environment.

Sep 25, 2009 04:13 PM
Matt Stigliano
Kimberly Howell Properties (210) 646-HOME - San Antonio, TX

Brother Richard - You of all people know of my fascination with the increasing memory and storage of computers (Commodore anyone?).  I remember (not that long ago) thinking I would never need multiple GB.  Now I'm reaching a full computer and I wonder how quick I could fill a TB.  My phone's got 8GB??!!?!?!  That alone blows me away!

Sep 25, 2009 06:07 PM
TeamCHI - Complete Home Inspections, Inc.
Complete Home Inspections, Inc. - Brentwood, TN
Home Inspectons - Nashville, TN area - 615.661.029

You are right about the price of storage dropping. I have a 500 gig firewire that is 8 times faster than my 1TB USB 2.0 that cost about 30¢'s a gig...

Helping you live your American dream...

Sep 25, 2009 09:55 PM
Gabe Sanders
Real Estate of Florida specializing in Martin County Residential Homes, Condos and Land Sales - Stuart, FL
Stuart Florida Real Estate

Richard, this post hits home with me.  I remember back when storage was about $1.00 per megabyte.  Then again in those days, we didn't need as much storage as the DOS programs were pretty small.

Sep 25, 2009 11:12 PM
James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC - Wallingford, CT
Connecticut Home Inspector

With storage being so cheap these days, I find it amazing how many people I talk with rely on their computers hard drive alone. I myself have to external HDs.

Sep 26, 2009 12:12 AM
JL Boney, III
Coldwell Banker - Columbia, SC
Columbia, SC Real Estate

There really has been a huge change is storage over the years, this reminds me that I need to get a couple of new external drives myself.

Sep 26, 2009 01:57 AM