016: The 1997 IBM®️ Deskstar
I don't know how exactly my life ended up with me searching for the original release price of the 1997 IBM®️ Deskstar 16GP Titan (also known as the deathstar don't you know), but here I am.
The journey starts easy enough, a Wikipedia page with the list of every hard drive that has ever been invented and I quickly have my two targets. The first (IBM 3390) has a link to its own Wikipedia page with an active webpage with everything you'd ever need to know. There's even a photo with a man standing next to it for scale. This is going to be easy.
Finding the page for Deskstar leads me to a list of every single Deskstar product without a single product. The only references are to old magazines from the 2000's and I ain't using plague ridden Amazon right now.
After much searching I end up using the "books" tab on Google. Clearly things are desperate. No-one ever uses the books tab on Google.
The internet starts to break down. Clicking on one link opens 3 separate tabs to 3 different websites. But the linked websites no longer exist. To find this baby we need to go back ... waaaay back. Alright gang, to the way back machine!
I'm searching for ghosts. Old dead webpages of scans of old magazines that might have referenced a press release price. In my haze of searching I think it's getting to me. It takes me 15 minutes to realise the bloody date settings are in American.
Just as I am getting ready to give up I even text my friends to ask if they know what the original price for an IBN®️ Deskstar 16.8 GP Titan was. Not one of them has a clue. Useless.
After another hour I find a research paper referencing a link to an online copy of a magazine mentioning a 2001 study of the general trends of data storage in history. It has the vaguest logarithmic graph of average price per megabyte. But with the capacity of the 1997 IBM®️ Deskstar 16GP Titan it's enough. And that my dear friends is how I ended up jumping to my feet yelling, "$70 per Gigabit!" as my four flatmates at the table stare and begin to realise they are stuck in quarantine for another month with someone who is clearly a madman ... But I have it and with accurate references! My fingers fly as I type in my hard won knowledge. A whole two lines completed in just under 3 hours ... of a 6 page essay.
I might be fucked.
Written by: J
The journey starts easy enough, a Wikipedia page with the list of every hard drive that has ever been invented and I quickly have my two targets. The first (IBM 3390) has a link to its own Wikipedia page with an active webpage with everything you'd ever need to know. There's even a photo with a man standing next to it for scale. This is going to be easy.
Finding the page for Deskstar leads me to a list of every single Deskstar product without a single product. The only references are to old magazines from the 2000's and I ain't using plague ridden Amazon right now.
After much searching I end up using the "books" tab on Google. Clearly things are desperate. No-one ever uses the books tab on Google.
The internet starts to break down. Clicking on one link opens 3 separate tabs to 3 different websites. But the linked websites no longer exist. To find this baby we need to go back ... waaaay back. Alright gang, to the way back machine!
I'm searching for ghosts. Old dead webpages of scans of old magazines that might have referenced a press release price. In my haze of searching I think it's getting to me. It takes me 15 minutes to realise the bloody date settings are in American.
Just as I am getting ready to give up I even text my friends to ask if they know what the original price for an IBN®️ Deskstar 16.8 GP Titan was. Not one of them has a clue. Useless.
After another hour I find a research paper referencing a link to an online copy of a magazine mentioning a 2001 study of the general trends of data storage in history. It has the vaguest logarithmic graph of average price per megabyte. But with the capacity of the 1997 IBM®️ Deskstar 16GP Titan it's enough. And that my dear friends is how I ended up jumping to my feet yelling, "$70 per Gigabit!" as my four flatmates at the table stare and begin to realise they are stuck in quarantine for another month with someone who is clearly a madman ... But I have it and with accurate references! My fingers fly as I type in my hard won knowledge. A whole two lines completed in just under 3 hours ... of a 6 page essay.
I might be fucked.
Written by: J
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