Timeline: Mobile storage

Today, people can carry several gigabytes of data in their pockets. However, pen drives are still a relatively new medium, and their forefathers have been around for a while.

Methods of transporting data have been in existence right from the beginning of civilization; important information was scribbled on clay tablets or papyrus for preservation or transmission. But the fi rst real digital storage medium was the punch card: Herman Hollerith (1860– 1929), the son of a German immigrant, worked as a statistician for the American government and designed a system that could process punch card system. It was used for storing the census data of the year 1890–91. 

In 1896, Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company, which after merging with two other companies, became what we now know as International Business Machines—IBM. The punch card further developed into the punch tape: even Konrad Zuse, inventor of the modern programmable computer, used these to feed his pioneering Z1 with data. But subsequently, the development of data storage and media stagnated for as long as 30 years.

Then, magnetic media started dominating the storage world. These were originally meant for audio recordings, but an IBM research group lead by Alan Shugart designed the fi rst fl oppy disk in 1969. It was impressively large at eight inches, and also enormous in storage capacity for the time: it could store 80 KB of data—as much as 1,000 punch cards.

Over the years, fl oppy disks continued to decrease in size and increase in data capacity. Then, in 1983, SyQuest brought the fi rst removable hard disk into the market. You could save a sensational 5 MB on it and simply store it on a shelf. Later, Japanese fi rm Taiyo Yuden achieved great success in 1989 by introducing the recordable CD. Magnetooptical technology—a combination of magnetic discs and lasers—off ered considerably better data security at the time, but could not compete with CD-Rs. 

The storage revolution of 1996: Dov Moran invents the USB stick 

American manufacturer Iomega began to sell Zip disks and drives in 1994. The 100 MB units were poised to become the dominant removable storage format of the time, superseding even the universally accepted 3.5 inch fl oppy disk after 13 years, but Iomega missed the chance because of reliability problems.

In 1996, somebody else grabbed this opportunity: Dov Moran, the founder of the fi rm M-Systems, came upon the idea of designing a Flash component with a USB connection. He called his new 8 MB memory device DiskOnKey—the fi rst USB pen drive—which was sold by IBM in America. But research continued, and the SD card that was introduced in 1999 revolutionized the digital world once again. Iomega tried to bring another innovative product to the market in 2003 with its Rev removable hard disk standard—but once again failed to gain enough traction. Only CD-R, DVD-R (plus or minus) and the USB stick are still present in the consumer world today. Blu-ray wants to penetrate the market, but is not exactly aff ordable just yet. 

The only other contender is the external hard disk, usually a USB-enabled version of the hard disk we are all familiar with. These are available in multiple capacities and with newer connectivity options, and demand is growing thanks to ever-falling prices. The Flash and hard drives will be around  for a while, but USB might make way for faster connection options.