Disk Drives, how far have we come - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

kknudson · #1 01-05-2008, 10:28 PM

Check out the link.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_2314.html

Each of those cabinets is roughly the size of a small (apartment size, not just undercounter) refrigerator.
The lower sections are draws with a removable disk pack.

The section on the right is the controller, nowadays handled by a chip or two on the motherboard.
Heat, when I worked with these we would send out for food, then put it on top of the controller, under a disk pack cover and keep it warm (very).

That unit in it’s entirety holds 233 MEG, yes MEG your cameras SD card is how big ???? So each 30ish pound removable pack holds 30ish MEG.

Access times, Average 60ms minimum is 25ms, today’s drives low single digits.

Cost about a ¼ of a million bucks, in the 70s.

You could only have 8 drawers active at any time. There was a fist sized interchangeable plug that gave each drawer its address. The spare allowed you to have one drive setup for the next step, or available in case of breakdown.

I also believe the heads were moved by Hydralics, not the Winchester (effectively a speaker coil) mechanism used in todays drives.
I know the 2311s were hydralic, I believe it was the 33?? series that went winchester.

Bill Wood · #2 01-06-2008, 12:22 AM

Back in the 1980's I ran a large computer repair facility for GE. We repaired lots of Data General S140, S200 and MV4000 Eclipse minicomputers and peripherals used in GE CT and MR scanners.

The disk drive used on those early GE CT/T8800 and CT/T9800 systems was a Data General Zebra. It was the size of a clothes washer, weighed 500 pounds and ran on 208v 3-phase power. Oh, and it would hold 200MB on a removeable disc pack.

Now THAT was a man's drive! None of this weeney SD card stuff.

Chas H · #3 01-06-2008, 12:36 AM

Waay back in '67, my artillery battery was issued a computer to calculate firing data. It ran on 240V @400 hz-supplied by generator. The computer itself was the size of a large suitcase. Time required to calculate firing data was 2/3 the time of projectile flight. At maximum range, time of flight could be almost 3 minutes. Enough time to get a cuppa, light a smoke and enjoy it. Five seconds before impact, we would wake up the forward observer with the radio transmission "splash".

Bill Wood · #4 01-06-2008, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chas H

Time required to calculate firing data was 2/3 the time of projectile flight. At maximum range, time of flight could be almost 3 minutes.

What kind of distance are we talking about for a nearly 3 minute flight?

Chas H · #5 01-06-2008, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Webmaster

What kind of distance are we talking about for a nearly 3 minute flight?

22 miles, or less if high angle (greater than 45°) is fired.

iwrock · #6 01-06-2008, 03:08 AM

Ahhh, my Laptop has more storage than that array..

Is there data redundancy?

danwatt · #7 01-06-2008, 03:44 AM

Who uses disk drives anymore?

#8 01-06-2008, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danwatt

Who uses disk drives anymore?

Anyone that wants significant capacity.

CSchmidt · #9 01-06-2008, 11:52 AM

The storage and networking bandwidth available today is amazing. I started working on mini computers in the late 70's that had 128mb main memory and 2.5MB disk drives (that were 16-18" in diameter). We could run a full network, mulitple users, and have several real time process control / monitoring tasks running in the background.

In about 1980 we had a 1 mips (million instructions per sec) mini with 2MB main memory and two 67 MB disks. I was in heaven. We ran 70 users (with a limited application), 4 memory only computers operating real time scales, and 2 full conveyor systems. Of course this took about 5 man-years of programming to get all this to fit and work. This computer was size of 3 refrigerators and cost $300,000.

The computers today are amazing in all facets; computation speed, ease of development, networking, storage, and user interface. Just look at the home capabilities for digital photography and video. My daughter has a phone with a MICRO sd card (about 1/4" square) with 2gb's of storage on it.

Chuck

Jim H · #10 01-06-2008, 01:34 PM

Yes, we have come a long way.

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional

PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended;
233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);
Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended

128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)

1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space

Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor

CD-ROM or DVD drive

Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

And this is all before you load the first program! That would be the equivalent of using that IBM /360 to serve as a 4-function calculator, and nothing else.

Maybe more isn't always better...

BobK · #11 01-06-2008, 05:11 PM

When I started at my present job in early 1980, we had three mainframe databases. Each had a DEC PDP8/E processors (12 bit processor!) with 64K of core memory and an 8MB DRUM mass storage unit. Each drum unit was the size of a modern dryer. Inside was a coated cyclinder about 30" high by 18" dia. Positioned around the cylinder were eight head bars. These had fixed heads on them and the bars would rotate to bring the heads up to the cylinder like fingers. Total 1777 (octal) heads on the unit. Response tijme on htese units was great. 3600 rpm, I think. and data was never more than one rotation away. With electronic switching between heads, seek time was basically zero.

G-Benz · #12 01-07-2008, 10:58 AM

I was around computers long enough to recognize those dinosaurs!!!

I worked on Tandem systems for a few years, and remember swapping out those platters for backups every night. Each set could hold a whopping 470 MB of data!!!

Mike552 · #13 01-07-2008, 02:45 PM

Those look like Osborne computers...

MTI · #14 01-07-2008, 02:53 PM

Old meet new . . . a company has a product that looks like a Philips cassette, but houses a USB drive.

Dee8go · #15 01-07-2008, 04:38 PM

Can you imagine what it would have been like if the basic nature of pens, pencils, and paper had changed as many times and as frequently as digital storage media have over the last 15-20 years?

This one of the biggest drawbacks for me, personally, when it comes to storing information digitally.