Computing · 1951

Magnetic tape data storage

Reels of tape replace boxes of punched cards.

UNIVAC's UNISERVO drive stored data on metal tape at 7,200 characters per second. Tape became the dominant bulk storage medium and is still used today for archival backups.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

UNIVAC I 1951
Magnetic tape recording 1935

What it led to 1

Hard disk drive 1956

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Cost of memory and storage Latest: Memory: 1.09k $/TB (2023) Source: Our World in Data

Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6