I just got a 256 GB thumb drive with dual USB A and USB C ports. After allowing for ½" for the USB A port and ⅜" for the USB C port that leaves ½" for storing 256 GB of data. Then I remember the 256 GB drive array I had on a TI990 mini computer I managed. There were three drive stands each about 3½ feet square and high. Two of the drives had 100 GB disk packs consisting of five or six 24" diameter platters and the third a 50 GB pack with only three 24" platters. The disk packs were in hermetically sealed plexiglass enclosures and required annual cleaning and refurbishment. Once, when spinning up one of the 100 GB packs after it had returned from its annual cleaning, the read/write head apparently fluttered, contacted the rotating disk surface, and the entire disk pack exploded into flying chunks that shattered the enclosing plexiglass dome and embedded themselves into the walls of the room and the TI990. The three of us in the computer room were deafened by the unholy screech and explosive crash but miraculously escaped injury from the flying shrapnel. Today I hold the equivalent of that entire $200,000+ array between two fingers and hope I won't drop it because it could be hard to find and wonder what my grandsons will see in their lifetimes. God I love technology!

That reminds me of the first external hard drive I ever bought for my Mac, around 1985. It was the 128K Mac computer and the only storage it had was the hard shell "floppy" disks. These, if I recall correctly, could hold 128 kilobytes (KB), and later became double-sided and could hold 256 KB. Swapping disks was how many of the programs were loaded. Clearly large external storage was needed. Hence, my 10 megabyte (MB) external hard drive purchase. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 and about the same size as the old-style desktop cradle telephone. By comparison to the floppy disks, it was blazingly fast and had enormous capacity, equivalent to about 40 double-sided floppies. Ahh, yes, technology.

Although this has nothing to do with Apple, the idea is the same. Around 1970, I went to an accountant for tax preparation. He was very proud of his AC-powered digital calculator that only did four arithmetic functions. It cost $400 in 1970 dollars, probably the cost of an iMac today. Many years later, battery-powered calculators that did the same plus memory functions cost $5. As I recall, I acquired a scientific calculator for $15 at that time!

My wife was taking a statistics course and the students were supposed to use a program on the University main frame to do their homework. I gave my wife a Hewlett-Packard calculator and the professor threatened to fail her for using it instead of the university computer. Then the prof got one and used it in class. My wife got her accustomed A in the course.

Speaking of Hewlett-Packard computers, the other day I stumbled on PCalc in the App Store. I had forgotten just how much I liked RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) until I downloaded this calculator app. This has replaced four or five other calculator/conversion apps, offers an RPN option, and runs on all my devices from the watch to the M1 Mac.

I clearly remember, with fond memories, using my trusted Apple IIE back in the early to mid 80's. I started working at a bank in 1982, and had on call responsibilities. I actually got to play around with one of the original Macs when they first came out, but still could not wait to get home and use my IIE. I recall the excitement when I started receiving the expansion cards that plugged into slots inside the IIE, including the one for the modem. And that one in particular allowed me to use my IIE to dial into the Honeywell mainframe at the bank (and later on an IBM machine) and I was able to perform the necessary programming to resolve issues. Man, those memories are still as vivid as ever!

Another exciting time was when I purchased a 5 1/4" Duo Disk drive (along with the necessary expansion card). Having the ability to use 2 5 1/4" disks was the bomb!

That particular bomb blew up the (in)famous disk shuffle with copying, as did the external 3.5" drives for those Macs that only had one!